The first picture is another angle behind those random arches. The other 3 are my “inspiration” pics.

What a fun house! I don’t know what zone you are in, but if you are confident you can grow Italian cypress, I would give those meatball plants away and replace them with rosemary (that’s in your colorful inpiration foto as a main feature), also chamomile, capers and sage. There is bouganvilla in that photo — but if you have small children and pets the thorns on those are incredibly fierce and dangerous, so find another color choice. Lavendar might be fine where you are. Lantana and geraniums of all types.

Yours is one of the very few houses I’ve seen where a garden statues or fountain or water feature might look lovely. However, if you live in an area where large wild animals like to roam the neighborhood, water features attract them, so nix that idea.

Instead of looking to Italy for inspiration, try Spain

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`in the photo below you’d have your cypresses, and rather than shelling out $$$ for all that brick work, check out whether stamped or painted concrete would work for you

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Some careful use of gravel and concrete and dark mulch can help keep your costs down (I don’t think you need anymore trellises, pergolas or arches on your property though)

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that doesnt look like my MI ... lol ..

forget about zone.. give us a big city name .... and country

your inspiration pix.. look like a lot of plants you arent going to grow in your area ... but thats just speculation at this point ...

might want to throw in some info on native soil .. how you plan on watering ... etc .. variables that you will need to dealt with.. other than dreams ...

and.. are you an experienced gardener ... and are you willing to work on what will be large gardens ... if not ... then you might want to stay away from pretty ... and go towards carefree ...

in defining a landscape .. the plant selection is usually the last .. and least important variable .. you just go to a local nursery.. and buy what they sell ... [note i didnt say bigbox.. lol]

but in defining your goals.. and how you actually move toward and arrive at the end result ... is where all the hard work is ... e.g. the plants make no difference unless you figure out how to water all those beds in a useful manner.. and due to the scope of the project.. im thinking dragging hoses around all day might not be fun .... or something you might want to do ...

im thinking this might be a place to hire professionals.. omg... i said that .. lol ... btw ..... are you new to this area.. or do you have extensive knowledge of gardening in such a climate ...??? ... in other words.. is this really a DIY level project???? ..

and in that regard .. if you do want the therapy of being out there.. you can make 75% of it carefree .. and then leave yourself one area where you tinker on weekends ...

so many non plant related variables.. so little time ...

ken

ps: is grass going where all the bare earth is ... lets call it.. outside the driveway???

Ack! I cannot believe I failed to mention my zone & location 🤦🏼‍♀️ zone 8, Texas hill country. Our soil is pretty alkaline but I’ve had luck with adding peat moss. I would say I’m a pretty experienced gardener, it’s one of my few hobbies and I spend most evenings working in my yard. I’ve been at it for over a decade and I’m at the point where I don’t kill much, I’ve had very large beds in the past (see attached photo) but they weren’t this deep directly in front of ground level windows. It’s the depth of these beds that’s got me vexed. Usually I’d put something tall in the back, medium height in the middle & low in the front ( landscaping 101 😄) but with these windows I can’t really follow that formula. I’m thinking of doing a few olive trees, risky I know, or Vitex. I had an Italian cypress at my old house & it did well, same area. I agree about the water feature/statuary suggestion, to break it all up, but I have to be careful with that as the line between elegant and garish is so thin! Any suggestions or help us appreciated, thank you so much!

This job is too important to not have a plan developed by a professional or you will just be wasting labor and money. You need to find a landscape architect to provide a Master Plan that you can implement at your pace.

https://giannettihome.com/blogs/architecture/patina-farm

These are a better example!

Beverly, I really do agree but we’re not going to be able to spend that kind of money on just a designer for quite a few years and I can’t wait that long with these hideous, crushed granite filled beds. This is only the front yard too, there’s a side one and a massive back yard with equally odd beds. I love all the photos though, lots I’ve never seen before with good ideas!

all your history helps.. thx ...

but i disagree with how you interpret bevs response ...

i agree paying for a .... lets call it.. 5 years plan ... would be money well spent ...

and then you just go about it over the years ...

also ... the usual recommendation is... deal with your new house.. and live there at lest 4 full seasons before you invent your new scape ... and in the meantime.. look around the general area.. and snap pix of plants you like.. get IDs ... in the name that plant forum ... and just move forward ...

just dont think you are going to have this done this year.. unless you have a boat filled with money .. and if you do.. start by selling the boat.. gardeners dont need one.. lol ...

zone 8 is simply low winter temp possible... it tells us nothing.. and TX hill country means even less since most of us have only heard to TX .. lol .. just give us a big city name.. doesnt matter if it 50 miles away ... [is this on the hurricane side.. the desert side.. or the prairie side??? .. but i do understand hills.. lol ...]

anyway.. i wish you luck ... i just cant go any further with specific ideas first because i dont know TX and second.. i would have to literally walk the property to come up with ideas ...

good luck with the new house.. and eventually.. the new garden ...

ken

If you are going to work hard, wouldn’t you like a great reward? Fruit trees, herbs and some raised vegetable beds? How you raise them doesn’t need to be fance and you’ll be grateful for the gravel paths in between them.

The grey foliaged shrubs in the foreground of the inspiratIon photo don’t look like Rosemary to me. I believe they are Santolina chamaecyparissus. You could also look into Cistus, Lavenders, Phlomis, Salvias, Erysimum, Genista, Nepeta, Polygalas, prostrate forms of Rosemary and Senecio ’Sunshine’. In fact there’s a plethora of low growing Mediterranean style plants which would fill that space, not hide the windows and be drought resistant.

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Rosmarino toscano

Italian rosemary has blue flowers

Santolina chamaecyparissus (has yellow flowers)

What an awesome house, I love it! I've been amateur gardening my whole life, but your house is so far out of my league I couldn't even begin. At least call a professional landscape designer or landscape architect and inquire about rates. Paying a thousand or two dollars now might pay off handsomely in the future. Remember the time you put in is has a dollar value too, so don't waste it.

I agree with nickel - your house is so unique - at least to the eyes of this life-long New Englander - that I wouldn't even know where to begin! It's so very different from the standard colonials or capes or raised ranches that are around here. Loving all the photos of inspiration ideas though.

I hear you on the cost of a designer, but it might be worth it to pay for a design, even if you do the work yourself over time. Sometimes good nurseries will come out and do a design for free, although in my personal experience they don't do much that I couldn't do, but again, since you are in a different part of the country, your local nurseries may have ideas suited to your style of house. And if it's free, it can't hurt. Even if you're not thrilled with what they come up with, you might get a few ideas on plant choice or layout. Or conversely, realize that you have the talent to do it yourself lol!

Please keep us posted on what you do. I'm sure I speak for many here when I say we'd love to see what you do with this space!

Good luck!

:)

Dee

The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin and the San Antonio Botanic Garden have beautiful and varied landscape areas to inspire you. Native plant societies and cactus and xeriscape societies are full of people who could offer real experience in planting areas like yours. What fun to research and plan and plant. I envy you.