I think the easiest way to maintain a large area is to create a woodland environment. Separate the 'woodland' from the 'yard' perhaps with the wall in the picture, or by some sort of border like logs or simply the edge of the lawn, and don't worry too much about maintaining the woods. I am sure you've seen yards that border the woods, and some of them look perfectly manicured despite the fact that nothing is done to maintain the woods. So, it is partly attitude ('those are the woods, this is the yard') and partly a good border between the two that makes your life easier. I would start by by mulching and planting large clumps of a few types of shrubs or small trees. Pick out perhaps three to five types of native woodland shrubs. Get perhaps three to five plants of each type. Plant each type of plant in an informal clump. The clumps should be arranged to look nice, frame in your yard and woodland path, and to not interfere with each other too much (give them the room they need). In general, put taller ones toward the back, smaller ones in front. Mulch the whole area. You can buy shredded bark or find a local tree trimmer or the municipality who shreds branches (power company crews, road maintenance crews etc.) and sometimes get the chips for free. i would use the most natural-looking mulch you can find, so that the woods look as woodsy as possible. in the future, simply leave the leaves that fall. You should probably mulch again in future years to help build ip the soil and supress weeds. I would probably remove a lot of the small plants that are there now. I see a yellow-green groundcover that is probably a sedum, some weeds, I think, and some grass. none of these really fit in a natural woodland, so I wouldn't keep them. As the shrubs grow, the spaces in between you can plant with wildflowers, ferns, etc. Once you get the shrubs growing and a good mulch on the soil, you can take your time (years, if you want) planting wildflowers, and I think you'll enjoy it. I would start with several Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) scattered through the woods. I would plant clumps of Cranberry viburnum (tall, put it near the back), American Holly (Also tall), Maybe Gray Dogwood in the sunnier parts of the front, Blueberries (highbush type- most of the blueberries grown for fruit are 'highbush' blueberries that will get four or five feet tall, at least), and perhaps Red chokeberry, or maybe Inkberry holly, which is evergreen. I would make each clump something like 10 ft by ten feet, but an irregular shape. This will fill a lot of space, you'll like the look of the shrubs, and there will be no maintenance - you can simply let them grow once they are planted and watered for the first few months. I think evergreen groundcovers are a pain - weeds often grow through them, it is hard to get leaves out of them, and unless they grow really thick, the look like a poorly maintained planting. Woods, on the other hand, aren't supposed to be maintained and so look fine full of leaves and sticks. Just maintain a path through them and you are fine.

Remember that once our noses get accustomed to a scent, we may no longer smell it but others coming in might. That may be why you could smell it when your returned from vacation but not after you became reaccustomed to it. That's why so many women go WAY overboard on the purfume, they stop smelling it and keep adding more, while those around them are passing out.

We have been battling a skunk smell for over a week now as we try to humanely catch the skunk who apparently has gone under our deck and we think then rooted under our sunporch and made a nest. It was unbearable for 1 day, almost literally burning your nose as you breathed. Unfortunately, time is really the only way to make the smell go away. I boiled vinegar, per the suggestion of the skunk catcher, but my husband and kids think that was almost worse than the skunk smell. We burned scented candles non-stop during the worst part of it and sprayed febreeze. On one of the warmest days last weekend (50 degrees!), we opened all the windows and doors in the house. my kids have gone to school literally smelling like skunks - fortunately they are confident, well-liked kids so they weren't too traumatized although my 14 YO daughter camped out in her bedroom for 2 days and "de-toxed" anyone who walked in the room by spraying them with body sprays. Her room seemed to not get any of the smell because it is furtherest away from the deck. It has almost completely gone away except for one part of the basement near where I think it is nesting. Anyway, we called a guy who set 2 humane traps (not really humane because by law he has to exterminate them after he catches them, but at least it isn't at my house). We caught our cat, but no skunk yet. If you are smelling it that strongly in your house, you probably have one nesting nearby. We walked the exterior of our house and quickly found the hole where the rascal went under the deck to nest. It is mating season and so if they have a nest near your house and you don't find it...you may have a whole family of skunks in 8 weeks. one of the things the guy told me that he suggests to anyone with a deck is to dig down a foot and bury wire and bring up and overlap the facia board of your deck to keep skunks out from under your deck. I think it could easily be concealed with plantings. We are going to do this in the spring once the ground thaws. You have to dig deep because skunks are persistent and will dig and dig to get to where they want to go. I have learned more than I care to know about skunks, their mating habits and rituals and their ability to outwit even the most persistent skunk catcher. I will be SO glad when we catch ours - if we ever do! Good luck.

Not to beat a dead bamboo stalk, lol, but the reason I mentioned the flowering and dying off of bamboo is because we have two very large groups of bamboo. One in the PNW and the other, with quite a few different varieties, in Florida. Years ago I was given some buckets of bamboo shoots that we planted in both yards, along with other varietites that were planted by my parents 50 or so years ago - including Phyllostachys Nigra, (Black Bamboo). Both stands of the the "bucket" bamboo started to flower and die off this winter - in both places, in exactly the same way. I called the friend who had given me the original "bucket" of shoots and her bamboo was flowering/dying also. I just thought it was interesting and did some research - hence my comments. Best of luck Mimi - we love our bamboo - we live near the coast and we love the clicking sound the bamboo makes on windy days.