Analysis first, then plan. Design the exterior spaces and the pedestrian and vehicular circulation first, before considering what and where to do your planting.

First make a design of the total property, showing all the underground utilities, as well as what is present above. Show all the windows and doors.

Then take a look at all the views from a walk around outside and then a walk around inside the home, upstairs and down, noting the views to enhance and those to exclude.

Have each member of the family list all the activities they wish to incorporate with your immediate planning and those for the long range, as the family matures.

Only then can you generate an arrangement of spaces on the site to be developed, for incorporation of all the activities to be desired by the family, - a family BBQ and outdoor dining area near the kitchen, as well as an area of preschool play in sight of the kitchen and office windows, while providing adequate circulation for the family and neighbors to use the kitchen door as their entrance to the house, rather than the front door. Make all the conflicts of use work out on paper, then you can proceed.

You get the idea, work out all the patterns of life first, then look at how to enhance the use of, and the views from both the interior and exterior spaces with deciduous and evergreen trees, then shrubs and groundcovers to fulfill the desires of family life.

You have done a great job with the interior rooms, now the outdoor rooms unfold by your hand. If you are not familiar with the plant material, hire a professional to help with your choices, based on your site development plans for today and for the future.

Good luck and have fun with it.

Thank you so much for your suggestions, Cascio Associates. We've pretty much done everything you've suggested except hired a professional because all of the ones we would trust are booked through the fall. What I am actually looking for now is a "planting plan" for shrubs, perennials etc. that would work in zone 4 ( Vermont )

Excellent. Don't rush into the design, wait for the professionals you feel can help you develop the family's future environment the best.

All we, out here in space, can do is to give generalities.

For instance, off the the northwest, you need to enhance the buffer the winter winds with tall evergreens, like spruce and hemlocks, then front that with light-colored trunks of handsome deciduous trees like the birches and magnolias - large saucer magnolia, the smaller star magnolias, plus the horizontal branching of the flowering dogwoods. Underplant the trees with beds of evergreen groundcovers and bulbs of all seasons, then bold textured rhododendrons, and mountain laurel, enhanced with the color of azaleas of all seasons, rainbow leucothoe, - you get the idea.

Go around to the garden centers and start making a list of names or of photos of the plants or the displayed photos of their mature size. This will help the professional adviser, when he is in your employ this fall or this winter or next spring - don't rush it, educate yourself with what appeals to you, the same way you do when selecting furniture groupings inside your home or on a future terrrace.

This is a great opportunity to have fun at your leisure, while making you a more educated client when design advice is offered for your review.

I can be great fun for you and the family. Enjoy!

Develop a mix of perennial plants

Thank you again Cascio! Really appreciate your specific suggestions and I can picture the planting beds much better already!