What's the situation with the stilts? Are those going to be enclosed and you can landscape in front of it, or does it need to stay open for some reason?

Gorgeous house! For low maintenance I suggest using primarily native plants. Contact your County Master Gardener Association or Extension Agent -- they'll have good plant lists and plenty of advice. Also search online for "North Caroline native plants site:edu", site:gov, and site:org. Enjoy your beautiful new home.

Good question. There will be a skirt of horizontal boards covering that area. I was thinking done sort of dwarf grass clumps in that area but need to check how much sun they’d need.

That is indeed a beautiful house. It deserves an equally beautiful landscape. To that end I highly recommend you find a good local landscape designer or architect you can work with on a planting plan.

Now I am going to throw some design style ideas at you. Your house would do very well with a naturalistic, minimalist, modern style of landscape. This is also your route to lower maintenance.

This can easily be a highly native, meadow or prairie style landscape with a minimal number of select trees and shrubs. Forget the typical suburban foundation layout. This house calls for some original thinking. You can still have a mowed 'lawn' area in a naturalistic landscape to sit lakeside and chill and boundless beauty to make being there even better.

The plant communities of the pine forest are a big key to get you there.

More questions... what is your water catchment/drain off system for the roofs right now? I assume gutters and pipes, but the roof angle is sloping to the top of the hill, and the stilts are overlooking downhill.

A suggestion while the stilts are open is work in your water catch lines to run through all that nice open space under the stilts to help irrigate your landscaping on the waters way down to the lake.

@Chris. Thank you. I do have a plan from the landscaping company (I’ll look for it to post if anyone cares) recommended by our builder but I’d say it’s exactly as you said, suburban with a LOT of ornamentals. I like how you termed “naturalistic, minimalist” for a label. Ideally, I can take some ideas / concepts back and get some changes worked in. This is a rural area so our house was really out-the-box in terms of style.

@beesneeds, we will have gutters. The “stilts” are the deck supports and behind them is a conditioned crawl space so we probably will not be able to do it with the house but I will check on that idea for the separate garage whose roof sort points in the direction of the side yard.

(your name reminds me that we had planned to have an area with plants specifically for pollinators also!)

@cramereast Google landscape designers and architects in your area and go look at their websites. Your house so deserves a sharp landscape that shows off the architecture. You have to start with the design first.

Imagine a few select trees and shrubs, magnolia and camellia come to mind as a good base, placed strategically on the grounds, growing unmolested in a flowering lawn.

Very nice! What are you doing for your driveway to the garage?

@HU, I’m still trying to decide on the shape. Then I’ll select b/w concrete and crushed gravel.

Can you send a pic with the entire garage and driveway area? You really want to get the contour of the driveway correct.

@beesnees, the skirting to hide beneath the deck is being installed.

Skirting is good. Much better than lattice and will look nice once stained.

I am seeing majorly sandy soil. All the more reason to go with a native and naturalized plant palette for low maintenance.

HU, here’s a pic with the garage and driveway. I’m thinking a simple crushed gravel.

Once you get inside the fence and tree line, define the crushed gravel driveway edge and turn around with nice stone blocks set a touch above surface level

Posting a couple follow up pics… ended up w/ grass so now low maintenance but msnh less flowers than was originally proposed to us. water for irrigation comes from lake do no utility expense.