Gardening and Horticulture - in need of landscaping advice

I want to expand the landscaping around my house. Currently I have a border the length of my house that is straight with concrete edging. I would like to continue that around the back of my house and encompass a tree. I was thinking of swinging out from the straight run, curving around the tree and curving back into a swoopy line that parallels the house to a break.

Can I do this with concrete border? I've done tree circles with concrete arcs. I'm not a geometry whiz any longer and wondering if I can accomplish this or if I should abandon this edging and go for the flexible stuff (don't really care for it).

Also, does anyone have a software program they can RAVE about? I've done some research on amazon.com and all the reviews stink.

Photos? Who has a really WOW border? I'd like some inspiration. I have a large section off my patio that I would like to landscape that gets mostly sun. I want something low growing so we won't trip over it (I plan on putting stepping stones off the patio as a make-shift path). Also, I have turf roto heads out of this area (didn't opt for the landscaping heads since I didn't know what I was going to plant). The irrigation specialists suggest that I do NOT put delicate flowers in this area. Fine by me bc this is where the kids play. I was thinking dwarf tuft grasses, daylillies and lambs ear. Maybe some hostas - they seem to grow better for me in sun that shade. Go figure. I also thought of putting in some bulbs - daffodils, tulips, hyacinth - in clumps for spring blooms.

I have to agree with you that of a lot of the software programs stink, we still use the old fashioned ways.

In late summer order all the free Catalogs with pictures of flowers & trees you can get. Take a 100ft contractors tape & lay out your house, out buildings, patios, drives etc. The better you layout the lot, House & all shapes & sizes the easier it will be to design the Garden areas.

Once you have the areas that you can't plant, now the areas you can plant become visable. An inexpensieve set of colored pencils, steel ruler at Wal-Mart. You can now scketch in the borders, & rings around trees & borders. The Catalogs will come in handy in choosing plants for sun, part sun & shade put them in catagories.

Cut and paste the flower colors in the order the plants will grow, plant all tall plants on the North side all short Annuals or ground covers on the South side. Sometimes seeing the colors together can save you a season of clashing colors. Also all plants do not flower at the same time. Try to plant Spring, Summer & Fall bloomers in each Garden for all season color.



If you have a digital camera take pictures of both the outside, & your evolving plan. We are still adding to and refining our first plan we made 6 years ago.
I have to say with a plan based on plants needs, shapes & colors that we first chose. All the changes we have made over time bird baths, benches, new perenials that came from the first plants we bought just allow us to tweak the first plan.

We have friends who use the got a space stick a plant in method. They are still looking for, & removing plants to find that basic design they never put to paper in the begining. We still have future plans for a water garden we want to add; perhaps next spring. Don't forget Grapes on arbors & vegetable plants with fruit Trees can fit into the Gardens as well as herbs for the kitchen.

I hope you get some addtional Garden design info from others. We all have a certin look we want when we walk out our back door.