Help me with my entire landscape please!

Hello to you all,
I have been living in my current home for 2 years now and I am ready to make my yard an oasis! Please take a look at all of my photos and give me some advice as what plants to plant in the areas. I would like color and plants that love heat! I live about 10 min. from Georgia but technically I am in Alabama if that helps with plant suggestions. I am looking for ease and affordability as well. Ground covers, you name it. I was told that I would have to buy annuals this year to see some color until my perennials get going. Could you suggest annuals that can go in the same bed as perennials so that while the perennials are getting established, I can still have beautiful colors going on? Vines too! Just shoot out the thoughts t that you have b/c I am clueless! Remember I want to stay frugal and I have two little ones, so I can't have a high maintenance lawn going on. I also have a husband that can help with any large ideas that you have :) Thanks you all.

This is a picture of my front yard. Basically you're looking at weeds but there are some aggressive cannas that come up along the fence line all the way to the rd. I know I need to pull up the weeds but should I just leave that area alone and let the cannas do their thing? What plants would go good in between or in front?

This is a blank space in my back yard right by the back door. I was thinking of a container herb garden but I want something with year round appeal. Maybe a couple of shrubs. I just want to fill the space. Last year I tried wild flower seeds but nothing came up. What are your thoughts? Thanks

Here is a tree in my front yard that I would like to plant something under. Monkey grass is already growing but I would like to but something easy and fast growing behind it that may even yield color. What do you all think?

This is a hill in my backyard that is all hard clay. I don't plan on much planting up here but I do plan on getting a gazebo to sit under and putting a trampoline up here as well. I was thinking of a container garden up here as well but the sun beams down all day long, I just don't know where I would put a vegetable garden period in my yard as there are no spots that get much shade. What other plants would you all suggest up here on clay hill? Would a tree thrive?

This is an area right beside my driveway. There is a ditch area that stays wet and sometimes has a little stream that runs through it. Anyway, the part that stays dry is near the concrete and I was wondering what I could plant there for a little bit more curb appeal when I walk out of the side door or drive up. Something with fragrance would be nice.

This is a raised hill area in my backyard. I would like to see a concrete picnic table up here and climbing roses or morning glories. Basically very romantic/cottage look. What would you plant for such a vision as that?

So here are my photos! Please don't pass them by w/out giving me a tip or two! As you can see, I have a lot of work to do but I am not really looking for best yard award, I just want some color and stability to create the same atmosphere that I have inside my home.

Gardenhopeful, I have been looking at your photos and reading about them. I am reminded of when I first moved in to my home. Ten years ago now. All along has been trial and error so don't be discouraged if at first you don't succeed or things aren't as you first envisioned them to be. As you go along you will find that your gardens will take shape of their own and probably be better than you envisioned.

It seems that you have quite alot of space here so planting things that are small or take a while to get started will most likely be a disappointment to you. Although you are on a budget it will be worth it for you to buy larger things that make a big impact even some larger plants that can be divided such as Agapanthas they are evergreen here in louisiana in zone 8b.

You may consider moving some of your cannas around the tree they would definately stand out and as you probably already know cannas multiply so perhaps you could pot some up and take them to a local nursery they might be interested in buying local plants and that could help out with some of your garden costs.

Just last summer I read an article on lazagna gardening. At first I thought ... whatever I could never have such luck but this actually turned out to be one of the best tips I've gotten. You would first select an area for your garden, size and shape it by layering damp newspapers first, on top of that you would add a thick layer of compost and continue to do this until you reach a desired height, the idea being it's cost effective since compost is free (make it of grass clippings, mulched leaves, mulched pine needles etc.. just run them over several times with your lawn mower rake them into a pile and let them decompose a little) I however not having any or much anyway ( I didn't wait for my leaves to decompose ) used peat moss instead it's fairly affordable and all of my plants seem to love whatever I've been doing. The area I tried this in was bare hard clay under a large oak against the back of my house. Now even the clay beneath seems to be improving!

Some of the plants I have had luck with are: agapanthas, hosta, asiatic jasmine (as a groundcover or climber) confederate jasmine, clematis, lady banks rose ( virtually thornless) to just name a few.

Sorry to be sooooo long but it's quite exciting when someone else is excited to get started gardening too =) I hope at least some of this was helpful.

1) front yard with canna's - daylily's would be a good companion plant - they grow fast, can be divided every other year and are fairly cheap at big box stores - group in sets of 3 or 5 about 10-15 apart for color impact - what color were your canna's last year? (keep this in mind when choosing a companion plant) every 15' you could place a Clematis to go up over and along the fence - plant them behind the canna's so as they grow their feet are in the shade - but blooms in the sun - it will take 2-3 yrs to fully appreciate them but oh they are so worth the wait....

2) herb garden would work well - rosemary, chives and oregano are evergreen so they will stay year round - very easy to grow in pots from seed to save money are: Chives, Nasturnium (pretty flowers all summer, toss greens in with a salad if you like too) Basil (if you need seeds dmail me your address and I will be happy to share some with you!)

3) how tall is the tree? I ask because an underplanting of a tree like a dogwood would be a great pop of spring color for you - dogwoods are not too expensive either...we have dogwoods under our oaks and it's really pretty. If you would like something closer to the ground I'd go with some evergreen shrubs - if it's more shade gardenias, more sun tea olives (they bloom w/ a very sweet fragrance fall thru spring) I've had my tea olives grow more than two feet in a year so at 15 bucks a tree they are worth the growth they provide)

4) if you amend your clay a bit you could put perennial scented plants up there since you wish to enjoy 'the scenery' from the hill (I like your idea!) - or several large pots around the seating area would be fine with inexpensive perennial plantings could be rosemary, lavender - seeds you could start for annuals that can take the heat are Cosmo's and Vinca

5) ahhh the ditch area :) I'd love to suggest Oriental Lilies but if they stay wet in the winter the bulbs will rot - if you don't want to amend this area this year - how about some large pots filled with lilies (Casa Blanca are heavenly) and gingers? both are scented nicely, lilies bloom spring, gingers late summer to fall...when fall comes, let them die back and store in peat moss over the winter in a cool room and perhaps next year attack this area - it would give you time to try the method mentioned above my letting it compost all thru the winter with newspaper, leaves etc...

6) morning glories are awesome but they set a ton of seed every year (of which I don't mind) you could make some easy string trellis's to have them climb but you can also let some of them ramble on the ground - they will quickly fill the area with color and there are numerous colors of morning glory seeds at your local wal mart - cheap and easy to grow...my kind of plant :)

I'll think some more on other suggestions...let me know if you need seeds....

Just be careful planting under your tree that you do not damage its roots and that you add no more than 2 inches of soil or mulch over the existing trees roots. Too much and you will smother your tree.

Wow! Thanks for the detailed responses! I love these ideas!!

Are you on any of the other forums? In our Texas forum we have meets and swaps going with stuff we have multiply constantly, they are fun, and we get lots to grow..