You've got a lot of good advice to start you off. I'll add my 2 cents worth :-) My backyard is almost entirely shade except a bit in the center, which is now the only space where there is lawn. (See the link below to a thread on the Woodlands Gardening forum for pictures, plan and description of my shade garden...) The biggest problem with the shade garden here is mosquitoes! I do the vast majority of my gardening work in the spring before they come out of hibernation and again in the fall when they've gone back into hibernation. In mid summer, I relax and enjoy the garden largely from the shelter of the back porch! When I do my regular tree seedling patrols, I wear a bug shirt :-) By 'long needle pines' do you mean white pines? I have two and there are others on the neighbouring properies that affect us too. They are my favorite evergreens! The annual needlecast provides lots of lovely mulch - it all gets raked into the garden beds where it is left to rot down naturally to the benifit of the plants there. Directly under the skirt of the pines, Sweet Woodruff is the main planting. Closer to the edge of the canopy, other shade plants tolerant of fairly dry conditions e.g. perenial geraniums, brunnera, some ferns will do well. Hostas and Solomon's Seal make a nice combination in there as well. The list of shade plants you'll want in the garden is almost endless :-) Shade gardening is very rewarding - lots of beautiful plants and interesting combinations. Work out at least a rough idea of what you want to do and then get started. Mowing those weeds so you have a better feel for the space and conditions is a good thing to do while you're in the early stages of thinking about it as a garden rather than a weedy wasteland! Good luck. Here is a link that might be useful: shade garden

Woody it all looks so serene and peaceful absolutely lovely, a retreat from a hot summer's day. Do you have a seating area where you can just sit and enjoy? Right now we are having a June like we've never had before, June here is usually on the cool side with a lot of rain, not this year, everything is frying even with all the watering I've been doing. The flowers on the Rhodo trusses which usually fall when spent are drying crisp, as thin as tissue paper on the plant, same with the climbing roses, even with all the watering petals aren't falling, the flowers are just drying up, looks awful I hope this is not a sign of what's to come in the future. We are situated in a funny little pocket, sometimes my garden is ahead of others around here, sometimes way behind. One year we had a killing frost the end of August and did all the dahlias in while in other gardens they flourished for another couple of months. Most years we don't have a light frost until the end of October, early November. Last year we had a killing frost beginning of November right out of the blue, the weather had been so mild everything was growing merrily along and WAM! my Ayesha hydrangea really took a hit, had to cut it right back this spring so no flowers this year. But that's gardening for you sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. All in all gardens are magical places, full of joy, wondrous discoveries, contentment well maybe not when couch grass and herb robert raise their ugly heads lol, weeds and all there's no place I'd rather be. Starting on the 15th water restrictions we've NEVER had before, it looks like we might be down to hand watering in the near future, thank goodness all our rain barrels are full and capped off. On the bright side all the veggies are looking good, I mulched with a thick layer of straw before planting, fingers crossed. I ran around last night with my camera hoping to find something decent enough to post but everything just looks weary. Maybe one spot where the Campanula portenschlagiana is running rampant on the little rock wall, I'll try and take a picture later. Oh well this is the year for renovation, editing, replacing and planting something new and interesting when things cool down, hopefully next year things will look a little better. Annette

There is a school of thought you plant evergreens North of the house to block North winds in te winter and deciduous trees to the south so that you don't lose southern light in the winter but get shade in the summer.. So...I probably won't suggest live oak for the back yard. The fruit tree shouldn't be too near the house. Anything you plant near the house should be strong wooded (so it doesn't drop branches on your house some day) You really need to put a tree in the middle of the yard if you want to fit in any large shade tree. As to putting trees on the edges...do your neighbors have ugly yards? Trees at the edges can be great as privacy screens or windbreaks, but could interfere with the flower bed or fruit garden. I'd stick something tough...iron wood or something...to the right of the porch. Put the biggest tree or the female american persimmon in the middle. Another thought...Diospyros texana (Texas persimmon)

Yard, we've hijacked Caroline's thread I think! :-) The bare ground in the 2013 pictures is indeed paths. The Sweet Woodruff almost completely died out in the winter of 2013/2014. Bits are struggling to come back but it's a slow process. Some of the Geranium macrorrhizum fared better and that is a tough plant that Caroline might want to try. I think we're having some semantic issues here :-) Hiding vs. screening etc. I like the 'mystery' of the paths by the shed leading off into 'unknown territory' behind the screening, enticing you to explore along the path to see what's there. Seeing far into the bed would also give you a good view of the neighbour-behind-us's unattractive metal shed on the other side of the fence! It's bad enough to see it in the winter when the leaves are off the shrubs; I don't want to see it in the warmer months. It's too dry under there to plant an evergreen screen of some sort to hide their shed - I've tried.... The yard is big enough that 'hiding' part of it doesn't feel claustrophobic. Backyard layout (ignore the notes....) The property is 75' wide: From the living room window in June: The path around the lawn provides access, makes keeping the grass from spreading into beads easy, and provides a 'racetrack' for dog play! (You can see the neighbour's shed in the background in the picture below.)