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What could I do with this yard/garden?

My BF and I are going to move in with his best friend, and since he doesn't care about the yard, we get to do what we want with it. Here's the house: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=47.664911,-122.060238&spn=0,0.0012&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=47.664842,-122.060133&panoid=kwzyC1aFkU49W6EouxvGmw&cbp=12,226.54,,0,4.34 Go left until the strip of mulch along the ditch ends, that's the end of the area that will "belong" to us. Only, I don't know what to do with this kind of garden. It's very sort of.. sparse and neat looking. (There was a professional gardener taking care of it but there won't be anymore.) And there's not even like a flower bed or anything. That's not the kind of garden I ever had. I'm used to plants kind of overflowing and exploding everywhere, and I like it that way. I don't want to make this yard look weird or anything though, and I'm having trouble picturing what I could do. What if I plant flowers and ferns and various perennials all along that mulch strip and around some of the trees, that wouldn't look weird would it? I don't know what could go wrong, really, but you know.. sometimes there are unexpected complications with any kind of artistic pursuit. And I'm newish to gardening, so my garden design technique doesn't go any further than just to plant stuff and see what happens.

Public Comments

1. First of all, you live in a fabulous part of the country for growing almost anything successfully. However, you will have a couple of problems. Your soil will be acidic due to the needles that have been composting for many years. You will also have problems due to the dense shade in much of the area. I would leave the grass beyond where the boat is parked as it looks like a woodland glade. You might want to plant a fruit or flowering tree in this area but I would not dig it up. As you cannot plant in from of the double carport or the third driveway where the boat is parked, the only available area is along the house beside the stairs. It looks like it gets sun for at least part of the day so you would have luck with a wide variety of annuals or perennials. As you are new to gardening, go visit your local nursery and talk to them about what they recommend for your area. Choose whatever types of flowers you like and ask if they are hardy or recommended for your area. You could even plan tomatoes along the front of the house. They would be very happy in this sunny and sheltered area.
2. I would love to see you add some eucalyptus and camellias. Eucalyptus would do great in full sun and stay evergreen all year long (I would search for hardier varieties such as E. neglecta) and camellias love shade and would do great under the shade of the Eucalyptus with some ferns as ground covers. You might be able to get away with planting a Dicksonia antarctica tree fern in your climate. They can handle temperatures down to about 15F-20F which should be about the minimum during the winter in your area. I suggest you also plant that under a tree. Plant some flowers during the summer for a brighter look also. And plant some windmill palms. They should do great in your climate and add a bit of interest to the house. Cordyline australis would be a really nice tree to add. Some flowers planted under that would look great! Vines are great to have. Variegated vincas are pretty invasive, but the good thing about them is that the leaves give lots of color to an otherwise green area and they will stay evergreen in your climate. Variegated ivy is another nice option for a ground cover and they arent as invasive as regular ivy (but still invasive so be careful where you put it). Roses are so beautiful and they will really look nice! Yellow and red are great colors. I recommend knock out roses because I have seen them in bloom here in the NJ area in early December during warm Autumns! Sometimes they even get a light dusting of snow on them while still in bloom! They bloom from April to November here so they look great the majority of the year. Philodendrons are another great plant for underneath a tree and tree philodendrons should do okay in your climate. I cant tell if your higher in elevation, and if you are than your climate is colder than I suspected and you wont be able to grow about half the plants I mentioned, but there will still be many plants you can use. Research about the climate and the plants I mentioned and see if they fit! Hope I at least gave you some Ideas!