You have come to the right spot!!
My suggestion is look around the area and find someone with a yard that looks like you want yours to look like.....not too "planned"...not that "done by a landscape designer" look....but neat and attractive.....and ask them to walk your property with you whild you take notes.
I woulkd love to do that....but I live a long way away!
But take pictures and keep asking questions here.
Linda C

Waaah Lindac. You'd be ideal.

Honestly, our area isn't one that has great yards. All those seem to be across the Hudson. When the area's "best" (according to our contractor) landscaper came over I thought I had it licked. But we just don't have the same taste at all.

When DH and I wanted just very simple planting of white and purple -- hydrangeas and rhodendrons -- she was very negative because of the deer. But I've had hydrangeas in the open for 3 years -- we spray every week and they are getting big and blooming well. She also thought rhodos would get too big and block one living room window. But those windows face south and I can't even open the blinds after noon during the summer.

Let me ask you: could this be done virtually? If I take detailed photos and post, do you think folks will make suggestions? I had really good luck with my living room that way on the HD forum.

Or must I have someone local? (I realize my trees and terrain will be very different from everywhere but New England).

Hudson Valley
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/hudval/

Up State New York
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/upstateny/

Hola,

The Garden Web has regional forums. I've linked the Hudson Valley forum and included the URL for the Up State forum. Maybe someone there can help.

Terran

Here is a link that might be useful: Hudson Valley Forum

"Would that be a master gardener? A landscape architect? Or just a very experienced gardener? "

A very experienced gardener would be ideal .. about $40 - $75 an hour to go for a walk around the yard.

No one knows everything .. there are Rose gardeners .. Arborist .. lawn experts .. designers .. ect.

Check out the local yellow pages .. extension service for FREE expert advice ( all you may need ?? ) and perhaps some references .. the International Society Of Arborist has list of certified Arborist .. ask for references from good nurserys or at botanical gardens.

Finding them is not as hard as paying them ??

Good Day ...

And you can take pictures and post them here...
And remember one person's "best landscaper" is another's idiot who really knows nothing about what care things take....nor what kind of a look you would like.....and many don't know enough not to put down that awful landscape fabric!

To start ger rid of the poision ivy and the fallen branches and the vines that are strangling other stuff....
Put a lot of mulch over the roots of the plants that have their roots exposed.....and step back.....think where you might like flower beds or to expand existing ones....build a lasagna bed or 2.....and take the winter to plan what to plant.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: lasagna beds

I've been so focused on indoors I don't have many outdoor pix but I made an album and later today, when it actualizes, I'll do captions and explain. There are 2 photos of the area I'd like to do right away.

Mohave, great idea to consult extension service. We have a lot of universities in our area.

I'm willing to spend a few hundred bucks to get advice and if it comes from more than one person that's fine. I take good notes.

I have an excellent arborist but he cuts, prunes and chips. I may need someone who does tree treatments to deal with whatever's eating my red maple.

Lindac-- re the exposed roots. That's mostly in the front of the house. I have pix of that you can see soon.

Shouldn't I bring in some topsoil and cover them with that first? Then I was going to put down the drip system on a timer (just along the front) so I can have the plants watered when I'm not there.

Then I'd put mulch over that, right? But what is mulch, exactly. If the tree guy makes wood chips from the tree hit by lightning, can I use that? Or if he trims pines, can I use pine branches. We have TONS of leaves. But I'd rather not go out into the woods on the side and get those because there are deers who run freely through there and I'd rather not get lyme disease.

So if I wait for the oaks to shed in the fall, I'll have leaves to spare. Can newly fallen leaves be used in the planting bed? Or must I buy the cedar chips?

Sorry for starting out so dumb but I will learn.

The Lasagna Project looks interesting but it's way, way ambitious.

My ideal, right now, would be to improve the soil in the beds in the front of the house, try to bank some soil to get water to run away from the house (instead of making holes around the foundation), install the drip system so the front can get watered regularly when I'm not there, and then plan 3 big Annabelle hydrangeas to fill in the empty places in the front where I pulled out the hideous dead ground cover.

After that, maybe have the trees sprayed (but fall or wait till spring?)

Then tackle the vines and stuff on the perimeter. Again, the problem there is woods with tons of leaves on the ground and deer ticks.

Does that sound too ambitious?

Here are photos of the yard.

Lindac -- I think there's a Happy Birthday due you! Have a a great day and year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Opinions needed on front yard

Wonderful house!!!
What system do you have for getting the rain out of the gutters on the eaves? Are those white curved things at the corners of the house down spouts....leaders for rain?
I suspect you don't have a good water flow from the roof and a lot is pouring off when it rains or snow melts and that's why you are having drainage problems.
To begin with I would cut those yews in the front back to about 6 inches below the window sills. Yes you will have bare wood, but if they are yews ( and they look like it) they will come back and be beautiful.
Then I would get rid of the grass infront ot the bushes....between the walk and the bushes and make that part either of a shrub border or make it flowers.
Spray with off before you go into the woods......and shower afterwards....not likely to get lyme disease if you do that.
All chopped wood and leaves makes wonderful mulch!....if it's not poision ivy!
Why would you have the trees sprayed? For what?...Sure, you can call someone and say spray my trees.....and he will come and do it...but that's foolish unless you have an infestation of a specific insect or disease.
Unless you have fruit trees and want to have worm free apples, most trees never need spraying at all.
Also not sure you even need a drip irrigation system. How often do you plan on being there?
And....Thanks for the birthday wishes!!...It's about all over but the leftovers!
Linda C

Just wanted to second what the landscaper said about planting hydrangeas in front of the windows. You definitely don't want large bushes covering the windows of your house. So many homeowners make that mistake. You can drive around and see too-large shrubbery in front of the windows of many houses.

There are small versions of many shrubs and bushes. You might want to consider those.

Linda,

The white things on the side is wood framing. We don't have a gutter on the garage eaves as our contractor feels it cases ice damming and advised against it. We do have a gutter (at my insistance) over the porch and in the back over the patio.

I was thinking of having him put one over the front of the garage to get the water to drain off but the way the house is sited the runoff would go towards the stone walkway. So that's an issue.

Why cut down the yews near the porch? They aren't in the way of anything. Is there a reason? I'm not following that.

I plan to get rid of most of the grass between the walkway and the house. Problem is, if I plant flowers there is no one to maintain them. I'm there only on weekends right now and not every weekend. There are tons of weeds. I thought a few big hydrangeas would fill in nicely and the empty spaces could have simple things like the purple salvia.

Forgot to mention that I'm horribly allergic to bug bites and get sick from them so the woods are not my favorite place to be. I don't go outside all that much, at least not there or in New England. I got bitten in Nantucket and had to go to the hospital. Not a natural born gardner, moi. Also, if there are 200 people I will be bitten and no one else. And on the one spot I missed with the spray. I know it sounds like an exaggeration but, pathetically, it's not.

Thanks for the info on the mulch. I can get tree guy to leave me a ton and gather up leaves in the fall off the lawn.

The red maple has been attacked by something. The leaves look lacy and eaten and it's thinning out in certain areas. Other trees across the driveway also have lacy leaves. They've been eaten by something. Should the tree guy look at those and tell me what it is? Then, say it is gypsy moths -- would I spray against those in Spring and Fall? Or just Spring when they build their nest. There were nests of some kind 2 years running in the maple. Contractor said gypsy moths and that it had to be torched to be destroyed but he never did that. I had that branch cut away.

I felt the drip system would help the plants grow and fill in. Otherwise, they're only watered when it rains or I'm there and they get full sun (west expo) in the front.

Blueheron -- I like big, lush planting. I don't like small plantings of lots of different things. Hydrangeas would be planted forwards so they wouldn't cover the windows but say they grew 3 feet tall what's the problem? I wouldn't put a 6-foot high rhodo in front of the window, however.

Why do you consider it a mistake? The houses I see that I like are very simply done with one or two colors at the most. If we had a cottage style house I could see small plantings. But with a colonial shingled house, I guess I see hydrangeas and rhodos and hedges. Especially since I can't maintain things and it's very costly to have someone else do it.

Thanks for your patience in explaining such basic stuff to me. I know a good deal about a lot of things, just not gardens. If anyone is redoing a kitchen or bath, buying antique furniture or art or tile or fixtures I'm happy to help in exchange.

I think your contractor must be an idiot.....!
Downspouts cause ice damming???? Sure it does! But lack of same causes washing and basement flooding!
Get someone to install heat tape at the roof edges.....and gutters and downspouts and your wash and drainage problems are over!
I don't know where in upstate NY you are....near Buffalo? Lake effect snow?
Drive around and see howe many have roof drainage systems in your area....
I say cut the yews back to below the level of the window bottom.....for looks....just like you would have your draperies either to the sill or the floor....not 1/2 way in between.
I also am allergic to insect stings.......but Off keeps them away ( think I am allergic to that as well....but it's better than the alternative!)
Gypsy moths would attack a lot of stuff in the woods as well as your maple.....ask someone what is eating your stuff before you get anything done.
There are many many carefree plants that would do well with only weekly watering......which direction does the front face?
Linda C

We're in Ulster County, Hudson Valley 90 miles from NYC -- just across the river from the CIA. Nowhere near Buffalo.

I'll drive around and look at gutters. I thought we should have more of them. He feels gutters cause the damming when they get clogged. I did have to clear about 1 foot of pine needles and gunk out of one in the back but I don't think it's draining properly. We had them before the reno but not on the garage and I agree with you about that. He said the drainage was a grading issue but that was partially solved by banking up the walkway.

I was wondering about French drains.

If I cut back the yews then I have round squatty bushes. I thought yews were meant to be pointy, no?

Yes, the Off does weird stuff on me too. I use the Deep Woods.

Front faces west -- full sun after noon. Frankly if a plant blocked a window it would help keep the house cooler. I didn't want a larger porch because it's too hot and buggy to ever use it.

Salvia seem to be hearty enough for the shorter stuff in between (or catmint?). But the hydrangeas need a lot of water.

The yews I am talking about are not the "pointy" ones....but those bushes directly infornt of the windows....low....but I think they should be even lower....just below the windows. And some yews are "pointy" and some are short and squat. But I think your pointy bushes look like Alberta spruce, not yew.
You can provide some shade by small "under story" trees....like dog wood and eastern red bud. Plant them about at the edge of the walk....between the walk and the house and they will giove a little shade....but still not cover your windows completely like a dense shrub would. You want to shade the house, not cover the windows. A big bush planted some 15 feet from the house cuts the glare without giving a "closed in by bushes" feeling.
I grew up in northern N J....my parents lived there until 1980....I went to school in Massachusettes so I know the climate.....you are not in the snow belt....
As for gutters.....you need down spouts too.....and there are products that keep pine needles out of your gutters...."gutter guard" is one. It's not one of those mesh systems that clog up in a month....but a metal thing....that takes about 10 years to clog! LOL!
In my opinion you need gutters and down spouts....perhaps a french drain and perhaps an underground drain leading away from the house....depending on the slope...or perhaps just a spreader at the base of the spout.
When it rains hard, doesn't dirt and mud splatter on the sides of the house? In the ski country where they get 15 to 20 feet of snow a year, buildings often don't have gutters.....but they also get serious icicles!!
Yes....hydrangeas need a lot of water....but they also don't like the west sun....dappled shade is best for them.
Linda C