Question

Hi, Marc:

 I've just purchased a manufactured house on a one acre lot.  The house sits 100' from the road with a straight, gravel driveway leading to the garage at one end of the house.  The house is 48' wide, and the attached 28' wide garage has two doors facing the street , creating a building 76' wide:  very linear, low, and flat-fronted.  The front door is at the opposite end of the house from the driveway, and the concrete sidewalk to the door parallels the flat front of the house.  There are no trees or large shrubs on the property to relieve the flat land, which is planted to grass.

 The house and garage are covered with light gray vinyl, with light aqua shutters, and white garage doors, window trim, and fascia.  The light colors give the house a monochromatic look.  The only pronounced contrast is the black roof which further contributes to the long, low horizontal, flat appearance of the building front.

 The house faces south.  It is located in northern, lower peninsula Michigan.

 I can paint the shutters, the front door, and the garage door trim, a darker color, perhaps cranberry, to create some dominant vertical lines.  I could plant narrow pyramidals beside the front door to add some height and depth.

 I'd like to plant fast-growing hardwoods, maybe creating islands with ground cover and shrubs extending forward from the house to the trees to give it some depth.  Any curving lines would help to soften the dominant straight lines of the house and driveway.  Bringing in soil to create one or two raised, curving mounds -- maybe a part of the plantings connecting to the shade trees and smaller specimen trees -- would help.

 Would the repetition of dark red-leaved shrubs and trees connecting the cranberry color of the shutters to the landscape be a positive?

 The long winters make evergreens really valuable year round.  How can I incorporate them?

 I don't have a photo of the property loaded into my computer yet, but here's a simple diagram.


     GARAGE
 XXXXXXXXXXXXXX                 HOUSE
 X             XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX FRONT XXXXXXXX
 X                                       DOOR  
 X             XXXXXXXXXXXXX SIDEWALK XXXXXXXX
 X             X
 X             X
 X             X
 X             X

I'd appreciate your ideas.

Thank you very much.  

John  

Answer
Hello, John -
Sounds like you are on the right track as far as design ideas.  I like the trim-accent idea, too.  Picking up the trim color in the landscape plants is one of my favorite tricks.  If you go with a cranberry, I抎 suggest plants like barberry (semi-deciduous), buddleia (deciduous), red-twig dogwood (Cornus spp. ?deciduous), or Euonymus for shrubs.  And for an accent tree, maybe a red-leafed Flowering Plum or Choke Cherry.  Don抰 over do it ?it is an accent, not the primary color.  Use it like salt ?sparingly.  Here we use a lot of Muhgo pines (Pinus mugo) ?short, squatty evergreen pines/shrubs, good in zones 2-7.  Good evergreen filler.

Looks like you are in USDA plant hardiness zone 5a.  Here are some additional evergreen trees that will work for your area.  
http://www.naturehills.com/catalog/Trees/Evergreen_Trees.aspx?cidp=0.1.10.1590


Try your hand at searching Naturehills.com for plants that you抎 like to use ?just remember you are in a zone 5 (or less; i.e., 4, 3, 2, 1 should also work) , so search accordingly.

I only recommend Naturehill抯 website because they have good images.  You抮e welcome to get your plant material anywhere you抎 like, and I always suggest you buy from your local nursery, as they know best what will grow in your area.

I like to mix lots of different plant types (evergreen & deciduous) so that if one is not performing well, the others shoulder the load of 搇ooking good?

Try and think about how you would USE the property, and not just making it look nice from the street.  Have you considered a circular drive up to the front door?  100 feet off of the frontage road is generous, and one acre is actually quite a bit to work with.  You then have created a raised planter opportunity - and a reason for a mound in your front yard.  It also helps folks find the front door.

Do you need to screen neighbors or unsightly views of utilities or busy streets?  Do you need to 揻rame?distant vistas or attractive elements like nearby creeks or park spaces?  These can be done by 揵orrowing?them ?Use the same plants/trees to make a psychological connection, when viewed from your property.  Things to consider.

Your idea of mixing in some hardwoods would be nice, especially in the fall.  I抎 plant them close to the house (about 10-15 feet off of the front) so that in the summer you抣l get the benefit of shade (and a lower cooling bill), and in the winter when the leaves are gone, you抣l get the benefit of passive solar ?especially with a black roof.  Jut don't stick them in front of the windows, and block views from the inside.

Some folks don抰 like this idea because of the leaf litter in the gutters, but I say it is a small price to pay for a lower power bill.

All the best on your grand adventure!  ~Marc

PS; If you are going to add a lot of trees, please don't plant them in rows like soldiers.  Very un-natural, in my opinion.  Stagger them and mix them up in odd numbers; 1's 3's, 5's, etc.  ~M