Perhaps if you look at your outdoor spaces as outdoor rooms, it may help you personalize and organize the areas. What I see in the photo is a small front yard divided in half, and a tree placed exactly in the center of the other half, within a little square of bed. I expect you would not do that with an interior room. A visitor will be compelled to race down the hallway to the front door, and probably not even notice the tree, since it is not part of a composition, a furniture grouping. You enter your living room to a welcoming composition of a furniture grouping, lamps, pictures on the wall, drapes (I hope) on the windows. You get the idea. Would you put a post lamp in the middle of an empty room? It would tend to diminish the size of the space and it's usefulness as a space. Would you put a carpet down the center of a room? -- only if you were creating two separate scenarios of equal size. You need some on-site advisers, whether they be landscape architects or interior designers, someone or more than one who will offer their experienced suggestions for you to consider, but not immediately act upon. You need to live with your new spaces and walk through their ideas for weeks, or months, before making a decision on how to proceed. Perhaps it would help you to read the thoughts of some international designers like Bunny Williams, with her book, On Garden Style, where you will get the feeling that the views of the outside rooms from within the house are as important as the views from the street. You will want to move the maple out of its central location, remove the central path, - and the conifers scare me. You really have a very small space up front here. Take a look in the park at the size of a mature conifer. They will occupy your yard and that of your neighbor, as they develop as nature intended. They are very beautiful, a work of art, but space-consuming. You may have room in the back yard, but be careful when blocking the magnificent views from within the house. Perhaps you will provide an entrance to your outdoor room over to the right, near your property line, with the tree, the lamp post, a small chair or bench, a bed of small plants that have beauty and fragrance throughout the seasons - a space you would like to sit in yourself, perhaps have coffee with the neighbor, or the kids hang out with a pal. Then have the walk work its way over toward the entrance area - not the door, but the welcoming area before the door, slow them down to enjoy the sequence, while providing a most pleasant view of this area from within. Make the plantings permanent, with no soil or mulch to show, after two years, as the groundcover plants mature and cover the beds. Keep all the annual plants in containers, to be stored away if empty, so the views of your spaces are not distracted by an open area in the bed where the annuals have departed, or an empty pot. Consider excluding your auto from your outdoor room, your welcoming area. You don't have room for a real screen, so just a suggestion, as a small hedge or plant bed to stop the eye before it gets to the drive. Perhaps the view beyond the drive is attractive, so all you need to filter from the view is the driveway pavement itself, as the car belongs in the garage, yes? Sometimes a little perimeter fence with a gate says welcome to my special space. In your case perhaps a darker color, not the typical white, which would be a high contrast to the house and not appropriate here, grabbing all the attention. What I have offered may be of no use to you, however, the intent of my words is to provoke you to analyze first, then plan. Consider alternatives from all viewpoints before deciding how to proceed, as these spaces and plants will be a part of your life for many years. Good luck to you. Continue the process at the tortoise pace, not the hare.

Hi Astri. I am in Canberra and have nineteen trees in our garden. How big is your block? Which way does it face for solar access? Do you have any power lines or easements to consider? What plans do you have for dealing with the autumn leaves? I'm not quite sure what you mean by a gatehouse and arbour on the fenceline but have you checked the regulations for structures on your boundary? Where do you want to plant the hedge and what is the width?

I would need advice on what feature trees to choose for my front yard and what trees to be planted for my back yard (would prefer some fruit trees in the back yard) and also suggestions on what small plants and shrubs to be planted for my ground cover.. Thank you

"Macyjean where do you recommend the vertical feature go...? Yes trying to make sure trees aren’t too large they cause damage to the property via root system and/or branches or fruit/nectar falling on the roof/gutters/paving." Somewhere on the left, but start with hardscaping, driveway, draw in underground services, think about what sort of footpath you want. I agree that it might be well worthwhile to get a landscaper to draw up a plan. "Thinking bay leaf could be an option...?" I remember going on a garden tour of a property with a park-like garden featuring large trees and the guide pointed out the bay tree and said people don't realise how big those get. There might be dwarf varieties these days though? "With the secret garden if I go teddy bear magnolia how do I layer plants to give varying height and colour while spacing them out for future growth? Is there a rule of thumb with number of levels/layers?" Just my opinion but looking at your photo and for ease of maintenance I think the magnolia with an underplanting of lomandras or something like that would be plenty. I can also picture three layers with flowering shrubs in between but I think they'd need regular pruning to look good. Lomandras don't need much attention, it's recommended to cut them right back every few years to rejuvenate them but it isn't crucial, whereas if you're going for a certain look with shrubs and don't stay on top of the pruning they can look quite scrappy and if you prune too hard they can take a while to recover. "What’s the rule of thumb for spacing of plants?" I think there might be some kind of general rule of thumb based on mature width? But I'd base it on the plants you choose. The label sometimes recommends the spacing, or if not the growers' websites have more information.