My top pick is a Ann magnolia, the early blooms are really nice, I was just wondering if there was away to amend the soil ph etc... to make the blooms look more purple, somewhat like hydrangea.

Other ideas are dogwood, little gem, and redbud... They will all be about 10 foot off foundation corner.

flower color. is flower color.. buy the color you want ... do NOT rely on changing a given plants color thru amendments ...

height.. soil type.. any other info might help ..

ken

DZ, the soil is not limestone based, mostly red clay but still fairly high in organic matter, used to be a wooded lot, with manure, and compost in the bed. The beds will be pretty rich, as I get compost and manure for free "equestrian stable ranch just right up the road".

Your right Ken, should have said corner framing trees for each side. I am not stupid enough to plant a 20 foot tree right in front of a window :).

Thank you DZ again for Magnolia flowers not being depended on PH. I guess its the slight differences in the cultivars then "making it a pain to pick one out". Some of the same varities around here are bright purple while others are a light pinkish purple and its practically the same tree, figured it might have something to do with the PH or quality of soil, though it was just an off theory.

by focusing on the house.. you might ruin the flow of the drive ... especially.. since the drive is not symmetrical ...

to put it the other way.. forcing the symmetry of the house.. may leave you with an asymmetry to the drive ...

do NOT.. put yourself in a box.. and then forget to look outside of it...

ken

I'll have to admit I'm not a fan of symmetry in the landscape, so I'm biased right off the bat. It has a multitude of problems. With matched pairs and straight lines, how do you keep them looking all alike? It's a constant battle and your eye always goes to the one that doesn't look as good as it's neighbors or twin.

An informal landscape can look as elegant as a formal landscape without the pitfalls. Choose your trees and shrubs carefully. Pick plants with tight silhouettes, not something loose and out of control.
Work with evergreens first, both trees, shrubs, and ground covers, and then design in elegant deciduous trees. I wouldn't use many deciduous shrubs, if any.

Think flow. Your house is the opposite. One design can enhance the other. Sort of like Ying and Yang.

Hope this Landscape 101 helps.

Mike..

The driveway won't be a circular one.

I am doing the entire landscape design myself, just needed some advice on trees on the corner.

The house is actually not very symmetrical, its not going to be high maintenance at all as is the custom in English gardens, think more french country with a hint of Spanish/southern influence "were near Louisiana".

This is the back yard, the house sits on 1 1/2 acres.

As you can see the front is pretty symmetrical to a degree, the house in itself is somewhat symmetrical and I would like the front beds to reflect that somewhat, I will not be planting an overgrown mass but will focus more on perennial flowers and ground covers vs the traditional evergreen plantings

This is the house design I am shooting for, you can see why the beds with trees to the right and left anchor the house. I plan on having two beds on the left and right almost near the street to offer a sense of depth and seclusion.

Front left, Live oak and Black gum, I know they get huge, will be all thats on that 1/4 acre side.

Front right near street, missiouri purple redbud, 3JM 12foot est, and a LG with sunny knockout framing the box.

The entire garden will have a white, pink, and purple them from blackie, New zeland flax, pink redbud flowers, purple foliage, purple heart, the LG magnolia, and myriads of grouped perennials. The stone work will have a decent amount of white involved in it.

Then I realized that the modern cultivars are well behaved, generally free from pests, provide fast shade, can tolerate drought, are inextpensive, and many have decent winter interest.

I also saw how well the big ones handled bad weather like surviving flooding from TS Allison in Houston and how many survived Katrina, Rita and how many are still standing after the Tornado outbreak in Alabama. I know they ain't perfect storm stalwarts, but compared to other ornamentals, I've decided they hold up quite well.

So I planted five of them this year ;-)

Anway, consider a well-behaved cultivar of Bald Cypress if you have a wet/sunny spot out in the yard that is appropriate -- unless there are shade trees around, you'll want one eh?

I'm not a fan of foundation "trees" (guessing you're on a slab?) but some nice well behaved bushes may be nice

Sorry about the ghetto drawings, they look much better in real life.

Thanks for the vote on the cypress, there is a dry creek bed behind the house where will tap a well in that isn't soggy but has a groundwater concentration even though were near the top of a hill. I think those would look great but I am not sure I have the room in the back with the 5 pecans I want to put in, not to mention 20 blueberries, small vineyard, and raised vegetable garden.

I didn't see the extent of the maps when I posted.

Crepe myrtle can be too messy for such a place as yours.

very nice :-)

I will do a huge thread in a couple of years on here, on the Landscaping design, and on the moon garden, I will be doing a rosary moon garden.

I also have 3 crap apples I just picked up, have two regular in the design, and 4 cherry trees in the center of the backyard. I am trying to make the backyard mostly edible yet formal low maintenance. Traditionally that would be an oxymoron, but planting messy apples, cherries, etc under a think pine straw bed = limited maintenance :). I do like creype myrtls to a degree, actually am planning on planting two of the fire red varieties at the back of the vegtable garden with sunflowers and beans for extended pollination :).

My goal is to feed my family, yet still have some nice looking trees without having the headache of a traditional jumbled mess.

i love mine, just for the look and wildlife value