Starting a new Garden from Scratch...ideas?

Hi everyone

I recently bought a house in Italy. I am currently planning to start a garden from scratch. Since some of you may already have gone through the process, your opinion and feedback about the choice of plants, the sequence of planting and any other ideas will be very welcome. Here's a little bit of background information about the location and climate.

It's in the Treviso city in the northern province of Veneto. Considering the location and the climate, it could be USDA zone 9a/9b. The winter temperature goes down to -12 centigrade for brief periods while the summer temperature can go up to past 40 centigrade for some weeks. The house is south facing with a front yard and a west facing side yard in an L shape. The soil is rich and clayey with good drainage and the water level is about one and a half meters below the surface. There's a river at the back about a hundred meters distant and a very small stream runs along the front of the property line so I think it would be a good place for weeping willows although the lot size (300 square meters) is not suitable for big trees.

The grand plan is to put one medium to big sized tree (8-12 m) and two small to medium sized trees(6-8 meters) in as soon as the ground is levelled and the lawn has been put in. Next come the Shrubs vines and then perennials and annuals.

I am thinking about covering the fence all along the property with vines. Since these vines need to provide privacy as well, I'm going for evergreens with some deciduous specimens weaved in. The perimeter fence length is about 90-95 meters. I am planning to plant the following at the front fence:

2 of Wistaria sinesis 'alba'
2 of Clematis Armandii 'apple blossom'
1 of Clematis 'Miss Bateman'
1 of Lonicera Japonica

Questions:
The total length of this fense is about 26 meters. These should be enough to cover it? What else can be planted here? The same questions about the side fences that are facing west. What kind of Vines can be planted there?

The trees:

I have decided on the following two:

Choinanthus Virginicus for mid spring/early summer interest
Magnolia Stellata for winter/early spring interest

Questions:
I am looking for suggestions on a big tree (preferably fast growing) to provide for autumn interest, shade and to make a centerpiece for the house from the distance. I have short listed Ginkgo Bilboa and some Variety of Liquidambar but any suggestions will be welcome.

This is my first post on this portal so please excuse anything out of keeping with the decorum here.

My first Early Spring blooms:



Best Regards

Viqar Qadir.

More early (or rather very late) blooms

This anemone was in bloom all winter, in -12 below

I really like this plant

The first Narcissus

The first Hyacinth

A couple of pictures of the yard...this is the west facing side of the L shaped (would be) garden

This is the front facing out owards the street:

What a wonderful opportunity you have to create the garden of your dreams! I'm sure you'll get lots of help here, I did and do!

Welcome!

I am starting a garden from scratch, also. For the first time in nearly 20 years. Isn't it exciting! But a little overwhelming, too.

With the water level being 1 1/2 meters (about 5 feet?) below the surface, that might be a bit wet for some trees/plants? I don't know too much about areas that actually get water. We have the opposite problem here - all fast draining sand. Less than 10 cm (about 5 inches) rain a year in some years. One solution for too much or too little wet is to grow things in raised beds.

I have 3 little tiny liquid ambars and they are brilliantly red in the fall. If you don't want the prickly seed pods, make sure you get "male" plants. They WILL grow really big, though, so you definitely need space for them.

I am not personally a big cypress fan, but I have seen some lovely specimens, and they do tend to be able to adapt to a wide variety of climates. We're growing a few here just to get some green mixed in with all this sand.

I visited Vicenza, Venice and Naples for work a few years back. Of course, we planned our trip for August - hot and sweltering. I didn't like Naples too much (althought the food was spectacular), but I don't like cities in general. Vicenza I loved. Not turisty, but with lots of culture. I could wander the streets and photograph archetecture all day and all night and eat gelato for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Venice was nice, but we didn't have much time to see anything. I loved taking the train from Vicenza to Venice though - rolling through the countryside, corn all in tassles and cows in the fields.

Good luck with your new adventure!

Katy: Thanks for the encouraging words. I appreciate that this is a very strong community in terms of helping each other with ideas and support. I wish myself to be able to provide the same support to other members some day when I have enough knowledge and expertise.

kmom:
I couldn't agree more about the overwhelming part. I am not a particularly seasoned gardener and so I worry about all sorts of things. I guess experience does count for a lot in this hobby.
The water level is a concern. Thankfully the ground drains well because there is a small 2 degree slope towards the stream outside and the drainage pipes are in good condition. It might becoe a problem in unusually wet weather. That happens as well because the average annual rainfall is more than 34 cm. I have already decided to go for raised beds although beds come at a later stage of the plan (after the ground has been levelled and planted with grass and after the trees and big shrubs are in). I would appreciate suggestions about the material to use for creating the beds. The beds are to be curved and I was thinking about using porous stone to create these myself at a later date.

Thanks for the tip on Liquidambars. I'll remember to ask for male plants. There are some varieties available here that grow to about 12 meters and that's perfect for a specimen tree in a garden such as mine.

Cypress: That makes two of us...or actually three because my wife is allegic to cypress trees.

The big defference between Naples (south of Italy) and Vicenza (north of Italy) is the culture. Some people are really big fans of the southern italian (medeteranian) culture and some people just don't go for it. I haven't been to the south so far. The north is like a collection of more closely knit units of small but densely populated village like cities and each one has something different to offer. Treviso for example where I live is a small walled city of about 80000 people. It's a walled city with a moat and a three pronged river going through it. You can fish for trout downtown in open season and the weather is more alpine than medeteranian. Treviso sits roughly in the middle of the sea and the alps and it takes about 20 minutes by car to go either side. I can see the alps from the kitchen window and the on the other side there's Venice.
Here's a link to some pictures I took a couple of years ago. They're not very good but give you some idea of the place. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge the pictures:
http://www.pbase.com/error/my_city

Like to hear more from you.

Regards

Viqar

Lovely photos! Makes me want to get on the road again and travel. I did enough travel a few years ago with work to last me a little while though - different city every week or so - stay for a day or two - home for a day or two - back on a plane to somewhere new. It was awesome, even though time to visit the sites was sometimes limitted to an hour or two here and there. I'm happy to be setting down roots here, though. Our place looks like right out of a cowboy movie. We don't have many cactii here, but we have miles of sage brush and the hills turn lovely shades of red, gold, brown and almost orange when the sun rises and sets.

Stone raised beds - oh, I would wish (I'd have my husband do all the work, of course!). I bet they would look absolutely wonderful in graceful curves!

Our first Narcissus are just starting to bud up here in finiky zone 6b. Hoping for some blooms soon. Spring, Spring, will you ever get here to the High Desert?

Keep us posted how the new adventure goes. Years from now you will be amazed at the "before" and "after" pictures! Take care & have fun!