What a thought-provoking opportunity for comment that you present. Thank you. Grab a cup of coffee, as this will take a while to cover all they areas you refer to, and a few that you do not. Let's list a few of your requests (or hints), first: our first house (therefore moved from apartment or condo or someone else's house). Large pine trees (not pines). Lots of stones (probably a truckload). No playground in front yard, (but kids play across the street in community park). Not lawn lovers (perhaps not garden lovers either, as had not previously owned land.) Flagstone patio between two trees (single tree and a pair of twins) Interested in native plants (suited to Calgary and less maintenance). a. Suggest you contact local native plant enthusiasts, perhaps join them for a social weekend walk to see natives to be admired, make new friends, (and perhaps future customers for your occupation.) Alberta Native Plant Council, 52099, Garneau PO, Edmonton, AB T6G2T5. Check website for Native Plant Societies or American Horticultural Society for more info. They will also help you get your kids connected to the natural world. b. Corner lots are a challenge, aren't they. The former owner turned his back on the community to the south and west with that board fence. It does do a great job, however it sends a message that you have turned your back on half of your neighbors. Sometime in the future: Remove every other or every third or fourth board from the fence and replace it with a lath, or cut the removed board to 1/3 or 1/4 width and put it back. This will open the wall, without really opening it to view, but it will be more friendly. Then you can start adding vines and espaliered plants on the outside (street-side) of the fence to add personality to their view of your home, like a smile to the neighbors, saying "a new and friendly neighbor has arrived, won't you stop by to introduce yourself and have a cup of coffee on my new flagstone terrace in my shady garden?" You can also place that entire truckload of rocks along the outside of the fence, to keep from hitting the new plantings when mowing, and enhancing the native plantings. c. The trees must remain. They are a part of your home. Look around your neighborhood, not even a shade tree, and you have these beauties enhancing the entire area, and admired from afar. You do need to make a few adjustments to their density to fit your family. Firstly, remove a couple branches that obscure or limit your view of the kids in the park from your front rooms and from the deck above. Next remove the lower branches that interfere with movement around your "outside room" - they are your ceiling, so move them up, say 7-8', (2-1/2 meters or so). After you have moved the rocks to outside the fence, spade up or rototill the entire lawn area (within your property), and regrade it so the terrace area is more level. Perhaps removing about a foot of soil from near the stone planter wall and laying it just inside your property line to level it out, like that. d. Consider beginning your entry terrace at the driveway or front walk, extending over to about 4 or 5 ' from the twin trees. where a native shade garden will begin (very different and perhaps more interesting than the plants outside the fence). This may be backed on the northeast by some screen planting, or taller plants that will screen your terrace from the neighborhood beyond. The planting under the "twins" will sweep west and south along the property line to the driveway, enhancing the outdoor room from the street and park beyond. Move that dwarf evergreen from next to the mailbox into a plant bed, and jazz up the planting in the stone planter attached to the house, or convert it into part of your terrace sitting area, or add a sculpture to the stone wall for more personality. I might suggest a portable fountain from the garden center, but that is additional maintenance. And stop calling them pine trees! You can call them evergreen trees, without error, but they are probably spruce, and the "twins" are a different species from your proud "ceiling" tree (perhaps a blue spruce) above your outdoor room. As a final thought, you might invite your new acquaintances at the native plant society to have their next meeting at your house, where you will be the host, and they will all give you ideas on what native plants will do best and look gorgeous in the empty beds you prepared around your flagstone terrace, prior to inviting them to lunch. What fun! How about inviting me over, as well. Our youngest daughter lives in SW Edmonton, and I have never had the ambition to travel that far (from Virginia) to visit her and her family. I like my coffee black with sugar. cascio.offsite@gmail.com

Once again Neither. We like to cut down the real thing.

Looks like a Larch.

Why do photos intermittently not post?!?!