I designed the house myself so I have floor plans, full-color elevations and 3D models of the house already. I'm looking for inspiration, not necessarily an exact plan.

I believe the photos explain the actual space better anyway....,especially since the builder did not follow the plans given to him for the sidewalk (the cement guys understood the plan, but the builder thought the edges not lining up was a mistake & changed it).

The house needs windows desperately. And some contrast and color. Plants will never make up for a lack of architecture.

traditional landscaping for zone 5b

Is this the front of the house? Or the back? It doesn't seem to have any sense of a welcoming or destination to indicate a front door. The walkway isn't wide enough for two to walk abreast, and the front door isn't really evident. There are no windows, or even much of a ''house'' showing. Which would make sense if this was the back door?

There are windows spaced 18" apart across every available space on that side of the house. The only area that does not have windows is the side of the garage (along where the the plantings will go). We will not put windows in any area for aesthetics of the exterior only as I find that wasteful.

We're in the middle of 35 secluded acres so "front" is relative. The most important side is actually not shown). There is a porch and entrance on that side we're discussing that might be used, but there isn't an obvious front (only an obvious back) and welcoming is not a priority here. If the 700' winding drive doesn't deter you then a narrow sidewalk won't either.

The interest here is in the views and surroundings. The exterior of the house was driven by the interior (which was more important) and the utility of use and so we kept the exterior colors plain & neutral except for the teal front door (a temporary door until a later time when we can afford a custom door).

This wont be a showcase home....we don't want one.

So if you don't care about the outside, why plant anything? Pave it and paint it green.

I care about the outside, but portions were dictated by more important items. The house was designed to maximize the views. With this layout it is not possible to see the few distant homes in the area from any room in the house allowing maximum windows with no window treatments necessary. I originally planned three windows on the side of the garage, but thought it to be incredibly wasteful and unnecessary. The design was based on budget, use and need.

There will be gradual alterations as time goes on as we put our funds into the areas of most importance. This is the slate we have to work with for now and I already admitted that it is not and will not be a showcase home.....do they all have to be?

Did you have anything useful to offer regarding my initial question or are you only trying to be intentionally contrary to make yourself feel important?

I second the idea of checking for native plants. you can even collect your own wildflower seeds or plants.
Getting to know your neighbors you may find gardeners who love to share pass along perennials like Irises. Add bulbs and easy annuals at first while the perennials get established. Add herbs for scent and cooking. They grow like weeds and some might deter the rabbits. Dust plants with cayenne or red pepper.
I would add a couple low growing evergreens for winter color.

I'm in a LOT of landscapes every year. If you do nothing but perennials, that space is going to be vibrant and awesome in season - and a yawning chasm of screaming boredom in the off season.

Any time you have a side load garage you add 25 feet (+/-) of building you have to contend with. You didn't leave yourself a heck of a lot of space for tall evergreens, so I'd suggest trellises to break up that expanse of gray. These were actually really reasonable, just pressure-treated 2x4s stained black.

Beyond that you'll want something for structure as far as evergreens go. Michigan isn't known for short winters, you'll want to plan for winter interest. If this is your forever home I'd suggest finding a local landscape designer who can help.

I second Tai M's recommendation for native plants. You might also try the gardenweb forum part of Houzz - there are many northern gardeners. If so, include your climate zone and rough geographic location.

Evergreens are perfectly fine as long as they aren't of a type that requires formal shaping. I guess I should also be clear. When I say informal or natural I don't necessarily mean wildflowers. The house faces rolling fields of wildflowers edged by trees on two sides and dense woods on two sides. A little contrast to that wildness would be nice (though adding in wildflower elements would be good as well, but a formal setting (symmetrical and manicured) would be out of place. A combination of stones, plantings and/or sculpture would work as well.

Our landscaper felt it would be wasting money to have him design something. He thought we'd be better off developing an idea and then coming to him for adjustment advice because he felt my instincts have been very good on our projects so far.

I'm doing my own searching on here for inspiration, but the sheer amount of information can be overwhelming. I'm looking for visual inspiration as there are so many ideas and y'all are likely to come up with something I hadn't considered. Maybe you've seen solutions that you think may work (such as Revolutionary Gardens' trellis idea).

This was a difficult build-site to manage. Slopes and views dictated much of the design and the garage placement was determined by usage and limiting the already overly-long drive (as well as avoiding unstable areas that would have required extensive work to put in a drive). We couldn't spread out too much or we'd risk eliminating a good, flat area for riding. Typical floor plans weren't working and adjusted floor plans couldn't meet our needs either. Fitting all this in a small, one-story space (1200 sq.ft. on the main floor...the walk-out is my art studio) designed with aging in mind and a budget that was not unlimited made things more difficult still. All things considered, I think we did alright. We have a home that suits our needs, our lifestyle and the limitations of the land in a reasonably affordable budget. The builder's work on the house was "completed" in December so you're still seeing the early, bare-bones stage. Adjustments will be made to the exterior as time and funds allow.

As artist you can make your own garden art to stake among some perennials. leave space for a sculptural tomato cage. a few edibles can add color.

For right now, just have a lot of cedar freeway bark delivered. This isn't the rounded stuff that floats away in a rain. It will eliminate the mud issue and makes a great weed barrier once you decide what to plant.

You can park on it, drive on it, use it with pavers for a patio, or plant in it.

Before you get busy planting, think about parking and cars. Guest parking for family gatherings, parties. And how many kids? Eventually they will have cars and friends with cars visiting.

Maybe that section next to the driveway could be made into a nice looking parking area.

Then if you don't need a lawn out front for games, play, I would do simple bunch grasses and a few boulders.

Can't tell too much about road in the photos. You could do the following: foundation planting near the house and then do a large gravel circular drive out from the front door. That would be great bike track for kids and nice for guests parking. Also low maintenance.

Shown at different angle:

No kids, and plenty of parking along the drive on the garage-side of the house and along the edge of the woods near the entrance. There is a 700' driveway on the only land that is raised between the house and road. There, land drops down about 30' from the drive into swamp on either side and that area is all wooded (it's like our own personal moat). There is no view of the road from the house. Nearing the house, the land opens up to rolling, open hills. There will eventually be a circle drive that goes around the riding area so that there is better access to the barn, but it will take some work to make that area stable enough to drive on.....darn clay. For now there is a turn-around next to the workshop. Anyway, parking is no problem. (on the map below the building near the top is the barn, down & to the left is the house, below that hidden in the shadows of the trees is the workshop and the yellowish highlighted area is where the riding ring will be. The drive goes through the wooded area. Trees and the barn block views to all of the neighbors).

We've allowed the field grasses/weeds to grow in to fill and help stabilize the ground until we can get to planting certain areas. We're working a section at a time and it seems to be working well so far (there are 35 acres here, only so many hours in a day and only so many pennies in a dollar). Right now we're just trying to get some ideas for the area between the sidewalk and house that I showed in my original photos.

?

Would you consider grasses for the narrow section or is that too structured? Karl Foerster feather Reed Grass in the first photo.

Dwarf Hinoki Cypress shrub, evergreen, slow growing, no pruning necessary. So pretty with a ruffled wavy edge. They are not cheap but they are very nice. Don't let them dry out, that's all you have to be concerned with. I highly recommend you consider this one, it's worth sourcing. I have one and wish I had more. They would be nice along the full length with lower perennials in the wider section.

Sorry, just noticed this is a post from last year.

پوشک بزرگسال

Another old post ...