That's a very nice looking home. I would make sure the planting enhances the architecture.

Because of the informal balance, I wouldn't mirror the same planting on either side of the entrance, but maybe three on one side, one on the other, or contrasting heights.

I would keep the planting in front of the porch very low to show off that detail, with the tallest element in the front of the house, an airy medium sized ornamental tree at the left end of the porch, to the right of that widow on the left wing of the house, spaced appropriately far enough to accomodate future growth.

I would not use tall elements at the ends, but masses of medium/low evergreens.

Lots more to consider but to me, these are important guidelines I would use. Good luck to you...

Holy schmokes, that's what I call NO existing landscaping.

My advice would be to think about doing a landscaping plan for the WHOLE property and not just designing the foundation planting in isolation. Think about trees on the lot, any fencing or visual boundaries or framing or privacy screening you want to put in... go the the library and get books, lots of books, look at lots of pictures. For principles, you could search this forum for "foundation planting" and you should get an eyeful, though the photos on some threads won't show anymore.

Also keep in mind that landscaping is as much about who you are as about what your house looks like. Don't put in more plant material than you want to maintain and clean up after.

I second the Holy Schmokes! Is this a house or a small nursing home? I expect to see a line of several elderly people lined up in wheel chairs on the porch with a blanket in their lap on warm days.

This is another of those "What should I plant?" postings. Sorry... I am not being rude but I think you need a reality check. A few bushes and flowers up next to the house will only reinforce the stark institutional look. Right now, the only thing missing is the lighted sign.

You need to call in a qualified professional.

IronBelly

I have always thought of doors (and even garage doors...) as the "eyes" of the house. The point where you can see into the soul of the house to get a feeling about it. The pictures provided are of a beutiful house, but I am looking for that extra connection.

You have a backdrop of an established forest behind your house, which should give you an inspiration for how to connect your house with natives to the surrounding land.

I am going to guess from the appearance of the pines that you are located in the sand hills section of SC. Most fortunate that the front of your house faces north as it will allow you to grow some excellent evergreen shrubs. Suggest that you purchase LANDSCAPE PLANTS OF THE SOUTHEST by Halfacre and Shawcroft. This book will give you an excellent overview of suitable shrubs by height and width from which to choose. It should be available in local book stores as it is a standard. Working with a designer is an excellent suggestion because you have a lovely home which could only benefit from professional advice. A few quick ideas. Perhaps a Fatsia japonica between right hand side front entrance and window. Gardenia jasmoinoides 'Radicans' along the front porch with shade loving annuals interplanted. A white blooming Camellia sasanqua on the left hand corner. A large front bed pulled away from the house toward the street planted with three Natchez crepe mytles, mulched heavily with pine straw.

My advice would be that before purchasing a single plant, you do your homework. Karenl has hit the nail on the head. Plan for your entire property instead of just the foundation planting--you don't need to plant it all at once, but a plan will save you money in the long run. A paid consulation with a qualified local landscape designer/architect will also save you money and give you more ideas than you can think of yourself. Nandina has also given you sage advice--research the plants that are indigenous to your area--wherever that may be.

Another book that may be helpful is "The Year in Trees: Superb Woody Plants for Four-Season Gardens" written by Kimm Tripp and JC Raulston. Divided by seasons, it contains descriptive essays and photos about trees/shrubs that the authors deemed worthy of inclusion in a four-season garden. It is one of my favorite books to lend to friends with new houses.

BTW, in zone 8a/zone 8b, a four-season garden is a worthwhile goal.

I also agree that, at the very least, you need a paid consultation with a landscape designer to give you ideas.

nywoodsman,
If you were to ask southeners what they fear most the answer would be southern pines planted around a house. In high winds, especially hurricane winds moving inland, the pines snap in half falling on houses or becoming wind driven projectiles. It is an awesome and scary sight to see. Generally all southern pine is cut from a lot about to be developed by choice of the owner. You will note that this has been done on the house lot under discussion.

Working with native plants has always been of great interest to me. In this case the owner could use native red maples, Carolina silver bell, native magnolias. There are many choices and this is why he should consult with a professional. There may be a reason that the pros do not use certain native plants because they are aware of plant diseases moving into the area which can affect the planting. Foresters should also be aware. Life is getting complicated in the native plant world as more and more foreign diseases arrive on our shores. In your northern area sugar maples are threatened. Ditto beech from a disease that appeared in CT. and is slowly spreading. Ditto ash and oak trees. The grand pronouncement to plant natives has to be tempered with horticultural knowlege of diseases and host plants. Complicated stuff. Our questioner wants to landscape, not develop a forest. A landscape professional is the best person to guide the design.

I've been designing landscapes for the past 10 years now, and the best advice I can give to you is to grab a camera, set aside an entire afternoon, and drive around neighborhoods with homes of similar architecture, lot size, and home size. When you see something you both like, snap a picture. Make an entire day of it and take notes along with the pictures. What direction did the house face? What did you like about the overall appearance of the home?

Once you're finished taking pictures, take them home and decide on 5-10 landscapes that you really like. Print out the pictures, and take them with you to a reputable nursery or landscape firm, to your county extension agent, or to a knowledgeable friend that will assist you in identifying the plants.

Now that you know what plants you like, you have a few options. You can walk into a landscape designer and have them design a landscape for your home using the pictures you provided. Or, some landscape nurseries offer free design consultation if you purchase materials from them. If you are do-it-yourselfers, this is a great avenue to persue. Another option would be to search out the plants on your own and establish the landscape as your time/money allow.

I hope this helps! Good Luck!!

Thanks for everyone's help.

To answer a few questions: We designed and contracted the house ourselves, so every step including cutting down all the trees was my choice. Maybe this was a mistake in some people's eyes but not mine. We left a few trees close enough to the house that if one fell it would hit my house, Katrina proved this before it was even finished :(.

I've lived with pines my entire life and have come to enjoy them most at a distance. We have one pine left in my yard after we took them out and the only reason it is still there is/was because it was real close to the property line and I didn't want any conflict from the existing neighbors. Come to find out, this set of trees left by me were left by by my neighbor for the same reason, he thought they could be mine. The other exsisting hardwoods that we wanted to keep were either where we wanted the house or driveway to be. We were able to keep a nice Magnolia that is located to the left of the house facing it which you can see in the pictures above but only the trunk is visable. We also had a nice bunch of Dogwoods up close to the road, but one day I went over there to check on things and the electrician said he had to dig them up when laying our underground power. With it looking so cleared out, we actually do still have a few trees in the yard, but mostly they are in the back.

Here is the lot a few days after we started
{{gwi:7993}}

The good news is, we have a clean slate to work with on a square flat lot which is fifteen minutes from no less than six boat launches :o. Plus the property behind my house is a State Park, so I will always have access to a pine forest. :)

Thanks for everyone's interest! I'll try and check back later with hopefully some pictures to share. Again, thanks for everyone's ideas.

I agree with durtroadz take a walk and have a good look around you need to see what it is you like. Go to a local arboritum or botanical garden for ideas. Check out your local nurseries see if they have any garden designers they would recommend, it'll save you money in the end!
I'd also recommend that you remove the grass between the sidewalk and house and make the garden plot on the left side deeper. The front yard is in real need of a few trees too.

Have Fun!

I left my building site unimproved. {{gwi:7994}}

hehehehe... even if it was ranting, I LOVED IT!!!

We did the same as you, except our neighborhood used to be farmland, so there weren't any trees that needed to be removed, but we are in the exact same spot (our entrance faces north also!) as you when it comes to landscaping. A square acre of nothingness!!

We drove around taking pictures, we've had 4 landscape designers come with proposals, and I've done the book research. Here's the most important thing I've learned...don't hire a landscape designer that is associated with any particular nursery. Even after giving them a list of my fav plants that detailed which section of my yard that I wanted them, not one of them used my favs in their design plan. Visiting the nurseries "in cognito" explained why... They were trying to push out their overstock!!!

After 4 months, we have finally found someone who is willing to do what WE want.

nywoodsman, Disregarding your insults, I will say your home looks really nice and the "landscape", beautiful. However, not all properties are blessed with natural plants. Some homes are built on converted farmland or other that needs a more designed planting. It's how that's approached that determines how effective the landscape would be. Sometimes completely native works best, sometimes not. My approach is to always first consider the home in it's surroundings and the best way to integrate them, including hardscape, if required.

fish gardner...Just want to wish you luck with the job of returning some natural landscape to your lot. I do agree with nywoodsman. In our moutains here in CA homes have to be built without "stripping" the land, carving out a pador removing any pine trees. The homeowners live with the knowledge that when there is a fire they have taken a huge chance that they will burn....much like the chances you take in the area you have chosen to live. I predict that it is not going to take too many more years before this entire country is covered with concrete, along with non-native and exotic plants. I just hope I don't live to see it........

The house is a statement, "MY HOUSE" as fish gardener says and it is not subtle. The house is a fortress and the most appropriate addition would be a moat to accentuate the difference between it and the surroundings. I don't think I have seen that balance of window to brick for a while.

Sorry, Ink, to tell you that the house pictured is representitive of most of southern architecture. That's just the way we build here. Like it or not. I should also add that when extensive southern pine growth is cleared off a lot it is done with a bulldozer type machine equiped with a large rotary saw and 'jaws' that grip the tree while it is being cut. So each tree is removed whole, stripped of its branches, loaded on a logging truck and ends up at processing plant to become flooring, paper, chips for chip board, etc. Southern pine is a cash crop here. People tend to forget that.

Nandina,

You took the words from my mouth when you stated southern pine being a crop here, I was about to state the same thing before reading your post. Funny how I am being "educated" about forestry here, find it kind of ironic actually. Little info about my family: We have in our family the second largest tobacco farmer in the state before he was bought out by the Govt two years ago. BTW, he says thanks for your hard earned tax dollars to pay for his early retirement for this. Two people "ladies too" that are heard over agriculture in two seperate counties in the State Of Alabama, actually one just retired so I guess that is one now. There are also two "soon to be three after he Grads from Auburn this year" foresters in my family. The tobacco farmer has now turned all of his land into pines for harvest as well. Here is this land before his retirement. See those ugly little birds out there? You guys have prolly never even witnessed such where y'all are preaching from. That there is eleven little bearded turkey. I took the pictures from a deer stand "you know, what people hunt out of" but the killing type of person I am for some reason all I carried for the hunt was a camera.
{{gwi:7996}}

hey, lookie here! maybe some more future agriculturalists. My kidos this year at one of the Auburn Football games, that would be Auburn University.
{{gwi:7998}}

this picture was taken a day of a hurricane coming in before they made us evacuate. "gulf Shores Alabama"
{{gwi:8000}}

about the regulations about the trees you can't cut. My neighborhood has these as well. Any tree that is 5" or greater "forget, maybe two feet" from the ground has to stay, except for pine trees. I recognized this rule and followed accordingly but still am being preched upon by someone that sees what they have, and what they're locals have let it come to be. Then try and judge someone in a different culture that they no nothing about how we live nor what our surroundings are like. Cali, is not Alabama, no comparison.

thanks to everyone that actually offered positive help

OK... time out! We can certainly disagree without taking cheap shots at each other.

In many ways, (until now) this has turned into an interesting and potentially enlightening thread. We have seen the appearance of two new contributors to this forum. Both seem capable and not unwilling to clearly state their beliefs. There is considerable merit to both arguments  and room for both. I actually find that aspect refreshing. It sure beats the heck out of the typical drive-by posters who post questions and then you never hear from them again. It also beats the heck out of those who post a photo in a thinly-veiled attempt to have their ego stroked.

Whenever Fish Gardener gets done defending himself, I would still like to hear what his intentions are. I think it has become clear that this new home was built in a southern style that, at present, imbues an overwhelmingly institutional look. I suspicion that Fish Gardener is well aware of that. No doubt, that factor was the driving force behind his original posting.

Setting aside the perspective of our friend from New York State for a moment; there have been essentially two suggested approaches. One fast and one potentially quite slow:
1. Hire a professional and ÂGetÂr DoneÂ.
2. Do a bunch of self-guided research and plod away at your own pace.

This appears to be a very large project for the average home owner to tackle  which is why I earlier suggested consulting a professional. This is obviously a large, valuable home which demands complimentary landscaping. The sooner, the better! Unless one has the equipment, time and experience, a DIY project has the potential to drag on forever. I suspect that the commodity you may be shortest on is time.

There nothing wrong with DIY if you are capable at it. However, one has to be careful. DIY can become just another codeword for ÂcheapskateÂ. Yours is not a cheap house and the last thing you need is for it to appear so. The other caveat of DIY is that it often becomes a subconscious ploy to procrastinate and deflect potential criticism  Why you canÂt find fault with my project because IÂm not done yet! Yeah that is exactly the point you are NEVER going to get done!

So What are you gonna do?

IronBelly
*** OKÂ maybe you wonÂt need the lighted rest home sign.{{gwi:7286}}

Fair enough! I know you are right.

One of my best friend's has the same philosophies....

yet she drives an SUV to her second home up in the NH woods.

Me, I would prefer to live where you (nywoodsman) live to where I live, but I don't. We have population density problems here and need to be selective about our trees. Here, last year, 4 trees fell on neighbor's homes, and a few years ago a neighbor's tree limb detatched and smashed the next door neighbor's car flat. I'm just glad my kids weren't playing in that driveway.

I know it's artificial....but what should I do....stay here in the city, or lay claim to another piece of forestland as you did?