I wouldn't remove another thing until I identified everythng you have. You may be taking out choice trees, shrubs and groundcover. Make ample use of the "Name this plant" forum. Easy to post a picture and get answers often in minutes. I would also be very wary of what you're doing with the plant removal and potential grade change. It looks like you have created a bare slope aiming water runoff right for your foundation or cellar. Yes, tree work is expensive but you will get much smarter at it. Many of them can be felled yourself, especially when smaller. Some can be dropped and left for you to cut. If you burn wood, the hardwoods are valuable fuel. The softwoods like the pine you removed are good only for mulch and screening views (stacked). You can learn to prune. You now know the cost of tree removal. Planting new trees can be just as expensive if you hire labor to plant large specimens! It takes years of nurturing to grow a mature tree. So my advice again is to SLOW DOWN. Not to be a wet blanket...

Hello! I'm trying to design my backyard garden to replace turfgrass. I have some pre-existing structures, trees and I believe that the garden has a skeleton of a formal garden. I'm interested in building on the top of what is already present. Most of my yard is in full sun. There are trees on surrounding properties but this space gets almost a full day of sun. My SS zone is 16, in Northern Cali, (SF Bay Area). What I am looking for are suggestions of plants. I have contemplated some, and I am looking for some others. I am leaning towards making this a modern garden with grasses, groundcovers etc. I'm not looking for plants with flowers, unless they are self-cleaning :-), and my attempt is to create this garden with primarily foliage plants with varying shapes/colors/visual textures with foliage. (Another constraint is that I do not want to use succulents). I am looking for suggestions for: 1. Sculptural, statement making plant/shrub that would thrive in full sun. I'm thinking something with a vase or a round shape like round boxwood, Blackcurrent Sage, etc. which will be ~2-3 ft tall. There will be a total 4 of these around a central fountain+paved square area. (#6 in the drawing below). 2. a groundcover with an even appearance (i.e not wavy) -- that would not need mowing (#5 in the drawing below. This pretty much goes all over the area except for the plants). 3. short shrubs that can be planted in a row along the border. These can be fountain grasses, non-grassy full-looking shrubs, etc. (#3,9,10,11). TIA!!! (Here's the plan): #1 is paved area, with fountain in the center.

This is a Google Earth of our lot showing planting beds to create privacy This link of our patio includes visuals of the above viewed from ground level. Mostly professionally planned. Local nursuries know soil, compatible species and placement. https://youtu.be/lOAwXzKfTxY

Go to the library and get some books on landscape design to get some ideas. If I were facing a project this large, I would break it into phases.....do a section then blend that phase into the next phase and so on. Also, there's a great booklet available for free at nurseries and I've seen at the library too. Landscape Plants for the AZ Desert That link is to an Amazon book but I've seen the same booklet all over for free. Here is another good link, I think it's the same booklet only the online version: https://www.amwua.org/plants If you are new to this house, settle in a bit and see where you sit in the yard and how you use/enjoy it. I'm not sure why you think this needs to be done before you lay the 'rock'....are you talking about gravel? Like quarter minus? I hired a 'landscape designer' in 2008, someone who had been posting here regularly. It was a waste of money. Everything she planted died and her design ideas turned out to be problematic. (For example, she liked agave cactus planted under the mesquite trees. And a few other plants as well. It wasn't long before those plants under the trees were struggling to survive due to all the tree litter and debris that accumulated in and one them. Pulled them all out. Easy care, low maintenance was a key factor for us as we are retirement age, 70's, and don't want that burden nor the expense of hiring someone to maintain the upkeep.) You can hire good. Or you can hire cheap. Very rarely do you get both satisfactorily. Again, I'd do a small section, with the help of a designer if you can afford it, books from the library if you can't. See how the ideas work out before jumping in whole hog. Good luck.