Mike,
You will be living in our neck of the woods. I would suggest you visit k and k nursery on Sooner Road in north norman...they have a large selection of plants and have been very knowledgeable. You might consider hiring a landscape architect to draw up some basic plans before you build. That way you will know exactly what you want to clear. Most landscape architects will design a plan for not too much money, and then you can implement or adjust as needed. Best of luck!

I would use a fine blade fescue grass for your shade grass areas. Someone may have a better idea...but that is what I use. If you want a can't-kill-it-if-you-tried lawn in the sunnier areas, Bermuda is generally the go to on that...but I should warn you...all of us use Bermuda as a cuss word...it loves to grow in all of your nice amended beds!

I don't know how old your boys are....but if you will plant a variety of things...they should have fun with the bugs! Look at butterfly host plants too...lots of fun caterpillars there.

We can provide you with our favorite "Don't plant" suggestions too :) or just check out some of our recent posts...there have been several on that subject!

The link below lists out some of the past winners of the Oklahoma Proven suggestions. Google it for the more recent ones too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oklahoma Proven Plants

This post was edited by lisa_h on Wed, Apr 2, 14 at 8:49

How much shade are you talking about? Also, if it is very dense shade versus dappled shade, it might be too shady for any lawn grass, and in that case, ground covers would be a better bet.

wulfelton: Can't wait to move! Good suggestion on the landscape architect. Are there any you'd recommend?

lisa_h: I can understand the bermuda sentiment. It is a bit of a cuss word for me, as well, and I was hoping to avoid it. Thank you for the suggestion on the fine-blade fescue. The OK Proven is an awesome resource that I happened to already stumble into. It really awoke my green thumb. I'd love to have a list of what 'not to plant'. My boys are almost-2 and 3, so bugs certainly are the thing right now.

okiedawn: It's hard to predict: we haven't done the earthwork yet let alone build the house. I would describe the 1-acre lot as being quite wooded, but I imagine a lot of the trees will be thinned out. Thank you for the ground cover suggestion.

Welllll... :) If you see my badly spelled Photinia thread (hate we can't edit those too!), you will see the size a photinia bush really likes to be. They have their place, but it is NOT next to a foundation unless you really enjoy clipping bushes! Also, be careful how close you plant to a foundation. It is tempting to plant too close when the plants are so small. They look funny when they are placed where they should be at full grown size!

Bradford pears are beautiful in the spring, but they are super weak trees. Ice storms maul them frequently.

I really like my chaste/vitex tree. It is also a softer wood/small tree, but the blooms are great (scent maybe less so) and butterflies and hummingbirds love it. I haven't had any branches taken out by an ice storm yet, but it grows very quickly and blooms on new wood.

I love crape myrtle trees...the large ones. They provide bloom at a nice lull in the season.

If you have a sunnier spot for vines...passionvine (passiflora) (the purple ones, the red will kill the caterpillars) is a host plant for the gulf fritillary butterfly. The caterpillars are dark orange with black spikes....VERY cool to a little kid. They are easy to raise too.

So, more what to plant, than not to plant there :) but I'm sure someone will chime in!

I second K and K Nursery. What Mary doesn't know (short list), John does.

Excellent! Thanks for these suggestions , folks!

Mike,
Depending on where you are, you may find trouble finding people to come out to you. The only landscape architects we were able to get to travel out to us where Tony's (they charged way too much for a consultation for us, though), K and K, and Cadence (out of Edmond). Your builder may also be able to recommend someone. We ended up going with K and K, although we did really like the people at Cadence as well.

Good luck with the whole project!

Thanks wulfleton for the tips and the encouragement!