I don't think the situation is as stark as you think it is. The large trees you have planted to either side of the driveway will eventually form a canopy over the drive that will compete with the driveway. Another quick fix might be to build a trellis for vines that extends over the garage doors, for something like Wisteria vines of Evergreen Clematis. It doesn't appear that there is enough room between the sets of garage doors to squeeze in a planter for something vertical between the doors, but this is a common trick used in monster California homes with a wall of garage doors. If cost is not an issue, (which in this economy, I doubt is the case), you could always reduce the visual impact of the concrete driveway by redoing a portion of it as bands with more decorative contrasting hardscape materials, or even use turfblock driveable paving suitable for growing grass to bridge the two sides of the driveway. This could also be done closer to the house to form a "lawn" within the "L" shape of your house, but wouldn't make much sense to do this if you typically leave parked cars on the driveway during the day.

I second the dwarf hawthorns. They are on my short list to get some for myself. I love their foliage and their mounding form. Oleander is an amazing and beautiful shrub, but they are also extremely poisonous. I don't know if you have to be concerned with that, but I thought I'd just put it out there. Lantana is poisonous too, and it isn't evergreen, but is clearly one of my favorite plants because they are carefree, extremely drought-tolerant and the butterflies just love them. I have a good friend with a child with special needs, and now I am always conscious as to the toxicity of a plant before I put it in the ground. Also, I love Mahonia Aquifolium, or "Oregon Grape Holly". They are evergreen, have similiar foliage to the hollies, so they'd blend nicely, but they have yellow flowers in spring, and berries in fall. Also, the foliage turns purple/orange in fall. They're slow growing, but will get pretty tall at maturity. They like sun or shade, deer resistant and drought tolerant. There is another Mahonia, Leatherleaf Mahonia, or Mahonia Bealei, but it's supposed to be invasive in our area. Please don't confuse the two. Also, I don't know how drought-tolerant it is, but IMHO, you can't beat Pieris Japonica for thier foliage, however, I've been told they're more of an "accent" plant, instead of a hedge shrub, so you may want to consider that. But, they are carefree, I've never had any problems with disease, or deer. Also, I am totally in love with Camellias, so I'd have to vote for them as well. I know they get very big, but since there are so many varieties, I'm sure there has to be one that comes in a smaller form. Gardenias do well in either sun or shade, but I think they prefer sun. The deer have never looked at them sideways, and for the first year I owned my house, I never watered them once and they came through the experience without a problem. When I found out they were Gardenias, I watered and fed them, and they bloomed like crazy for me the next season. I understand that they can have a problem with pests, whiteflies???, but I haven't had any problems, yet, knock on wood. Perhaps, if you let us know more about the sun/shade aspect, we can give you better answers.

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 grew up in a somewhat rural/somewhat suburban town in SE Michigan, with a lake down the street (and 7 others just in my town) and woods behind the house. I was a sort of mermaid-wood nymph. It was awesome. We are very urban now, just 1 mile from the border of Chicago, with an expressway and an elevated train half a block away. The kids do their best with our yards, treating 4 front yards as one long playing strip (we are all friends in those 4 houses) and going a few blocks to the school if they need a field. It works well enough. So yeah, we do have to be mindful of that when planting. The house I grew up in had several trees in the front yard, but the yard was so big it didn't matter. Our current house had bushes along *both* property lines when we moved in, but we removed the ones separating our yard from the other yard with kids (the opposite house, that is in danger of being eaten by its tree, has no kids). kitasei: when you say "yours may be an Olmsted," do you mean the sapling? I would be very impressed if anyone could identify that tiny tree at this point. I have no idea what it is. When they took out our ash, we put ourselves on the "new tree list" and 6 months later came home to a sapling. I think they are being careful about what they plant now, having found out in hindsight that planting a row of just one kind of tree is a very bad decision. I still miss the tree canopy. It was beautiful. I also had another look at the parkway and don't think there is enough space for an additional tree, because of the placement of our neighbor's tree (you can't see the tree in the pic but you can see the shadow) and the tiny sidewalk to the street. I will make do. At least the sapling is kind of in front of our house. Down the block, where 2 neighbors' mature but dying trees were taken down, the parkway sapling got planted in front of the 2 houses' side yards. Those 2 houses are essentially sharing a tree, which won't provide much shade for either house as it grows. That's unfortunate, but it was the only place on the parkway they could plant a new tree because of where the other 2 had been.