Wow! Looks like the grass isn't the only thing that's green on this thread. I'm not a garden snob- though I do have a BLA from a highly regarded Landscape Architecture program. I think it looks fine. There is room for all different landscape styles and designs. It's all about individual taste. There isn't just one 'right' way to design and I'm not arrogant enough to say that my style is the only style or right style. I love the freeform and curving lines. The brick is very much in the Southern style. Ignore the critics. You've got some saying it isn't 'southern' enough and others complaining because you didn't use all native plants. It looks beautiful and with crisp, clean well maintained edges. My dh would love it because that's his style. I'm a little more wild and freeform so our yard has to be a compromise with both our tastes. You can always add more flowers etc. to the beds someday if you choose. Your garden has great 'bones' which is the big thing missing in most landscapes these days. Without a good bone structure, the clothes (flowers and smaller plants) will never 'hang' right- never look quite good enough. Be proud of it, it's pretty.

I don't have any personal experience with landscapers in the area but here's my two cents ... Have you seen an area similar to your slope that has been landscaped? Ask the property owner who did the work. Ask your neighbors and coworkers for suggestions. Some companies have websites you can look at - I'd check them out before contacting anyone. All companies should be able to give you a list of references and show you completed sites. I would look for a company that offers both design and contractor services. Ask for a brief, free consultation (about 15 minutes) to show them pictures of your site and see if they are interested in your particular job. Iowa City Landscaping and Pleasant Valley are full service dealing with design, construction and plants. They can work up a design for you and you can determine how much of the work you want them to do and how much you want to take care of yourself. If they work up your design and do the heavy work they will offer you discounted pricing on plants if you want to take care of planting yourself. They may also be booked far in advance. A smaller company may give you more personal service and may be able to complete the job faster. Take a picture of the area you want landscaped and ask if they have done any similar work in a woodland setting. You'll need to be specific and firm about conserving mature trees, etc. Hmm, I was hoping this would help you but I may have made it worse ... Cricket

Haha, yeah we have to reseed every year. It also doesn't help we have squirrels and some sort of creature that constant digs holes to get under the deck. A turf lawn in this area would be seen of as something completely out of place, we are very rural. Even the local high schools still have grass. We are working on a moss lawn in the fenced area, but it's slow going, We are focusing on the part that cannot be seen from the road. but is seen by every person that comes to the house. The house cannot be seen from the road at all except for in the winter, and even then it's obscured by so many trees you can't see it very well. The rocks are mainly because my husband wanted to put rocks everywhere, and I talked him into just there. Also, I'm not completely positive we can actually grow anything under there, let alone add rocks or a ground cover at all, so that is something we have to look into at a later time. The ground there is a ridge and furrow setup with netting. We had an issue with water seeping into the basement along one part of that area, but that was solved with laying plastic and adding another drain. The well is directly under the screened porch. Would planting a tree that close be an issue? The existing tree in the image is about 25' from the well cap.

Despite how pretty the flowering plants/shrubs look in a mock up, there is no guarantee they will thrive - or even survive - under these conditions!! That's one of the major drawbacks of this sort of cursory design input. Unless one can examine firsthand the degree of rootiness and soil moisture (or rather, lack of it), suggestions for large growing and water hungry shrubs and perennials are a bit of a joke. The sweetgums (Liquidambar) in particular are well known for the production of a lot of surface roots that makes planting anything of any size under their canopy extremely problematic. And both they and the pines are water hogs and will pull all available moisture out of the soil. This is a design issue I encounter on a daily basis. I live in an area with a lot of larger trees and with many lots that have these pockets of woodlands and know from more than 25 years of experience that groundcovers suited for dry shade conditions are the best choice. They are small enough so that one is able to dig a sufficiently sized planting hole though the tree roots and once established, are able to survive with that heavy root competition. Save the larger flowering shrubs - camellias, azaleas, hydrangeas, etc. - for the areas well away from the trees where they can receive the root-free, adequately fertile soil conditions and soil moisture they need to thrive.