Here is a little patch on the side of my house that I obviously need to do something with. It's about 5' wide and goes back appx 30' to the fence (in progress). It borders my driveway as well as my neighbor's little patch of grass . We use this side gate to bring out our garbage cans, and not much else. We also don't have any sprinkler system installed, so a lot of grass would not be ideal. I have zero problem watering plants by hand or small sprinkler.
I do want a pathway from the fence to the driveway, but we have been torn on what to do with the rest of the strip. Ideas have been raised planters (but the planters would have to be huge and I got overwhelmed trying to figure out what to plant in them). Then the idea of a couple trees with gravel as a ground covering, mulch under the trees...but I feel like that will look like a big gray landing strip. Thoughts on that?
We have a modern home and definitely want a clean, modern look. I live in Idaho with a solid snowy winter, and it gets to be in the 100s in summer. Clean and modern meaning: no tulip border, roses, frilly flowers, etc. help!