Where are you located?

ontario, canada

Oops, can't help-way out of my area of knowledge, but I bet someone will chime in for you.

Could you let us know the plant hardiness zone there? In Ontario they range from zone 0 to zone 6b or possibly even zone 7. Here's a map (scroll down to see Ontario):

https://www.gardenia.net/guide/canadian-hardiness-zones

I'm located between Toronto and Kingston, I think it's a 5 if I'm reading the map correctly

closer to 5a then 5b if that matters

You will also want deer resistant plants. I can only assume they are an issue for you. A local nursery could be very helpful. It appears to be a full sun area but could you confirm that.

yes it is full sun. we haven't noticed a deer problem but definitely could be.

Have you thought of conifers? Most like full sun and well drained soil. Nowadays, there are so many to choose from, all in beautiful and soft shades of green, yellow or blue. Check out Whistling Gardens, they’re also in Ontario, maybe you’re not very far?

no I haven't, as I mentioned I have no gardening experience beside planting the usual annual flowers. I will definitely take a look. Thank you

I would like some color and possibly something that flowers. we have soamy trees around I'm not really looking to add more. I have a box wood that I like and has held up well, I have thought of adding more of them as they aren't the same as all the surrounding trees but would like something that adds beauty and color

if i had a cabin in the woods ... to escape the city .. the absolute last thing i would consider.. is landscaping my get away .. so that i would have to waste a day or two when i was there.. to work on the garden ... though.. if you are apartment peeps in town.. i can see wanting a garden at the vacation home ..

tear out everything un-natural and let nature do its thing ... and just sit back and enjoy the labatts while you are there ... i do not mean teh terracing ... that is probably there to reduce water run off ...

rock instead of mulch.. would be about the worst idea there is.. its not going to stop weeds.. and it will be harder to pull them out ... when they do invade ... and never use landscape cloth .. you cant pull out the wind blown weeds that root thru the top of it ...

drought resistant plants are only such after they are fully established. and you have to water them for the whole season.. while they grow the roots ... to become such ...

just out of curiosity.. can we see a pic from the deck out ... is there a lake out there.. if so.. quit looking at your feet.. and the garden below.. while standing up there. .. lol ..

any loons up there ... such an eerie call ... probably need the lake for that ...

ken

looking down fr the deck, yes it's waterfront and yes there are loons. The cottage has been in the family for over 30 years and this garden was built not for run off but to be an actual garden. it held hostas, which ate still there, along with some flowers. Even though it has a view of the lake, I would like to look at a nice garden when returning from the beach to the cottage rather then just weeds, trees and leaves. it's not that I'm looking at my feet, it's that I enjoy landscaping when done right. leaving this to just let nature do its thing is not an option.

here is a better one of the garden

We live in Muskoka. Have tried all sorts of nursery plantings. But, the ones that have done really well were purchased from a local nursery that deals with plants natural to the area. I would highly recommend checking out such a nursery in your area.

What a splendid, beautiful place! That house does indeed "desrve" a nice garden! I can't help much, since I live in Tuscany, Italy, so our climates are so different. However, I can in some ways relate to your situation, in the sense that my garden is a 20-minute drive from my home (alas, we don't have a cabin out there),and it is in a wild place, in a clearing on a very steep. wooded hillside. There is no running water out there, either,so my plants -mainly roses for now-only really get to count on being watered in their first year (I harvest rain water and bring water in small tanks with my car),and then only really in the summer. So, if I can do this huge project of mine in overly-hot, droughty Italy (and note, I am a middle-aged woman with limited financial resources, and I do almost everything out there by myself)I should certainly think that you up in Ontario,with a stupendous lake right there, can do a good job of landscaping around your fine house.However, in the first year or so, while you are trying to get it going, I think you may well have to make fairly regular trips out there to tend the plants while they are young and struggling to become established,or else, if you can afford it, to hire some local person that you know you can trust to take care of it for you at the beginning.

I definitely agree that you should go for a natural,kind of wild look. I like the idea of evergreens; you do indeed have plenty of marvelous trees, but you could go for some dwarf conifers and shrubs. You could also investigate flowering shrubs (there is even a series of very hardy roses-https://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.1931 ,for example; there's also "John Davis" "William Baffin", and a few others) The idea of going to a local nursery is perfect. You could also look around for flowering groundcovers -I love vinca, but don't know if it's hardy up there.And what about naturalizing some bulbs? that would be great in a woodland setting , but again, I don't know what's hardy up there in Ontario.

Since it is in a woodland, getting organic mulch should be easy. However, I myself dream of getting to the point where much of my garden will be covered by "living mulch" ; i.e., ground covers and bushy, low-growing plants.

The main advice I can give is this: don't expect to do it all in one year-a garden needs time to grow and develop and evolve,and requires trial and error. And only do it if you think it's fun!

At our cottage in zone 5b/6a we planted large masses of ostrich ferns (vertical interest), solomons seal (vertical interest), geranium macrorryzum 'bevans variety', japanese forest grass, canadian ginger, japanese kerria shrubs, hellebores, lungwort, bergenia, epimediums, hosta here and there for accents....they are all very hardy and can tolerate part shade/somewhat dry conditions

Thank you so much. I will definitely look into all of those.

I would start with some evergreens and some shrubs to start with and maybe some ornamental grasses. Like others have said, check out your local nursery and make sure what you are buying doesn‘t require a lot of maintenance. Some shrubs you have to cut back and maintain, others you can just let them be. Also, some varieties of plants have pest issues. If you stick with native plants, they will be easier to grow. After you get the ‘bones’ (evergreens & shrubs) of your garden filling in, you can then consider adding some perennials. In my area, zone 6a, if I plant perennials in the fall, they will need far less watering than if planted in spring. I also would use mulch instead of rocks and it’s good for your soil as it breaks down over time. At my house, I wasn’t ready nor could I plant everything all at once. There were some existing garden beds with nothing but weeds, so I pulled the weeds and added fresh mulch and it made it look much better and has kept the weeds down. Now I can start planting in it but even just having that layer of mulch kept it tidy.

You have put it very well, HU-266; your approach is (sort of) what I am trying to do. I say "sort of" because you sound so logical and orderly, and I feel that I'm instead way too chaotic and dis-organized,lol.