Thanks so much for explaining the phrase "in a perfect world to me." But I guess one should expect the level of snark that comes with posting in a Houzz forum. Whitewater, yes, thank you, I wasn't exactly picturing "trees" as intended in the photo. I do think something flanking the house might be nice. I also would like to have a large shrub (not sure if this is the correct term -- I am thinking o a hydrangea) in front of the fence on the right side, so as to hide our vegetable garden area from the road. I want to make sure I don't plant anything that would conflict visually with a tree planted more towards the center of the right side in the future, if that makes sense. I have some small pots on either side of the steps now, but I'm thinking they may need to be much larger once the planting is complete? Kind of just made do with what I had for the time being.

" Nothing should be planted within 6-9 feet of a house foundation." " The tree is too close to the house. It blocks the windows and may be damaging your foundation" I'm not sure where these notions come from - maybe it's just a regional viewpoint - but I think they can be taken with a large grain of salt !! There are no hard and fast rules for this.....just common sense. If your foundation is structurally sound - no cracking, crumbling or settling - then you can plant whatever you want next to it. Plant roots do not damage foundations.....they can only take advantage of those that are compromised already. Ideally, trees close to a structure should be sited so they are at least no closer than one half the distance of the mature canopy spread. And that is more for the tree's benefit than it is for the structure. Smaller shrubs can be planted as close as one likes, provided they too have a enough room to grow without obstruction and are accessible for maintenance to both them and the house. As to the 'tree' in question, it is too far away to be able to determine the type, but based on the maturity of the other plantings, we could assume that it has been there for a while so not overly fast growing. And the perspective of the photo is misleading....it may actually be sited further from the side of the house than it looks. People plant trees in front of windows all the time - they can be a visual privacy screen as well as offering some direct exterior shading - the window it is covering looks like it would bake in the high degree of sunlight showing in that photo. The point of my comments is that for the most part, these are very pesonal landscaping choices, not anything that is dictated by any hard and fast 'rules' either design-wise or horticuturally. To the OP: live in your new house for a few months, see how the landscape affects the interior and make your plans to remove or improve as YOU see fit.

Wow that looks great Yardvaark. I hope I can get it looking even close to that good. It is to bad about the neighbors roof ;). Made for a nice patio however the upkeep has made it generaly unsafe for public consumption at this point. I really like what you did with the extension for the walkway between driveway and house. I wonder if there is any way of achieving that look without a call to my concrete guy. Probably not if I want to keep the look uniform I suppose. As for the arborvitae along the right hand side of the house, I thought I didn't have room but upon closer inspection it may be something that I could make work. The gravel to the right of the truck and up the side of the house is parking and a walkway for our suite, so I don't want to make it too tight (moving furniture and such through there). I have attached a photo of the pathway up the side and maybe you can tell me if you think there is enough room for something like that. How big is the circumfurance usually on those The tree in the front is a nice idea as well as it would hide the power pole a little. The only concern I suppose would be finding one that wouldn't grow tall enough to affect the above powerlines. Do you have any suggestions for what I should be looking for that would provide coverage but not grow to tall?

I think sprucing up your lawn quality will go MILES. I also like the post showing a corner tree, and nice edging/mulch. You have good bones to work with, just needs more TLC.