I would not attempt to do the landscaping here myself. I'd talk with a contractor and tell him what you want. The brick basement level is a little dark and ominous looking. There seem to be French doors and maybe a cement patio under the brick curves. If you plan on extending the patio (flagstone?) as this house, you will need almost no landscaping. Instead of lawn plant creeping Junipers where this house has lawn. Note, they have a similar design and use a lot of lights, probably at night & when entertaining. The lights give a lift to a dark area. Not sure what is below your steps, but if there is a path it could be upgraded with flagstone Not sure if you need a retaining wall for the slope. Sometimes a small wall is nice, just for interest & can help bring down the height of the house. Here is a (large) stone wall and this stone looks nice with brick On the arched area of the basement (not sure if there is another arch behind the stairs. I'd buy 4 white flower Rhododendron one for each side of the arch. Instead of a mulch I'd plant Pachysandra as a "mulch", throughout. Under the double window I'd plant 3 of these evergreens that flank the front door On the recessed brick area I'd plant a vine and control it to that area of the brick On each side of the lower stairs I'd have a circular area and maple tree in the center I'd have a small lawn near the house (or pachysandra instead of lawn) and on the slope creeping juniper. This is a nice site you can choose shrubs by zone. http://www.buyshrubszone.com/shrub_types/evergreen_shrubs.html Hydrangeas can be OK for

Continued Hydrangeas can be OK for the back or side, they are not formal enough for the front, nor are they evergreen. The boxwood are a little too pruned and stiff looking, I think something like the Rhododendron would be more suitable for your house b/c your house is stiff & formal (let's say for the sake of comparison) and the Rhodies are a little less stiff & formal looking. Also how about Ilex somewhere?

I'm not a designer but I think your house is beautiful! If you would rather do it yourself I would do alot of research and look at houses that are similiar to yours and copy the design..I would think you would need large plantings, trees because your house is large..I'm sorry I'm not much help but when I saw the picture I thought it was stunning..Good luck!

This is a large project and I would recommend getting a landscape architect to do a consultation for you. It looks like you have a pronounced slope which could involve retaining walls and I think you need some good advice on site. If a landscape architect does the plan and helps you with selecting a contractor to do the install you might be able to DIY for some of the planting.

What a beautiful house! I am very envious!

I would think carefully about the grading. If you plant it, you are stuck with it, so either get it evened out now or forever hold your peace.
Then I would decide whether you want curves to relax the front, or straight lines to continue the style. Up to you.

I think I would try a wider flagstone landing at the foot of the grand staircase, big enough for a pair of white adirondack chairs, and do a white cottage garden around the rest, which would relax the impression, yet be formal by color. There are longer blooming white flowers every year, but try snowball hydrangea and reblooming azaleas. White variegated hostas and grasses. Star magnolias, white crocus and narcissus for early spring. Daisies and echinacea for sunnier spots.Remember to plan a winter shape - a row of low yew will make the white pop and hold its own in winter. then add a few silver and pastel touches, and it will be gorgeous.

You might also try a trailing plant draped over one of the railings, growing in a big pot on the porch. It would soften the line, and complement the beauty. I bet honeysuckle would do, but beware the invasive kind.

I keep looking at those steps and thinking - can they be split? By that I mean that the steps come halfway down to a landing and turn 90 degrees in both directions and you have an approach from either side, kind of like an inverted Y. I think this would balance the facade better. Of course it would not be cheap. As for the garden, I can see that the ground is heavily compacted from machinery used to excavate foundations. From experience I know this can make gardening difficult. If you pave the area in front of the French doors you solve the problem there and then I would terrace the remaining garden thus bringing in a lot of new soil and building retaining walls. I had a similar plot at one stage and we wasted at least $1000 trying to do it ourselves. I eventually bit the bullet and spent $10,000 and got a landscaper to do it properly. Instantly put $20,000 value on the property. So it's worth waiting and doing it right the first time and save yourselves a lot of hard work and disappointment.

Wow, your home is simply beautiful! I agree with portpiro that rather take your time and consult with a professional then you can slowly do the planting yourself if need be. Your home is so lovely it deserves an equally breath-taking garden. Wishing you all the best!

WOW. I have no advice to give, I just wanted to say that your home is beautiful!

You do need a landscape Architect because of the slop, you need someone who know the codes in your area, and the condition on the ground. You don't want to be doing something that would not hold. After you get a plan, then you can decide what you can do yourself, and what you need a professional for. What you can do now budget wise and what can wait.
Good luck with the house.

Megan, what a beautiful dilemma you have! I agree with most of the responders who advise you to speak a professional on this project. It's neither going to be simple nor inexpensive. But with a licensed experienced pro, you can identify major issues, build a plan for those areas that require professional work and those that you can tackle yourself and also build a budget and timeframe that makes this a joy and a not a nightmare. I would love to see how this pans out so if you have time post your progess. Good luck and enjoy!

Basic principles of design apply to landscape design too. If you really want to do it yourself become an "expert" by reading landscape design books and taking a continuing education class in landscape design from your local university or extension office. This is what I did, designed our own yard and paid someone to execute the major portions, then did all the planing ourselves. I always get a lot of compliments on our yard.

Here are some basic principles to consider.

1) Scale. You want the size of your beds and plantings to be in scale to your house. Since your house appears large you should have large beds to hold most of your plantings.

2) Repetition. Rather than plant many different types of plants, plant groups (3 or 5 or 9 or more depending on the plant and its size), that is multiple repetitions of the same plant. Repeat elements diagonally across the yard.

3) Consider your winter landscape. Start with structure in mind--evergreens, trees, woody shrubs, add perennials and annuals last. Usually you want a 70 to 30 ratio of either evergreens to deciduous or deciduous to evergreen. It doesn't matter which way you lean, but keep the balance leaning to one or the other.

4) Plan around the existing landscape. Mark the key trees and other plantings on your plan and plan around those.

5) Plan your hardscape (stairs, pathways), how to get from one place to another, driveway, etc.

6) When choosing plants look for plants that do well in your area. With your big tree canopy in the back you may need to consider more shade tolerant plants.

7) Color scheme--are you going to have silvers or purples or browns? Consider foliage for color more than blooms, usually bloom time is short.

8) Soil preparation--your soil looks pretty compacted from the construction work. Make sure it drains adequately, if needed amend or bring in topsoil. You don't want to spend time and money on a beautiful landscape only to have plants die because

I don't think your house is necessarily formal. It's very "Southern"(I live in Alabama-zone 7) and it's so beautiful that I would keep it simple. You said you've had all the brickwork on your house done. If you had lots of brick leftover, maybe you could have a spot leveled at the base of the staircase and lay a large brick landing there.Go from there with steps down to street level. Your planting zone7 is great for my suggestions. I would start with a Crepe Myrtle variety(probably pink)that grows very tall and lets put them between the steps & each arched opening and also to the right in that little inset place then on either outside corner. Crepe Myrtles bloom over 100 days a year in the south! Fill in with Indica Azeleas in purple. They keep their leaves all winter, are great for zone7 and grow quite large. Fill the rest of the beds with Stella D'Or(Sort of gold) or Happy Returns(yellow)reblooming daylilies for color all summer. Hosta is wonderful in this zone but it may get too much sun on that side of the house. Add some annuals like Impatiens for extra color. Try some caladium bulbs in pink also although they are not hardy here and would have to be replaced yearly.
Something else that would be great would be to excavate several feet into the hill on the left side of the pic and cut out an area, down to basement level and add a semi-circle retaining wall and floor with the same brick as the house. This would be a nice little sitting area-maybe even a place for a small bar-b-que.
These are just a few things off the top of my head. I hope you will show us your progress here.

What a lovely home. Read up on local plants and find books on houses with a similar design to yours at your library. Make a notebook of what appeals to you and then make an appt. to visit a local landscape architecht. Do some DIY by creating some planters in a style you like to get your hands dirty. I can't wait to see the end result. Good luck.

Your home is beautiful!

I would.......all along the right hand side basement wall white hydrangeas in a mass planting to soften that area. As you have a bit of a sloped front to contend with I suggest to try slate pavers on the crest of the hill areas and inermingle smaller stones in there too. You can then plant your maples where you want and try oriental underplantings or smaller simple white/pink/purple flowering shrubs to soften the hill out. Use larger smooth rocks in groupings to add interest to areas where there it is too hard to dig or plant anything. A simple water feature will add a touch of tranquility to your garden too. If placed in a sunny spot I recommend a solar powered pump as it saves time and money to install something you may need/want to move in a few years. Easy to do too...ask me more if you want to know one of the easiest ways to do a water feature....Hope this helps a bit with ideas as it is semi oriental but just went off what you said you liked already which is kind of a good jumping off point. Good luck!

Fantastic, I LOVE the transformation presented by Grace Refuerzo! Its awesome - she is really talented.

wow, grace, that is neat. I'm a very visual person (my brother in law photoshopped different brick colors and patterns before we could decide!) and this really helped. Thanks for taking the time to tinker with this!

Thanks all so far on the feedback. I am by no means a professional and respect the business. What we do have is time and patience to put this project together, which is why I want to start here. This will likely end up a fall 2012 to spring 2013 project and a professional will very likely be used in the planning but my husband and I will very likely do all of the labor over time. "Curve appeal" is not an issue or a pressure and when leaves are on the trees, the home is not visible from the street, so this project is completely for us (rather than to hurry to complete it because it looks like an eyesore of a lawn).

Re: water features, there is a natural creek flowing through the property roughly 50' in front of the house.

Re: stone, stacked stone is abundant in the area and neighborhood with all of the creeks. I've wondered about using that?

There are wooden ties at the base of the stairs. Those were filled with pebbles. We just recently dug it out about 4" and are planning to lay the brick in and fill with sand. We have about 400 bricks left and need to use it!

The house is very southern. I've looked all over the internet in the last year to help with ideas. (A photo on houzz actually inspired our design of the arches on the basement level!) It's very greek revival vs "low country". The Charleston/Hilton Head/Savannah area offer the best home design comparisons, but as one could imagine, their landscape is very coastal. I also have a hard time finding photos of landscape on homes with a wall as high as ours on the basement/1st level of our home and how much height to create with landscape.

Re: the stairs- we did consider breaking them and splitting at the bottom, but just kept with the original layout when we rebuilt them. They're h

con't:
They're here to stay--- we built a wall beneath it and had it bricked in to create a storage shed, accessible to the left of the stairs.

Re: the soil--- yes it does need to be amended. It is classic red clay. It is a part of the plan. We do have a tiller, know where to find horse manure, and where to find free topsoil!

Thanks guys and please keep the ideas rolling. It is extremely helpful and appreciated.

Do not by any means buy soil from the local dump! You will have trouble with weeds.

If you have frontage on that creek, it would be wonderful if you could sink a pump there and feed a sprinkler system for your yard and gardens. The only thing that can beat that water is when God sends the rain!

I have a picture I would like to send to you. cynkloeter@gmail.com

I suggest you plant either bougainvillea or climbing roses (depending on your climate) on either side of both arches and train over the arches. On the far right I would espalier magnolias in keeping with Southern look of the home. I normally like to espalier in a formal shape however I recommend you cover as much of the brick wall as possible since it is disproportionate in size for the house. I cannot see how far you are from the road, but I recommend you have good soil brought in and build a retaining wall so you can fill up to the level of the home. Depending on the height of the wall you can espalier again or have edging plants atop the wall that cascade as well as plants at the base of the wall to soften it. Try to match the bricks of the wall to the bricks of the home. Depending on the size of the lot you may not need anymore landscaping as the house should be the focus with this style. You do not want the house to appear like a tract house with builder plantings. Perhaps a bed of spring and fall flowering bulbs atop the retaining wall with an overplanting of everblooming daylilies. Hope this helps. :)

Just saw your comment re the creek ...that is where I would plant the bulbs and lilies. If you are in low country (I am from there originally) you can have narcissus, cyclamens, and camellias blooming in the winter, jonquils and azaleas in the early spring, magnolia and oleander in the summer and autumn, and bougainvilleas year round. :)

I didn't make any comments regarding planting bulbs. Think you sent this message to me in error

Do hire a landscape architect for the plans. Then you can do most of the work yourself.

My design levels out the top terrace area and drops into another sunken garden in front.
C.Kloeter Garden Designs.GA

You can avoid using a wall and simply go with just terraced sections below the flatten area near the first set of stairs. I think it would be beautiful to fill the garden with the plants you have chosen especially since it is a partially shaded area and on the north side. If the staircase looks too massive, I would suggest turning it towards your drive and fill in area with plants. Though my design is somewhat symetrical, it can be broken up with plants of varing height. It can also be less form simply by grouping plants (odd number) of various heights to create more of natural cottage feel. Good luck. Beautiful home!

I do not know where you live and you need to be advised about plants that live in your area so consult a local nursery; they can give you advice. We live in SC and 2 beautiful plants that you should include are camelias and gardenias if you live somewhere they grow. They have outstanding greenery and beautiful flowers. I also new a man who planted a lot of hollys because he wanted leaves all year round.

Absolutely beautiful house!