One mistake I feel I made in working from scratch in a large space was that I didn't begin the work from the house. I started at far corners and worked in towards the house. In retrospect, I wish I had done it the other way round.

Lorna

I agree with lorna-organic I would
start at the house and work my way
out.You could always do a picket
fence several feet from the house.
Work your way from house to fence
then concentrate on other parts of
the property.Also start with the bones
trees ,shrubs,then your perennials.
Blueangel

Layout your beds bigger than you think you want. In a year or three, you will want bigger. (Ask me how I know.)

Add plenty of bones...evergreens, hardscape, trellis', and other such stuff. Consider trees and shrubs that add winter interest with interesing bark or branch shape.
Use lots and lots of perennials. In the long run, perennials will save you lots of money. Leave pockets for seasonal annuals.

Consider inside out views from the windows of your home. I love to plan a pretty view.

Remember it takes three or four years for a bed to mature and look great. Patience.

Remember to do what pleases you!

And...do I follow all the 'rules' I've just suggested? Heck no. That's why I know it would be better to do it the other way. LOL. My gardens still look good and are becoming cottageier and cottageier every year.

Most important---Have FUN!

You guys are so helpful. I understand that it's going to take a few years for the gardens I plant to "mature". I am looking forward to that process actually. I think I have quite a few good ideas of what type of plants to use in each of the garden areas and I had already planned on starting at the house as to me, that's the easiest starting point. Not too sure if I'm going to be doing much with the rest of the property or not as it is mostly up to my landlord just how much I can change things. I know if it was my own property that I'd be looking at about ten years worth of work just to get everything the way I want it to look... alas, I don't own the property so I have to clear it with the owner first.

Anyways, I have attached a link to a photo album of images that I took this afternoon. As y'all can see there is A LOT of work necessary to get all the shrubs under control... and some of them identified. You can also see the bed that's in the front of the house that my DH tilled up for me... he started to clear out all the weeds but I still have to finish it as well as take the hoe to the places the tiller can't reach.

I will be planting a Sambucus 'Southerland Gold" next to the left side of the porch in that bed but everything else is still in the planning stages. I don't want it to look tacky as this is the one bed that everyone will see the most of when they visit... not that we get many visitors, but still.

Feel free to look at the album to get an idea of the mess that I have to start with.

ttfn
Mystic.

Here is a link that might be useful: Photo album around my house.

Since this is a long-term lease, will you be allowed to remove and take your planted perennials with you when you move? If so, I would use perennials that can easily take to relocation/transplanting.

You have a lot of wonderful space and a good vision of what you want with the lilies and fountain, etc.

First, do you know if you will have a deer or rabbit problem? If so, the do a web search of your intended perennials/shrubs. For example, "daylilies + deer". Deer (in my location) will eat daylilies, oriental lilies and hostas.

Your tilled bed is a great space to start. You'll want to move your plantings out from under the eaves in order to get water from rainfall. The design is really a personal preference. What colors do you want to use? Do you want evergreens in that space? What kind of light do you get there?

Once you've cleaned up the shrubs, you'll also get a better feel for the areas around those to determine if they make good accents for your garden beds. I'm not experienced with black walnut trees and what will grow around those. I'm sure there are others here who have experience.

Cameron

Cameron, thanks for replying.

I have only seen one deer here since we moved in back in November of last year and that was at the back of the property. As far as rabbits go though there were quite a few around earlier this spring but I haven't seen too many lately. Either way they don't usually come up to the house because of my dog and cats. I betcha the pair of red-tailed hawks have caught a bunch of them too though.

Another problem that my neighbors have been having is moles... she had planted a bunch of lilies in some beds and the moles and squirrels came along and moved/ate them.

As far as the front bed is concerned I realize that it doesn't get much water (probably only the front 1 - 1.5 feet got wet during the rain we had this afternoon) so I know that I will be watering that bed on a regular basis to make up for it. That's not a problem though as I am planning to put some drought tolerant plants there just for that reason. It gets sun from sunrise until just about noon. The front part gets sun until around 1pm. Close to that anyways. I don't plan on putting too many evergreens, if any as I'm not fond of the green "balls" that most people have in the front of their homes. I don't know yet though.. I might find one that really catches my eye. :-D

One thing I did notice when we were working in the front bed is that there were no earth worms. I thought that was odd. Isn't that a sign of poor soil? I guess I'll have to check after I add some compost to it to see if that brings some in.

I will be taking most if not all of what I plant with us when we move... the landlord already knows that and he doesn't care as he doesn't want to have to look after everything! When I told him that I will re-seed with grass everything that I plant in perennials he said he didn't care... that weeds are green too. I will still re-seed though.

I'm going to be posting the unknown shrub photos in the "Shrub" forum as I think that is a better place for ID'ing them all. Although I did find out what the one big bush is in the far back... it's a Hazelnut. The only reason I didn't know what it was is because it's a male plant and supposedly there has to be both a male and a female plant for them to produce nuts. Oh well, it needs pruning as well.

If I had my way most of those BW trees would come down as they make a HUGE mess in the fall with their nuts... it gets all over the place and makes mowing a PITA! But, I think for now I'm just going to trim the one closest to the house back as I don't want it over the roof.