If you are less concerned about how the house looks from the street, why did you take the picture from the street and why are you focussed on a sketch that also looks at the house from the street, and why did you sketch it from the street inward? I'm not trying to be troll, but it does not make sense to me. Most people take pictures the same way they view things. Most people do like the presentation of their house, if not to the people on the street, certainly to their arriving guests and to themselves as they come home from a long day at work. It is OK. There are a few things about the BHG sketch which help make it "homey" that you may be missing. The first is that it has a visible front door. When a door is visible on a house it is somewhat the equivalent of a face on a person - when it is looking at you, you want to look at it (and not get caught looking somewhere else). It draws you into the middle or heart of the composition. The sketch adds to that by putting a tree in front of the door with a skewed perspective that allows you to look over it and adding weight to the middle with a low center of gravity to balance the composition of the DRAWING rather than the landscape. You have to know that if you were standing in front of that landscape you'd be looking at a tree with two ends of a house visible to either side and no door to be seen. The second thing is a psychological response that people get when they see a place that is made for people to be. This is very real and as much a good design tool in a landscape as it is in a sketch. It is the area of lawn to the left of the front door - you want to be there and it draws you in and you stay there. That is reinforced with an arbor going who knows where. The arbor is not there to make you feel like you want to go through it, but to strengthen the space that the area of lawn is holding. The 800 pound gorilla that is missing from both your snapshot and the BHG sketch is the driveway. BHG left it out and you have a truck and trailer (not saying that you did it on purpose) that is framing the front yard. The empty driveway acts in a similar manner as the patch of grass - the viewers see it, subconsciously, as a human space and project themselves into it if it is more powerful than another space. Unlike the lawn area on the left, the driveway does not have the supporting plantings or other elements to contain you there - you just blow through that part of the composition and don't come back. If you truly are more concerned with looking from the inside out, you should be taking your photos looking outward and start to draw up your concepts in the same manner. The biggest challenge is that your landscape currently flows, like most of ours, out into the street. My belief is that you want to build space in your front yard that is separate from the street. You don't have to make a solid screen to do it, but you can combine several elements that can incrementally overcome the power of the street (sounds kind of urban militantish). You can build background, middle ground, and foreground and strengthen that layering with vertical layering as well. It would be easier to describe if you provide a picture looking outward from the house.

Amazon is right about Bermuda being tough and drought resistant. It would also be kid and pet friendly but it does have a dark side. It is extremely invasive which is okay if you don't mind it taking over your back yard, it is hard to get rid of if you later decide you don't want it, and it does go dormant in the winter. Just look before you leap with Bermuda. You didn't mention what part of Nevada you live in. I live in Las Vegas but conditions are so different in the Northern part of the state that plant selections would be very different. You sound like you want shade and of course there are shade structures available all over or great shade trees wherever you live. I think to get good help here you are going to need to be more specific. Do you want a lawn for the kids or would you rather have gravel or mulch for a ground cover. Do you want a tree for shade or would you rather have an arbor. Only you can answer those questions. Good Luck, Maria

Planting fruit trees west of the Cascades requires some research. Our climate is mild enough (both summer and winter) that many types are not very successful here. Any of the better independent nurseries/retail garden centers here will carry the varieties that are most suited to the Puget Sound area. I am not aware of any self-pollinating pears other than those that have two or more varieties grafted on the same tree. Like apples, they need a pollination partner ;-)) And I would also urge you to reconsider nectarines (also apricots, pluots, apriums and other similar hybrids) as we just do not generate sufficient summer heat for these to fruit well. And if you decide on a peach, I'd stick with the 'Frost' variety - it was developed in this area, is a good fruit producer (and very tasty!!) and is very resistant to leaf curl. Fruit trees tend to be most often offered bare root in late winter (February/March). If you can find any now - usually sold out at this time of year - they are just the remaining bare root stock that has been potted up, so not well established or very mature. Finally, I will leave you with a couple of online resources: the first is the WSU Fruit Trials, a compilation of fruit growing data specific to the Puget Sound area produced by the WSU Research Center in Mt Vernon over several decades. It will also link you to the best publication regarding growing fruit in western WA (upper right hand corner). The second is a link to Raintree Nursery, one of the largest mail order fruit sources and one of the best, also located here in western WA. They grow and sell most varieties best suited to this area but be sure they are clearly labeled as such, as they sell across the country as well. Avoid purchasing out of the area unless you have done all your research on specific Puget Sound suited varieties first!! And stay away from the box stores - while they sell a lot of fruit trees in early spring (and inexpensively as well), they seldom sell those varieties that are recommended for this area.

I'd venture to say that a masonry sitting area on wet ground could become problematic over time. I'm not sure of your temps in MD but freezing + thawing = heaving. Wetness will exacerbate that. The proper installation of pavers requires a good bit of prep - digging deeper than you think, installing drainage material, compacting, then stone dust, compacting, etc. The roots of that large tree will likely be a problem and the tree could suffer if it's severely hacked. It's really tough to ascertain the slope or degree of moisture without being there, and generally, the degree of wetness changes with the seasons. Of course any plan will have to meet the elevation at the fences. It doesn't look like there's a lot of space to swale or berm. You need someone who really, really knows what they're doing if you want to address the drainage and elevation. There are a lot of well meaning contractors who will have varying degrees of expertise and mangling those trees roots could be trouble. If you want to pursue it, do that area first, as equipment like a bobcat needs access and will compact all surrounding soil. Personally, I would plant that wet shade slope area with lovely shrubs and perennials. Here's where a full service garden center with knowledgeable staff can help you compose a nice design. A backdrop of site appropriate shrubs (summersweet/clethra alnifolia?) and just three or so varieties of pretty shade plants will fill that area. There are some striking perennials for wet shade with features like tall floral spires, enormous leaves, or delicate foliage. It's a good opportunity to embrace a challenge. As someone else noted, large drifts of the same plant have a more cohesive appearance in groups of 3, 5 or more.