One idea I would consider if you want to do a variety of garden areas is to move the patio somewhat away from the house, or do the patio at the house but also put seating of some kind in a few other locations in the yard, What we've done is make a lower patio that is shady in summer, and an upper patio that gets more sun all year 'round. This is because we tend to be sun-seeking in spring and fall and that's when we use the sunny patio, but sun-avoiding in summer. There is also a spot in which we can specifically enjoy the morning sun for having coffee outdoors. Not all of this was preplanned, but these are the kinds of considerations that can be used to help make decisions. If you begin by assessing your sun directions and planting trees that will eventually shade certain parts of the yard, you can plan accordingly from there - your seating areas, and what you will look at from each of them, what privacy considerations you want for each of them. Start by just placing lawn chairs at these locations and sitting in them, and thinking it through from that position. KarinL

my $.02 too first thing i always tell anybody who asks me about what to do in their yard (i'm not a pro ) is: 1. live with it until you decide how you are going to use it and start making a list of what you wnat to do. 2. live with it some more until you know how it works- where is the sun/shade,wet/dry etc. 3. draw a map of your yard/house, circle and itentify what you want to do where-- will it work in that area. examples. i live on a city lot 50x125. the house was built in the 20's, it's 25 feet from the street. the drive runs from the street to the rear of the back yard, but there is no garage. we had twin 2 year old when we moved in. #1 need was a fence to contain them. thats what we put up as we moved in. after living there for a year we knew we wanted an area to dry clothes on the line. an area for the kids to play in -- including a swing set/sandbox and fort. we wanted an area to grill in/eat out. an area to relax in that wasn't in the sun. all this we wanted to do in the back yard. in the front yard we wanted to use as an entry way that welcomed people. I was willing to spend 1-2 hrs per week doing yard work as well as a spring and fall clean-up. in reality i' only willing to spend about 1 hour perweek. This means i need to rely on perinneials and tough plants that don't need lots of care. our 3 major problems with the yard were too many trees, the back third of the back yard was low, slow draining, and never got sun (think mud for 6 months of the year or more) and heavy clay soil.` year one we cut down 42 trees from the lot -- most were over 8" in diameter. We kept an ancient hickory (58" diameter), a young hickory (14" diameter) a maple(12" diameter) and three pin oaks (all about 14" in diameter). we ran a clothes line along one side of the back yard. since the back third of the yard was in heavy shade and only mud. we topped it with 18 tons of pea gravel-- put in the swingset, fort in the maple tree and a large sandbox. also we made a sitting area and put the wading pool there. no sunburns while the kids played, no more mud, cool and shady. we use the drive as a patio. but all this took us three years to achieve-- time to observe etc. nowe that the kids are 18, i can replace the fort/swingset with a shed for storage. the sand box is used for forcing winter publs and as a temporary holding bed. the lay out of the clothes line is being changed so i can increase the area where i have flower bed and so that it isn't so obvious now that we can entertain. also i'm finally able to start putting in plants i truly want as the soil has been built up over the years with many applications of compost, mulch, topsoil, sand and peat. i'm losing my big hickory-- maybe 10-15 more years, but i started a replacement for it in a better spot that a future owner will appreciate. but what you need to do lis figure out what you will do in the yard, what you want to see from the house, what you whant to see from the road. where do you always go into the house from? where do you want guest to go when they arrrive? where do you needx a shovel in the winter. then you need to read read read about plants and ask questions. as some one said you can always move the plant-- i'm ready to rip out my front flower beds for the 5th time because i finally think i have a plan that will work right for me-- i have homes for all the plants in these beds in other areas of my yard. so cut rake compost plant annuals stick in bulbs find plants you like and learn for a year or so then satart putting in the 'bones' of your garden and then start filling in the gaps. diggerb

Here's where I was thinking for trees to cut some wind directed at the patio. Predominant wind is from the NW. This diagram is not to scale. Center could be the ash (fraxinus americana "autumn purple"), autumn blaze maple (Acer x freemanii 'Jeffersred') or maybe an amur cherry (pruunus mackii) but they're listed as "only" 30 year lifespan. Funny you say that about the poplar. I've always lived in very farm-oriented communities so it's fitting that these would be common. The Swedish aspen is listed as more disease tolerant and having a 50 year lifespan. Poplar also tend to sucker where it doesn't sound like the aspen will. After more consideration, I may look to place the cedar elsewhere as they don't seem to tolerate wind very well. Possibly in front of the house under the front window or between the two small windows in the rear.

"... I know it won't get as tall as what you drew in ..." What I drew was a rough scheme, not a plan, so you shouldn't take it too literally, but as a guide of relative proportions. I think most people would want the front shrub (position #3 in the sketch) to be evergreen so as to carry the house through the winter. I'm not hard and fast on that as some deciduous can provide a lot of winter interest, too -- dried hydrangea flowers being one of those. I don't think I'd also want the next plant (#2, which wraps the house corner) to also be hydrangea. It would be too much similarity, making it harder for either to make a distinctive statement for its particular position. If it was me, I'd let #2 be a perennial, especially a long blooming or colorful foliage one if you can find such a thing. "I'm wondering if I should rethink this plan." There is a much greater chance of the answer being, "Yes," if one focuses too much, too early, on smaller details and aspects of the project. (A love of plants is one of the common early distractions!) It is best to start by looking at the big picture and taking stock of one's goals and objectives, which should be recorded on paper. Before thinking any more about plants, it would be good to have final resolution on the bed line, bench placement, any path or paved area for the bench. The bed line for the foundation planting seems to be resolved, but it seems there is not yet a commitment for the perimeter planting bed. If you take new pictures, please do it in the standard format of taking a complete, whole scene with the camera remaining stationary for the entire scene. These directions are for capturing the foundation planting area. It merely pivots but does not change location. The front face of the house would be one scene and the left side of the house would be another separate scene. Each scene is taken by lining the camera up with the center of the scene. (For the front house face, it would be lined up with the front door. For the side scene, the camera would be lined up halfway between the front yard corner and the basement driveway corner. Usually, the camera distance from the house needs to be positioned about at the city sidewalk or the curb, depending on how far that is from the house. Since your yard is shallow, it's probably the curb. Once the camera is at the correct position, takes a panning series of slightly overlapping shots, shooting from far left to far right capturing all portions of the yard that can be seen from that spot if one were just standing there looking with their eyes and not the camera. After that, it is usually best to walk across the street and take another distant shot that captures the whole yard (relevant portion) in a single picture so we can see what it looks like from the neighbors' point of view.