I use MS Paint for garden and house plans. First I make graph paper (at the pixel level, so the spacing is consistent) and clone it. Then I take one of the clones and draw the house or garden to scale in Paint. Then I clone that and add whatever I'm thinking of doing. This past fall's project was to plan a new front walk and foundation beds, and since there's a slope involved (walk-out basement on one side), I also did elevations for the front and north side (fairly easy because the house is mostly brick and the walk-out basement is cinderblock, so I didn't need a laser or level, I just noted which course of brick or cinderblock showed above the soil). When I was trying to figure out the best design for the walkway and adjacent beds, I found the graph paper grid too distracting, so I removed it. Then when I got the beds the way I wanted them, I made a separate grid of dotted lines and pasted it (still in Paint) over the plan to make the measurements more evident for the guy who's maybe someday going to build the hardscape for me. All of that is only two-dimensional. When I'm trying to figure out how the potential new landscaping will look against the house, I print one of my plans, then sketch on it by hand. Not exactly high-tech. === There's a free and apparently superior version (Paint.NET) which has been recommended on this forum. I haven't tried it yet and don't know what it can do, because until last week I was using an ancient computer. http://www.getpaint.net/ === I've seen some plans years ago that were made with some sophisticated software that enables you to show buildings, stairs, fences, and hardscape in three dimensions and from different angles. That software may have been Google's free SketchUp, which has also been mentioned on this forum. Apparently besides creating buildings, trees, etc., you can also import terrain from Google Earth -- or you can create 3D terrain in other ways. (I'm not sure what the freebie version can do, as opposed to the Pro version, which I assume is not free.) http://sketchup.google.com/index.html Some examples of SketchUp plans from a Google Images search: http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=1372&bih=844&q=Google+SketchUp&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq= It looks to me as if SketchUp would enable you to produce a 3-D version of your house and prospective landscaping, but there would probably be massive amounts of time involved. [Then again, you're talking to the woman who drew the entire front of her 75' wide house in MS Paint, and figured it was silly not to add the carport, roof and chimneys....]

"Ladies" ... ?? I was gonna say!! It looks like a pretty good house, but I am puzzled why you cheaped out on the stoop and the entrance walk. It is underwhelming! Also, there is no reason to have two steps. One (with grading to match) would have been much better for appearance and for utility. I'm showing it widened and the cheekwalls built beefier. Maybe, in the future, you'll decide to upgrade it to a better look. The planting ideas I'm keeping simple (as usual) ... shrubs below windows where there is enough vertical distance, seasonal color framing the entrance area, a platform of groundcover surrounding the home, small trees, street trees (of which you can only see part of the canopy and their shadow at the foreground) and turf. Of course, you could add more plant interest in strategic areas in order to have more "spice," if desired. Instead of asking me what all the plants are, make suggestions of what you think what might could be used to create those forms ...?

If you now truly have a blank slate, you will need to be thinking beyond just perennials. Shrubs and even small trees form the bones of a garden and will offer that screening you desire in front of the open crawl space, as well as a year round presence. And as far as low maintenance is concerned, shrubs and trees, especially evergreen ones, tend to be on the low end of the maintenance scale while perennials are working their way up the scale. Most will need to be cut back or cleaned up at least annually as well as often needing staking or periodic dividing. Much fewer of those concerns with shrubs and trees. I'd suggest you try reposting this in either the Landscape Design forum or the Georgia Gardening forum ( for very local input) or both. And try to include a photo of the area in question as well as its aspect (facing north or on west side, etc.) and how much sun the area receives. Your request is just a little vague - the more specific or detailed your request, the more likely you are to generate some appropriate suggestions.

Looking for low maintenance, shady, and good for the kids. I have huge flower beds in the front and side yards that take up a lot of time so I would like something easy for the backyard. Suggestions for shrubs and trees that are semi-fast growing (no arborvitae). The water forms a little river path when it rains. It drains through the metal culvert pipe on the left hand side. It dries up within a day but does leave the ground muddy for a day or so- Georgia red clay. It was in the original post but planting zone 7b- metro Atlanta area.