Then there is the front of the house. There is a little hump right in front Which blocks the effects of my landscaping. I was thinking of raising the dirt level up against the house a foot or so. Not sure if that would help, and I am thinking it might block the windows blocked off, which I don't want. On the left side (as you are looking at it), it drops off pretty severely. This year I planted daylilies, iris, to have a no maintenance, weed smothering

Why do all the windows except the 2nd one have shutters? Can you smooth out the slope (at the bottom of the slope) so there isn't a line there? A tree out from the L corner of the house would help tie the house to the yard.

I like flowering evergreen shrubs in the front that are groups of the same plant and get more adventurous in the back. Nothing that will block windows or the porch spindles or require too much maintenance.

There weren't going to be shutters on the picture window but my hubs didn't get the memo! Just haven't gotten around to ordering another. The line on the slope is septic related.. think we can smooth it. When you say tree out from the L, which L do you mean? Or it doesn't matter?

On the side where it drops off to your basement. As Yarvaark likes to say--a multi-trunk small tree. Hopefully someone will photoshop beds and shrubs on your photo.

If you take a picture of your whole house and part of the sides and print it larger and on paper you can draw in a few different plant placements to get a feel for what you like. If you can submit something like that you will get more specific response.

Me too! How do I get on the waiting list?! :) I am really looking forward to the day that I can pull into my drive and NOT sigh with frustration!

Would you put a white lattice under the deck? Or would that be too much? There is nothing there now. My husband says no, he doesn't want it to become a wildlife hangout...but I don't think anything will show up in front of the deck if I dont. I have 3 foot purple weigala now and you can't even see them!

Here is a general scheme....

I forgot to mention the eyesore at the beginning of the drive ... In my estimation this only gets worse trying to cover it up with anything of height. I think the best thing is to create a distinct bed, such as a "D" shape where the flat side is adjacent to the drive, and plant the thing solid with a low groundcover. These lids are rarely accessed and the GC can be cut back at that time. The low groundcover will not look good if you allow weeds to grow in it. It could even be a bed of hybrid daylilies.

Our septic tank is under our lower driveway deck. Not in the front yard, but a previous owner planted this huge messy tree, and it will be removed this fall and replaced with a non-invasive root tree.

However, maybe you could get creative and make a little "removeable" patio / deck type thing over your septic with a little table and chairs, and even maybe a portable propane fire pit? Make lemonade out of lemons?

Here is ours.

Under the brick is the septic tank. When they come to clean the tank, they remove the bricks and put them back when they are done. A raised wooden deck would do the same thing but look a lot better than your septic caps. You will have to be creative whatever you choose to do.

Best of luck to you.

The grouncover idea is def a different direction than i was picturing, but it could work. The guys who check on it just show up randomly, so they would probably just trample it but...better than now. Would it be just the most tacky thing in the world if i spray painted them to blend more with the mulch? They are just SO obvious! Building a deck over it would be impractical, it's so far from the house it would be just for show. I like the front layout, but I am nervous putting trees in the front yard with the septic. We have a "drip system" which seems to be a grid of shallow pipes. Does anyone have experience with trees and septic? Suzi, what kind of tree are you removing and what kind are you replacing with?

@ellenros, the tree we are removing is a 25 year old Australian tree called Silky Oak. It has invasive roots and is the messiest tree on this earth all year long. A previous owner planted it. It will cost $1000+ to get it removed, and we intend to do that in November of this year.

Not sure what will go in it's place, but we will be working with Moon Valley Nursery for an appropriate replacement. Thinking about a MALE Ginkgo Biloba tree because it's roots go deep and not out, and a male is not messy. A female is pure bad!

You couldn't see the tree from the photo I provided. All you saw was the septic tank treatment.

It drops flowers in spring, pods in summer and leaves all year. Do not recommend this horrible tree. PLUS, we are always pulling out volunteers from it. OH, and did I mention you can't compost the leaves? They contain cyanide and nothing will grow beneath it.

I'll stay tuned to this thread and try to update when we do the replacement.

Edited to say that we love the shade from the tree. We will miss it, but are willing to pay a lot for a big non invasive, non messy tree to take it's place.

Cyanide? That's horrible! Sounds like a wise decision to get rid of it! I will definitely keep the "down, not out" root system in mind.

Regarding the concrete caps ... the most obviously different thing in the area is the black material. If that's mulch, I think it's part of the problem. Would be so much better to be green plants, but not obstructive ones.