Sort of repeating what others are saying here, but wonder how you feel about retaining walls? Also, how aware are you of the drainage issues? It sounds like this might be a new home? What has the builder done to insure that water flowing down that slope won't be a problem for your home? Also, I disagree with Ronbre. Not about the drainage concern, but about just handling that before you think about landscaping. Heavens, that is a part of the whole landscaping process. If you throw in a French drain and then decide you need the retaining wall Well, itÂs a classic example of why one needs to make a careful comprehensive plan for your property before you put in an fd or go out looking for plants. The spacing seems problematic to me, but I can imagine a higher and lower tier to your property, divided by a retaining wall. Such a wall can be extremely lovely, but if it were designed in your space, it would be more important for its function of protecting your home. Each "tier" of your yard that the retaining wall would create would be more or less level. The lower level -- though virtually flat -- would be properly graded with a slope away from the foundation. If possible, this wall would follow the contours of your property or would be designed to look as though it does. Steps would need to be designed to allow for access to the sidewalk / mailbox. The frentch drain  which, by the way, is a sort of artificial underground stream bed, often not visible at the surface -- would be at the base of the retaining wall some 10 to 12 feet ? from your foundation. Cost? Not cheap. I have no clue if thatÂs what your situation needs, but addressing the significant negative slope toward your home is at least as high a priority as screening for privacy and planting for shade. ThatÂs where doing tons of background research on the landscape design process is needed to help make sure you arenÂt missing something. The cool thing is that once you are clear about what has to be achieved in your front yard design in order for you to be happy, certain solutions will start working together. If, after youÂve considered the worse gully washer that could happen, you decide that some sort of drainage work needs to be done, then whatever choice you make about it could also work with other objectives. I can imagine, for instance, a retaining wall enhancing the sense of shelter. Paying for it? Ah, thereÂs the rub. But if you know what your dream front yard needs to be, then you might be able to work toward achieving it. Hope so. Wellspring

Thanks everyone. Okay, the pictures showing the house are what is there, except for the roses (Red Blaze & pink and white Fairy roses) on the fence (not shown), with tall Bridleswreath spirea bushes and a Forsythia with old-fashioned Day lilies. It is so dry along there. This year I added a small white Rose of Sharon. The other FLOWER pics on the entry page are just plants I have that I was considering using to add some color to the front yard in Summer and then in Fall. I would like to plant roses on either side of the front steps to grow up the pillars to mingle with that dark green ivy, but worry about the thorns. There is a huge buttery-yellow flowering Lady Banks Rose on the south side (right side of the porch). I would love to add roses out front...shrub roses which are hardier and bloom from Spring thru' Fall. I am going to remove the purple garden phlox on the left (north) side of the porch. It got crowded out by the Nandinas and has become scraggly looking the last few years. Time for a change. I would like to add a Winterberry shrub out there somewhere, and some pillar-type evergreens, and three Colorado Blue Spruces...maybe some meadow flowers around the spruces and some big rocks. I can get big rocks anytime if I catch the county road grader guy when he goes by. He will push them to my driveway. I just have to get someone to help me move them into the front yard. Whatever goes out there has to be tough, I can tell you that. Cameron, There are many types of prairies. The type most people thik of when they hear the word "prairie" is like the one you see on the old TV series, "Little House on the Prairie". That is the Shortgrass Prairie, which is in the American Savannah. This area where I live in Central Oklahoma is where the Tall Grass Prairie changes to Hardwood Timberland. This Eco-Region is called, "Cross-Timbers and Southern Tallgrass Prairie" The Native trees are: Black Willow (aka Creek Willow or Pond Willow) Blackjack Oak Post Oak Chinquepin Oak Red Oak White Oak Shumard Oak Boxwood Elm Slippery Elm Bur Oak (introduced) Hackberry Cottonwood (I also have 2 large Aspens) Oklahoma Red Cedar (State Tree) Oklahoma Redbud Texas Redbud Texas Buckeye Wild plum Chickasaw Sand Plum (a shrub-like tree) Mulberry (introduced) Catalpa (introduced) Mulberry (introduced) Paper Mulberry (invasive tree introduced from China) Persimmon Osage Orange Possum Haw Fringe Tree Sweet Gum China Berry (introduced) Texas Ash Black Walnut - all I can think of off hand. Winged Elm (introduced) Black Haw Black Hawthorn Elderberry (a shrub that can get as tall as a small tree) Red Osier Dogwood Carolina Buckthorn Prairie Grasses: Big Blue stem Little Blue stem Inland Sea Oats Switch grass Indian Grass (State Grass) June Grass Love Grass (introduced) Muhly Grass Buffalo Grass Frost Grass Eastern Gramma Grass Side Oats Gramma Blue Gramma Woodward Sand Blue Stem Prairie Sand Reed Canadian Rye Panic Grass (introduced) Tall Fescue (introduced) Blue-eyed Grass Foxtail Barley (There are others, but I cannot recall them now) Prairie Flowers: Purple Poppy (aka: Wine Cups)- love these! Snow-on-the-Mountain Orange Butterfly weed Silver-leaf Nightshade (blue flowering) Clasping-leave Coneflower (yellow w/brown cone - waxy leaves) Purple Coneflower Pale Coneflower (Echinacea pallida) Narrowleaf Coneflower Gray Coneflower Purple Prairie Clover Prairie Dogbane - waxy leaves and purple stems Stenosiphon (tall growing w/small fuzzy white cone flowers) Wax Goldenweed Compass Plant (sunflower-like flowers w/ fern-like leaves) Ashy Sunflower (very stiff ashy looking leaves) Wild Quinine (purplish stems w/ tiny white flowers Joe Pye Weed Iron Weed (purple flowers) Yellow Iron weed Tall Boneset (tiny white flowers) Daisy Fleabane - tiny white daisies Carolina Larkspur (tiny plants) Lanced-Leaf Coreopsis (aka Tickseed) - golden yellow Plains Coreopsis - golden yellow w/reddish brown centers Rocky Mountain Bee Balm Spiderwort Lemon Mint (Horse Mint) - purple flowers Wild Four O'Clocks Blue False Indigo (blue flowers) Wild Indigo (cream flowers) Mist Flower - minute purple flowers looks like purple mist Yellow Gaillardia Yarrow (white to pale lilac) Maximillion Sunflower Pink Primrose Arrow-leaf Violet Passion flower (flowering vine) Yellow Primrose Gayfeather (purple Liatris) Dotted Gayfeather (Liatris) Rough Blazing Star (purple Liatris) - aka: Snake root Yellow Coneflower aka: Camphor weed Blue Speedwell Bitterweed Flannel leaf Mullein (grow your own toilet paper!) Mexican Hats Prairie Rose Gentian Indian Blanketflower (State Wildflower) Red Honeysuckle Yellow Japanese Honeysuckle (introduced) Blue Mealy Sage Blue Sage Cardinal Flower (Red Sage) Golden Rod (short variety) Golden Rod (tall and stoleniferous) Obedient plant Black-eyed Susans Brown-eyed Susans Scarlet Indian Paintbrush Prickly Poppy (Cowboy Fried Egg Flower) Wild rose (white rosettes - very fragrant) Prairie rose - tiny leafed, low-growing 8" plants False Garlic Nodding Onions White Prairie Aster Purple Rose Verbena Slim Prairie Aster - blue-violet flowers Heath Aster Wild Violet (has triangular shaped leaves) Leavenworth Eryngo (thistle-like deep purple flowers) Bull Thistle Globe Thistle (introduced - I think) Blue Indigo Ox-eyed Daisy (one of my favorites) Buffalo Burr (such a mean ting!) Partridge Pea (yellow pea-like flowers) Catclaw - Sensitive Brier (fuzzy pink flowers like a Mimosa) Shepherd's Purse Purselane Gerardia - low growing w/pink buttercup-like flowers Sow Thistle - similar to a dandelion Musk Thistle Spider Milkweed (cool looking green flowers) Illinois Rattlebox plant Poppy Mallow (light pink) Yellow and pink Wood Sorrel Prairie Ragwort These wildflowers WERE all growing up in my meadow until the new land owner next door sprayed with Herbicide to kill off "weeds" and native prairie grasses. The wind blew some of that over into my side and then the rains carried the herbicide down the hillside thru' my property. Bye-bye wildflowers. Some how the grasses survived, except for the Love grass which was growing next to the fenceline. (grrrrr) So I am now reseeding the meadow. Except for the large native trees and one very old and very large Lilac bush, I planted all the trees, bushes, plants, groundcovers, and flowers in the one-acre yard around the house. The other acre is the meadow up on the ridge. There are two natural wooded areas that border the meadow. A small one on the west side (downhill) and a big one further up the hill on the south site.

I am unclear as to your question. Are you looking for general ways to turn it into garden space? Is water an issue? This is an entryway designed by Michele Derviss, a San Francisco area designer. The house is just visible in the upper right side of the photo, and the main entry is the middle of the left side opposite the stairs. If water is an issue, you could make the path that parallels the front of the house permeable with a drain under it that diverts water away from the front of the house by channeling it over toward the side. Here are couple of other ones from the same designer: Notice on this next one the center drain in the patio and how the patio slopes toward the drain:

Doug, wow! Your illustration is so detailed and helps to give me a better idea of how to add some depth and dimension in the front. I'm really keen on the symmetry of your first sketch, with what I believe to be liriope? I honestly never thought about extending the retaining wall to the front elevation or adding steps. Thanks for taking the time to sketch up those concepts. This is likely the direction we will go as the stone from the existing retaining wall is also used for the pathway the leads from the driveway to the back patio and around the entire back of the house. In evaluating ground cover, Pachysandra is one I seemed to have overlooked. We have two huge maple trees at the very bottom of the front yard and don't want to plant anything that will pose a threat to them. Great suggestion there. What is a reasonable range to expect for a project of this scope? I understand every region and professional is different, among many other countless factors. Just wondering if this is $8k-$10k vs. $15k-$20k job.