Canockie, this is just a quick basic diagram with the outline of an idea. The darker tree is the proposed blue spruce, and the others are intended to be deciduous, flowering or not, which would cool in summer, and let sun through in winter. Specific identity is best determined locally, but along the sides they should be something that grows fairly tall and narrow. Your HOA seems like it might not be too big an obstacle, at least to keeping your house cool. So the basic bones of your plan would be about shade, pathways, and sightlines. Since I can't help you with either the left side or with sightlines from various points on the property, you could start by imagining trees where I've sketched them, and move (or remove them) around to work in real life. It can help to stick a garden tool in the ground at the point you might put a tree, and imagine how that will look from the door, from the window, as you drive home, etc. I've not put a tree very close to the house, but there is clearly an option to put another one closer for faster, more significant shade. That has to be balanced off by whether you want to live in a little forest :-) I put the front yard trees more so they would shade the yard, which will give you some sheltered area for other plants, since side yard trees will do morning and afternoon cooling. The blueberries might be happier in the back, but if you want them in the front, the shelter of the trees should work (but just remember I write from the rainforest! so I don't know for sure). This will leave you exposed to afternoon sun, which could be mitigated with one more tree right were your curb tree now is or across the sidewalk from it. That will block the door a fair bit, so is a matter of taste. Tree placement being decision 1, decision 2 is how you move around the property. Are there gates through to either side yard? If so, pathways can be put in - two options are dotted in. Many people find it easier to place beds for flowering plants with reference to pathways - I do, because I like to plant things that have up-close interest and then I enjoy walking over to see them. How do you get the mower from front to back yard? And then decision 3 is what you want to see/be seen, or have blocked from different points of view. These bones are important to get right - and "right" is not something anyone but you can determine. Of course even trees can always be moved or replaced, but it's nice if they don't have to. Placement of flower beds and flowering plants is easy to work around your trees once the tree locations are chosen. Beds can be around tree bases, or completely separate from them - sun-loving plants to the sunny side, less tolerant ones on the shadier side. I hope this gives you something to start doodling with and imagining in 3d. Karin L

You can stain the fence if you like that look and want a particular color. Or you can leave it to weather to a gray color. Depends on how you want it to look. If you mulch near the fence, keep the mulch off the wood, as it will cause the fence to rot out prematurely. Plant selection is the last thing you do when planning a landscape. There are a lot of recent discussions about blank slates, how to start, and a thread about a FAQ that is partly tongue-in-cheek and partly valuable information. You can read for those an overview of the design process. You need to know what you want from this area before you can do any planning, how much time you want to spend maintaining it, how much you want to spend improving it, and what the needs of your family are. There are probably dozens of different ways to treat this area, and when you add the plant and other materials possible, thousands of combinations. Telling you to plant this or that is not really helpful at this point, with no design in mind.

Please look into Permaculture / food forests or forest gardening. Plants and trees can provide beauty and function, and the idea is that you plant things that are perennial and will give you food. You could plant some evergreens that will give you pine nuts, some paw paw trees, persimmon trees and understory ones like Asian pears, serviceberries, figs and hazelnuts; bushes could be Cornelian cherries or bush cherries, blueberries or honey berries, currants; the list is endless. Even asparagus can be used, and it will resemble tall grasses. You could have rhubarb for their amazing color and leaf size, and strawberries as a ground cover...you could have a large pergola or arbor with kiwi or grapes...all of these plants are beautiful, many provide seasonal color and fragrance along with delicious fruit. I started a food forest last year, and along with what I had planted, I have well over 30 kinds of fruit that I'm growing and I plan to add more. I will have fresh fruit from May through November / December. I live in a zone 4-5 climate in Vermont. Watch a few videos by "Canadian Permaculture Legacy" to get the idea. It does not have to look like an orchard or vegetable garden, but instead, an integrated and verdant oasis of interesting plant shapes, heights and colors intermingled . Personally, I love raspberries, but I won't grow them because I don't want to deal with the canes which get unruly and are kind of labor intensive. All of my choices are tidy and low-maintenance. Right next to the sidewalk, for example, I have planted a 120' hedge of Regent serviceberries which will serve a number of purposes: all of the leaves from the neighborhood won't end up in my front yard, it will offer privacy in the summer but still be of a friendly height, it will feed the birds, act as a sound buffer for the constant traffic and will help with the dirt and dust that gets in the house from the highway. The hedge will explode in blossom in the spring; it will offer tons of food for me and it will offer fall color. Plants should provide more than a single purpose! With your upstairs windows, I was wondering if you could replace the existing ones with somewhat bigger/taller windows and add a second and third one on the left and right windows to help align with the downstairs and to let in more light.

I forgot to mention that it also needs to be deer proof (or deer resistant).