Here's the side of the house I need to work on

and here's the front of the house, just to give you an idea of what it looks like. To the left would be the huge sideyard! Thanks for any advice!

With a space that large, seems like you could do almost anything. Going on the assumption the immediate backyard has the prerequisite patio for lounging, cooking out. And that overlooks any play area for children, etc. You're not looking to install a baseball diamond, tennis courts, BMX bike tracks... and that lovely tree to the right in the first picture does not need limbing up - as you will surely be advised to do.

You might have to pick a spot that you can view from a favorite vantage point and start from there thinking what you might like to look out at. I think that was Botan's "captain's chair" approach.

If I were going to begin with a blank slate, I'd want to start a natural grove, starting out with smaller stock so trees grow together as they would in nature.

Picking varieties would be the challenge. Much variety in the conifers - sizes, shapes, colors. If you're in deer country, they tend to leave the conifers with short spikey needles alone, ie. the spruces. But those can be planted with magnolias, crabs, dogwoods. Throw in a few maples, oaks or what is available and does well in your area.

Yes, you'd need a plan to avoid hodge-podge plantings or nursery rows, but I'd say the best thing going for you is a big empty space that looks pretty good in just its mown state.

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions. Our backyard has a very large fenced in area, with even more room behind the fence. We have a upper deck, lower patio, room for a garden, the shed my husband plans to build next year and, even though we don't have kids there is room for a swing set and still have open area to play (we tried to plan ahead for future buyers when building the fence). So that leaves the side as "extra space" I like the idea of magnolias, and spruces the most. We are in deer country ;) The tree straight ahead in the pic is a young weeping willow that the prev owners planted, and my husband does want to "limb up" the tree to the right so he can mow under it, he just hasn't had time yet. We've owned the house about a year and just really moved to working on the outside at the end of the summer, after we did a total remodel on the inside.

Would you plant some sort of tree line to shield the road? This is what my husband wants to do, but it would take a huge amount of trees and I feel it would look very artificial. I want a more natural look, without looking too hodge-podge like you mentioned.

Thanks again!

Since you've already got the front yard figured out, I'm not sure of the limits of the area you need help with. Is it area A, B or both? Your isolated, disconnected photos don't adequately explain how the space fits together. A shot from the road (including a piece of road for reference) looking across the space and including the house would be a good starting photo. Another one or two photos taken from the road from a different position would be helpful. A landscape does not happen is isolated pieces. Since you already have the front part figured out, you should share what you're doing there or people could easily go in the wrong direction. Also, you should say what you're trying to accomplish. What are your goals? What's your vision? Does husband want to screen the road from view? Or make the house private? What's he trying to accomplish?

Consider putting down newspapers or cardboard in a big circle under that pretty tree and then mulch the whole area - it will be good for the tree and erase the problem of trying to get healthy grass growing in competition with the tree roots.

Envy you all that space. Pretty house, great land.

Rosiew-thanks for the tips! We plan to mulch all of our trees as soon as possible.

Yardvaark- I'm trying to figure out what to do with area A and B, your grid is a pretty accurate overview of our property. I'll get my husband to take some pictures from across the road, and get them up tomorrow. Sorry, I ran into some poison oak and couldn't get decent pictures from over there, you need to be far back to get both the house and yard, its all wooded across from us. It's a very wide space and is hard to include the house and sideyard in one pic.

What we are doing in the front and back yards: I included the picture of the front yard to help give an idea of the house/area. We haven't added any plantings in front but we have done major trimming and weed control (our house was an impending foreclosure and had no care for over an year) We have purple rhododendrons on the left, pink azaleas on the right, two bushes I have yet to ID, and a juniper near the door. Next to the driveway the fence extends to the road and we are getting ready to line it with spartan junipers. The back yard has two oak tress, we just bought 4 green giants to plant along the fence-line. We also plan to add a raised garden and roses along the back of fence next spring.

As for area A & B My husband really wants to both screen the backyard from the road as much as possible and make house as private as possible. It's such a large area I feel its almost impossible to do that, and would be too expensive. We are on a budget. Plus we plan to live in this house 5-7 years, so I don't think we'd be here long enough to enjoy the benefits of putting in screening like that.

So, what I am looking to do in is fill in the space so it doesn't look so empty, but I don't want it to look like I just randomly suck in a few trees either.

The second picture I posted is the end of my house, and I was looking for advice of what/how to plant to fill in that space and not have the house look so bare.

The house faces east and the entire yard gets full sun from just after sunrise until mid-late afternoon.

Thanks for the all the help so far!

Though it's also helpful to provide a single picture that shows everything, I was thinking that you would take pictures from the lower left area (referenced to my diagram) while standing on the road near the front, left corner of the property. You could pan the camera so that shots overlap and that will allow all the space to be seen. I would also stand where I placed the word "ROAD" and take shots that pan the yard.

Speaking in general terms, it seems like screening the back yard would best occur where the back yard begins ... not at the front roadway. "... and make [the] house as private as possible." ... does that mean make the FRONT YARD (area "B" in my diagram) as private as possible? How would that coordinate with the plans you have for front, center yard? (You said what you've done there, but not what you intend to do.) The area could be COMPLETELY screened if that's your desire, but it doesn't seem the optimum solution unless you're planning on using that space for private functions.

While living there 5-7 years is time enough to get a landscape well on the way (even with a tight budget) it is not enough time to cultivate it to maturity. Is there a thought of preparing it to have broad appeal so that when the time comes for it to be sold, prospective buyers do not look at your landscape work as something to rip out?

Hi,

I'll be home later this afternoon and try to take pictures from those angles. Thanks for the tips!

I don't think we want to COMPLETELY screen the front and back yards. Partial screening of the back yard which would be the square behind the house on the diagram is the really what would make us happy, this area is viewed from the road through areas A and B. The junipers and green giants I mentioned are/will be screening the only neighbor on the right side. A wooded tree line screens to the left and behind areas A and B. So the only way to view the backyard/ fenced area is from the road looking across A and B.

There are no other plans for the rest of the yard other then to maintain everything that I have listed we have done.

Our #1 one goal is to appeal to future buyers of the home, and that is over and above what makes us happy now. I am a former Realtor that left the business to go back to school recently, and this is our third home. So everything we do inside and out we really keep future buyers in mind, probably a lot more so then the average person. The first time I pulled up to view the property as a buyer I saw a huge empty yard, that reminded me of an (overgrown at the time) golf course, and I thought how in the world will we keep this mowed?!

So in the end, what I would like to see when we put the house on the market in 5-7 years is the large area of A and B filled in with a less empty look and hopefully providing some privacy screening at the same time.

Sheep? Free range chickens? An orchard?

That's a HUGE area of just grass, unless you create a wildflower colony and use native grasses.

I finally was able to take new pictures of the area, sorry it took so long. It had to be during the early part of the day because the days we got home late in the afternoon the pics turned out too shadowy looking.

This picture is looking from the driveway near the road across the areas A, B and the front yard. Our property stops just past the treeline.

This one is looking from the far corner of the property near the road looking back up at the house

And here's one angled toward the backyard.

Thanks for all the advice so far!

It would be fun to work up a very deep border of large shrubs that create an attractive "mink stole" effect around the bare shoulder of your property. Sorry I can't name plants for your area.

I suggest a variety of trees and shrubs where the road meets your property. This would block your view of the road and the drivers view of you. Second I wouldn't mow it and let it develop a natural feel.

Im going to throw out an estimate, 200 feet from those electric boxes to the woods edge. Does that sound about right? Anyways, 6 trees at 20$ a piece =120. 10 shrubs @20 = 200$. Is that within your range? Witchazel, mock orange, serviceberry, dogwood, lilac, viburnum all are good hedge shrubs.

Morton arboretum link has good shrubs/trees.

Here is a link that might be useful: morton arboretum shrubs

My inclination would be to define the property edge with a row, or double row of street trees. There is nothing that qualifies as an eyesore needing screening and no projected use of the side yard requires privacy. So why hide a nice view? I'd invite people passing by to look into and admire your yard. Street trees (limbed up so that the view is maintained, of course!) add order and stateliness, mark the property limits, generally dress it up and display your affection for it. How you handled the ground space below the trees would depend on their spacing and shade pattern. It could be grass, groundcover (something easy) or mulch. Because the location is some distance from the house and because you have time, if you wanted, you could use trees that are more unusual, Maclura pomifera for instance. They should look nice, but don't need to reek of high formality unless that's what you want.

Where you need privacy for the back yard you could use sizable shrubs placed somewhere near the fence as a hedge or in carefully placed groupings.

The end of the house needs a couple of trees to shield some of the blank wall space.
They could be shade or flowering trees. They don't need to be jammed up on the house but could be spaced a distance away proportionate to their ultimate size. A few shrubs to fit with the lower level blank space could be worked into the scheme.

{{gwi:51766}}

Thanks for all the suggestions! I really like them all! we had thought of doing a row of trees along the road but we were really only considering evergreens such as green giants or the like, and I felt like that would make an unnatural looking wall of trees. We both like the idea of using street trees and I think this is something we can easily work in our budget.

We had been talking this week of a plan to plant something like holly along the street side of the fence, and maybe even some climbing roses further down. So I think we'll stick to that.

KraB- We had toyed with not mowing the same area you mentioned earlier this summer, but had decided not to since a neighbor did this in his back yard and it just looks like a unmowed backyard with some random trees. I do think it could work for us though since our property line fades into a wooded area, the neighbor has two neatly mowed lawns on either side of him making his look more out of place.

Thanks again for taking the time to help us with a plan for our yard. It really helps to have ideas from others to get on the right track. I'm going to start researching tree varieties now!

If you want to have a less mown lawn or move more to a unmown meadow, you have to plant for it. You can't just not mow lawn grass and hope it looks good. You could start the process by sowing the appropriate seeds in the area you are putting in new trees or other plants.

Thanks Tanowicki! I did a little googling on what to plant for a meadow look, but I think that idea is on hold until next year. We just aren't sold yet, we'll see how things look after we get trees planted. I'm afraid it will look too much like an empty lot (even with the right planting) and some future buyers won't realize it's part of the property.

It isn't an easy look to pull off in an area where the natural succession is to end up as forest. Totally let go, you end up with a shrubby, briary mess. Partially let go, it requires special equipment to maintain.

Since you have time, you might consider obtaining trees that are bare root, if necessary. Not only would it be cheaper, but it would open up options of what's available beyond the common trees that are seen in most local nurseries. It would make a big difference if supplemental irrigation were supplied for the first couple of years (not that difficult to do) ... in addition to an unfailing program of regular fertilization. Then, you could expect pretty good growth from bare root material.

I have a friend who quit mowing a good sized portion of his property. Dog Fennel moved into that section and now covers an entire acre. It's a good 8' tall, solid. I would be afraid to walk through it. You might see what weeds invade unmowed places where you live.

With space such as this it is always important to study the best present and future use of the land. Short term the need seems to be a desire for 'instant' privacy. Could this be achieved by careful placement of the desired shed construction and accompanying solid fencing to screen the family areas?

Longer term looking toward selling in less than a decade one should think about the potential of this site. What is its best value; planted and screened for privacy or wide open land available as building lots? Speaking from experience, there is always a buyer for open, easy to develop property. Check local zoning on your land before making any planting decisions.

Thanks for all the tips everyone! Yardvarrk, I will look at bare root trees and my husband had already talked about setting up irrigation, we think it would be very doable. And Nandina, thanks and I have thought of the fact we could divide the land and sell it as a separate lot, right now there isn't much demand here for building lots (I still keep a close eye on the market), but a lot can change in 5 years. I don't think planting trees along the prop line will affect selling it in the future, at least I hope it wont. We plan to keep the fence as it would be much cheaper to landscape for some privacy then to rebuild a fence that is less then a year old.

"I don't think planting trees along the prop line will affect selling it in the future, at least I hope it wont.

It will ... but in a positive way. As long as the area is residential, a row of quality street trees will make the area more attractive, ADD to the property value and make it easier to sell. Therefore, you would not want to choose anything like Silver Maple or Weeping Willow. You'd want to choose trees that have positive attributes and few drawbacks. Interestingly enough, it is often trees that figure prominently in denoting the character of historical or important places. It would be hard to think of Washington's Mall without the cherry trees or old, antebellum mansions of the deep South without the Live Oaks.

I remembered seeing your thread when I found this today and thought it might give you some other things to think about - though it looks like you've gotten a lot of guidance.

We too have a large side yard that we'll be able to finish up this coming spring (when plants are more readily available). It doesn't look like much now but I'm hoping over the years as things mature, it will be nice in and of itself to stroll through to get to the backyard. Though we want it as lush as possible, there will be a definite balance between lush and overgrown because it's too much to handle. Good luck with your project.

Here is a link that might be useful: [Houzz Side Yards[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/how-to-tap-the-potential-of-a-big-side-yard-stsetivw-vs~2917487?utm_source=Houzz&utm_campaign=u182&utm_medium=email&utm_content=gallery11)