Karin, it's interesting and enlightening to read what others think of our house and landscape, even if we may not agree or take up some suggestions. We live in an area where we don't have a large number of options for landscape/garden design, unfortunately! So no worries about me being offended by criticism/suggestions, etc. We appreciate the help and we will work to think about each decision in terms of its purpose. We originally had purposes in mind for each bed in our backyard, though it may not look like it now - with the exception of the hydrangeas along the back fence. They were originally planted behind our garage (where the pool equipment enclosure is now). When we put in the pool, we moved them to the side bed (which didn't exist before the pool) along the fence, but the neighbor's black walnut tree hampered their growth. So rather than throw them away, we made a new bed along the back, sort of a temporary spot until we figure out what to do with the rest of the beds. I won't bore you or anyone else by enumerating the purposes of the other beds in the back, but just want to add that we also did have more visual interest and contrast in flower, foliage, and form - but many of those plants didn't survive. We've been in a sort of holding pattern back there for a couple years - and I'm looking forward to improving that landscape. But back to the front yard/landscape. One of our goals for changes remains to revise the long bed along the drive for the dual purposes of easier maintenance and including more variety in its plants to provide more interest in months other than July. Another goal is to revise the small bed near the side steps to make it better looking (instead of a hodgepodge of plants, as it is now) and as a memorial garden for our daughter, with beautiful plantings. We also still want to improve the visual impact/visibility of the front door. To me, that is a separate goal from emphasizing the front entrance, if by entrance one means the wide front steps (which aren't truly the entrance to the house, but visually they do give that impression). We understand the goals of Laag's ideas about beds in front of the steps and a wide path from the driveway to the steps/porch. But in terms of practicality, we don't want people to stop midway up our driveway and walk up the path, because then they block the entire driveway. Also, the steps are covered with snow for the entire winter (it's too expensive to pay to have them cleared each time it snows), and a walkway would also be covered in snow, so the practical function of a walkway beginning partway up the driveway wouldn't apply during those months. I've been bothered for a while by the sense of imbalance between the long driveway bed and the expanse of grass on the other side of the drive, so another purpose of making changes is to see if we can balance that. Laag's suggestion about a grassed area in the long bed was so helpful - I just don't know whether that is enough to achieve balance, or if we will need a bed under the birches. A new purpose resulted from a number of comments here, and that is to soften the impact of the veranda wall. I think we are just so used to how our house looks that we don't see it for how it really appears. You all have opened our eyes to this issue! I haven't been in the back yards of the houses above us (in the back) to see what they can see of our back yard. It "feels" private in our back yard most of the time, probably due to the fence, but I still don't do any skinny-dipping. ;-) The front feels very public to me (it's a busy street and in the spring/summer/fall, a very busy golf course), with the exception of the veranda. On the rare occasions when we are seated there (it's usually too hot/buggy/raining/cold), we have at least the illusion of privacy behind that fortress wall - though with close neighbors, we have to watch how loudly we talk. My sister mused aloud a few years ago about the idea of putting a hedge across the front of the yard (on the lawn on the house side of the sidewalk, if you're facing away from the house) to screen the street and provide more of a sense of privacy. A neighbor a couple of houses down has a partial bridal wreath hedge in the yard and she was noting that at the time. I'll update as we get further along in this process; meanwhile, if anyone has more comments/suggestions, we're very happy to have them.

DH and I were just talking about moving the driveway over, but I know our community has laws as to the set-back of driveways due to it being a corner lot. I Think we'd have to extend the driveway FAR into the fornt yard. I think the entrance needs to be at least 20 ft away from the corner and we'd end up losing lots of land. ALso..just FYI, we only have 1 tree on our property, the rest are in neighbors yards. I think I"m going to get in touch with some landscapers to map out the whole project. NOt that we'd be able to do it all at once though. As far as a garage, we've talked maybe building one where the deck is now so that we could also build a master bedroom suite above it, but I'm not seeing that kind of $$ for a LONG time. We don't intend on moving anytime soon, but may rethink that in about 3 years before our daughter starts school depending how the market is, and if we want to move to a different school system. The housing market is so bad here though, that we may have no choice but to stay. Just FYI, we bought this house at the peak of the market 2 1/2 years ago and were lucky to find something under 400k. IT has since lost it's value quite a bit. And the interior is a "fixer-upper" too. With 2 kids in daycare, our budget doens't allow for extravagent changes. PLus we have to kepe in mind how much $$ we wnat to add to the house when we probably would never get it back.

Hi sweeby - I think my quality of life would only be improved if I was sure to leave myself enough room to get out of the car since the fence would be on MY left! If it's too big a project to scoot over to the right a bit (e.g. if paving over a little bit of my yard is too big a project), then yes, it could end up not worth it. But they often park right next to me and I still manage to get out, albeit somewhat carefully. But I tell you, if building a fence *would* actually leave me room to get out easily, I would also love having a fence there (I'm now thinking only the length of my car or a bit longer...but I'm no longer thinking about the whole driveway yet just in case I can't terminate the easement - which I don't know yet)...because it would mean I wouldn't have to see them so much when in my front yard or sitting on my stoop. When I see them my hearts sinks. It's always very awkward. Even before the drama they never said hi. It's just yuck yuck yuck. They're the only ones cutting off noses (that would be MY nose - or my car's nose at any rate) I promise. ;)

We climbed the hill yesterday. The good news is the spring is still running and the holding tank is full. Sadly because of that there is some run off being wasted by just running to ground. It's a gentle trickle coming out which over 24 hours adds up to a fair amount. No cause for celebration though. Yesterdays rain was a 10 minute shower which amounted to nothing. Weather reports are getting more desperate. Tomorrow is flagged as light rain and a gentle breeze. When I look at it in detail there is a 16% chance of a shower at 10.00am and that's it for the day. Nothing after that until the 29th when there is a 24% chance of some light rain. I now turn these predictions around and read it as 76% chance of no rain. We really are clutching at straws. Dave