I took some pictures and uploaded them to Photobucket. I will also upload a sketch with what is currently in our yard and some ideas we have for possible changes. I have a sketch with exact measurements and locations of trees, etc., but it's too big to scan in so I'll have to do a basic sketch on some smaller paper as soon as I get a chance. The dimensions of the backyard are almost exactly 80' wide by 80' deep. It appears to be deeper than it is wide, but maybe that's because the veggie garden (which is 15' wide by 47' deep) takes up a good chunk of the east side of the yard. I really like the idea of going to some favorite nurseries and collecting business cards from designers. I was trying Google searches and met with one company whose work looked nice, but it turns out that they don't do design work without being locked into a contract with them to do the bulk of the landscaping work. We'd have to sign a contract (telling them our budget range) and they would draw up plans within that range and do most of the work, subbing out stuff they don't do themselves, with the design being part of the package deal. I think I'd rather work with someone who has more flexibility in allowing us to do parts of the work ourselves without being penalized for it. lazygardens and butterflygardening: Thanks for the helpful links- I am reading through them! alygal- We love the idea of raising chickens (or ducks!), but unfortunately our city doesn't allow them in residential areas. Some of the towns around us havejust recently started allowing them, so maybe it will be a possibility in the future! Here are some of our current ideas for making our yard more attractive and usable in the ways we'd like to use it. - Possibly ditch the sandbox, although I am torn because the kids do use it when it's nice outside. The problem is that it's so close to the house that they always come in still covered with sand, AND it's location really limits the width of the planting bed around the breakfast nook. If we keep the sandbox, I think I'd at least make the flagstone path along it more narrow to allow for a slightly wider bed there. - Widen pretty much all of the beds to allow more layered planting (to increase attractiveness and privacy in the yard). I would also like to have a nice bed along the patio and around where the sandbox is, so basically be left with an area of the grass in the middle of the yard. - Possibly add a slight berm along the garden fence and plant a variety of shrubs and small trees to make the garden less prominent since it's not much too look at most of the year. - Make the patio more usable by extending it a little deeper (it's now 20' wide by 10' deep). - Add something to get more shade on the patio. It gets shade starting in the mid-afternoon and through the evening from our neighbors house to the west, so I don't really want to add a hard cover (my husband's idea) because I think it would detract from the look of the house. I am thinking a well placed tree would eventually have the right effect (and I'm content to use a patio umbrella as needed until then). - Add a screened in gazebo (about 12' x 12') south of the patio area toward the south side of the yard for dinners and entertaining. My husband is a mosquito magnet so he really wants this for enjoying the yard in the evenings. - Add a structure toward the southeast corner of the yard (about 8' x 10') to be used as a playhouse/garden retreat. I picture it looking like a little cottage style potting shed more than a mini playhouse, so that even after the kids outgrow it, I can still enjoy it as a garden retreat. - Revise current pathways through the yard and add pathways as needed to new structures, to the veggie garden/shed, etc. Would like to maybe use some reddish flagstone in addition to the buff ones we currently have and mix them up a bit as the buff looks so bland to me against our house. - Possibly cover the patio with flagstone to make it more attractive and more cohesive with pathways. Thanks for any advice or suggestions you may have. Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard Pictures

You could terrace it but then you'd have to walk outside to view it which isn't a cost effective way to spend your $$. Why don't you try sowing native grasses? I am sure the department of ag or state university has a website. Here is a link that might be useful: Propagating Perennials

Screening will eat up some yard space which is a main reason tall, skinny plants like Arborvitae are so popular. But you really don't need all that much height, so consider other plants in the 12' to 15' range, too. If a central open space was circular, it would allow for greater planting bed depth at the yard corners. It makes sense to locate the fire pit centrally so as to keep it from anything combustible. Between the screening and the fire pit, there won't be a lot of room left over. This suggest the idea of making the firepit into an important central visual element, instead of just an area off to one side of the yard. It could be a perfect circle of fine gravel surrounded by a perfectly circular lawn, surrounded by a perfectly circular landscape area, the outer limits of which, of course, are the fence. The illustration is no more than a rough schematic of this concept. You could work out the details in a multitude of ways. If you don't allow enough depth to the planting bed, you risk being forced to use only tall, skinny plants as a solution for the screening, or of making the screening into a high maintenance affair.

I think you should remove any frontal beds (save an isolated shrub or such) and let the groundcover come forward such that it could encapsulate the trunks of all front trees. This would entail the creation of a new bed line, killing a strip of grass at the front of the bed, mulching it, and allowing the groundcover to move/spread forward. There are probably many tall shrubs which you could use to create a screen between yours and the neighboring yards. Look around where you live and see what looks good to you. Then, get it identified. (There is a forum for plant ID. You'd need clear pictures from varying distances, including close up.) If you're interested in hedges that bloom over a long period of summer, look into panicle hydrangeas. There are many that work for hedges.