Juliann, I'll post a site from the UK that has pictures of various types of gardens. This link goes to their Cottage Garden which they say is "contrived to look uncontrived". There are many other types of gardens there that might provide inspiration. Which plants you choose depends on which climate zone you are in. I'm in zone 3 so am somewhat limited in what I can grow. I'll post a pic of what I call my wild bird garden. It's an area in my large garden that has the birdfeeder and birdbath. I allow the flowers to go to seed for the birds so they self-seed. This area has changed over many years altho I initially seeded shasta daisies (the butterflies love them) and yarrow and planted a few established perennials. The yarrow seeds I planted were a mix of red, pink, and white, but the white resembles the wild yarrow we have so we pull it out and it's mostly now only tones of pinks and red. There are also Lamb's Ears because they seed all over my garden but I leave them in this wild area (the bees love them). There are a few other plants, a pink mallow that's 'weedy' but it fills the space and is quite pretty and we also have several lilacs here. Near that area there is also a drift of common old irises which we've allowed to spread. They are in the lower part of the rockery and I will eventually weed some of them out as the bloom time is not very long. If I were deliberately planting a wildflower garden I would not buy a wildflower mix as there could be invasive plants in it. I planted a mix about 14 years ago and still have Dame Hesperis (Dame's Rocket) altho pull out many every year and try to dead-head them ASAP before they seed. It's quite a weed in warmer climates. I would choose seeds of plants I like that are hardy but not invasive and mix them together. Another option is to plant in swaths with various plants and grasses hardy to your area. Keep in mind the moisture requirements of the plants as you decide. The area where I have shastas, mallow, and yarrow needs little watering and only a spring weeding so is easy care. Here is a link that might be useful: The Garden House

CCP - I am late to respond, but I am not sure what pictures to add. If you look at the ones I put up on 4/15/11 and imagine grass, you pretty much have the layout. The swings are steps from the patio, and running around space is more open behind the garage. General Update - Another season in, we cured the drainage issue in the spring, mostly. The dry creek to nowhere, that my architect and landscaper thought would work, didn't. We were left with rocks on top of mud, instead of mud. We pulled it, and did a DIY (disaster filled install) french drain going across two and a half properties. We used "EZ-Flow" Pipes from NDS, which is basically an alternative to gravel. We are having some problems with the pipes bucking after a heavy rain and needing to be re-worked in my next,next door neighbor's yard, but we are planning to add more fill to weigh it down. Moving the water away to the community retention pond was the only cure though. Kind of wish we had written a check as opposed to DIY though. In terms of the plantings, almost everything has thrived - except the dogwood and sourwood in the rear. We replaced the sourwood once and its replacement is hurting. There is a bit of grade there and we've read that sourwood's like water, so we think that its iffy that we have the right plant there given that the water drains. The dogwood, we may replace this weekend. That particular tree was always kind of weak even before the transplant from the front yard to the back, so we will give it one more shot before looking at another selection. The patio (and deck above) gather mold rather easily. In a few years I'd like to rip the cheap composite deck out and replace it with something (tropical hardwood?, regular wood?), but we'll live with it for a while. The mold/moss (green stuff) on the bluestone is a bit more disconcerting, as we wonder if it is a sign that the area below the patio is on the wetter side. The ground is firm, and there is gravel below, and the gutters are buried/routed away, but we speculate that water may be a factor. In terms of our enjoyment - we had a labor day party last weekend and could put a couple dozen people in the yard no problem. The kids like to hid in the tall grasses by the side stairs, and the curb appeal is nice. So far, so good.

beware of the "welcome to my garage look that you can get with a wider driveway and less interruption of the view to the garage that the tree now provides. Also consider more than the stairs. Do you want to get more space out of your small front yard for purposes other than mowing exercise and a foreground to your house? If so, consider a retaining wall or more than one with a walkway and steps incorporated through it. I don't know if this street and/or your personality makes it such that you would want to spend time on that side of the house or not, but you should go through that mental exercise. I don't have a problem with bisecting the lawn to make a walk/stairs that would re-center the attention of the curb view of the house from the driveway to the front door.

It's always a bit sad to see grade problems that came with a new house because the builder didn't want to fix them in the first place. Whenever shopping for a house, Always buy one where the grade drains away from the foundation walls, not toward them. Don't know where you are, but for starters I'd be looking for a plant that spreads with underground root parts, or is viney and spreads by rooting wherever it touches the ground. Maybe you already have such a plant in the mix, I can't tell. Or maybe what you have could be divided so that it becomes solid more quickly, which is always the goal with groundcover. It's necessary because it is part of what keeps weeds out of the bed. This project will be much easier (and I think much better looking) if you have a SINGLE groundcover covering bank. A mixture that looks like odds and ends, just looks messy ... especially with weeds. If this were in Atlanta, I would consider English Ivy as a possible groundcover as it has many good qualities. But as with most groundcovers, one MUST learn how to control its edge. I don't know where you are so have no specific plant recommendations. Besides learning to control the edge of a groundcover, one MUST keep the weeds out, and here, it looks like the weed-free ship has sailed! This creates problems of such magnitude that, often, it's almost better to start over from scratch. If a commitment to keep a groundcover area weed free is not made at the outset and maintained diligently, the battle will never be won. Let's ascertain ... what groundcover plant is there now, and does it have the ability to be divided so a solid groundcover can be created?