Image Shack photo

One of the three options that you can copy/paste in Photobucket works. I forget if it is the bottom one or the middle one. Try again.

You'll probably get more action if you post this in the Landscape Design section.

If you've invested in an 11K SF home, it may also be well worth your while to hire an LA or LD. I think you'll find it's a good ROI.

Sorry I didn't mention that I'm a licensed Landscape Contractor (I don't get to live in a 11k sq' house) and am too old to be vain about asking for help about something I don't feel I have a handle on.

{{gwi:1164353}}

Todays work

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1164352}}

I have found some information on a building in the style yours resembles at Badia a Coltibuono. There are lots of evergreens a potager protected by a hedge and herb garden as well as lawn and a knot garden and ornaments, it is all laid out very formally and some of the surface area is gravel. Just what you would expect in what used to be a monastary.

Ink's ideas are good ones.
Think about Tuscany and France - the styles rely on shrubs like rosemary (ok not zone 3 or whatever you are in) but that type of visual image. Formal garden lines with topiary and water features as focal points might work as well.