Start with ripping out the clothes line and side path, then have another look.

Maybe sell the shed, or bury it in passionfruit, or diplodenia, or solea.

Maybe even excavate the lawn, and think about a sunken garden with winding paths, where you may step down into your little piece of magic.

Everything depends what you want (exclusively native [low maintenance], all exotics, or a judicious mix?), and where you are climate-wise - so best to get advice from local nurseries, especially if you feel like planting natives. Sketch out rough designs that take into account functional aspects as well as aesthetics...perhaps seek inspiration from garden magazines or online pics, perhaps purchase a couple of native/exotic plant compendiums and pore over them. A well-planned garden can be a joy eternal so don't hold back at this stage. Once your basic structure is sketched out and planted up, the rest is relatively inexpensive and gradual.

My rule of thumb is to eliminate whatever you can first (and be ruthless), and then look at the space again and again. Then work to your simple design in stages, beginning with advanced trees and layout of paths and larger shrubs (e.g., westringias are beautiful and very hardy natives). Start with the sun-loving specimens first, then use them as canopy for planting the rest. You've got a good start with your 'borrowed vista' of trees and shrubbery in the corner along the north side, and you have room for an advanced specimen feature tree - perhaps your only big buck investment - in the centre or towards the opposite corner (perhaps a magnolia or a crabapple, or whatever is your favourite). Then you could pop a bench under it for pina coladas and other slack pursuits.

Space and available sun also suggest possibilities for a shade garden - or dappled sections, especially in a shady corner. You might install a pergola extending from the side wall to soften the bare brick; or you could plant a hedge of sun-loving 'prostanthera ovalifolia' or a tea tree variety down the side of the house instead of a path (do you really need it? why not a winding path through the centre of your garden to your door!).

You have sunshine that roses love, so maybe some fragrant old roses, or one or two David Austins, could be beautiful against a sunny wall, or beside the steps. I'd go for little paved pathways and circular beds, lushly planted with native shrubs and ground covers that tolerate both sun and semi-shade.

Natives from the local region are usually always a success and grow quickly.

Kangaroo paws love sun, and make a fabulously dramatic addition to a sunny garden if clumped. Other native grasses can also be used as features to add design and formality, yet still retain a kind of 'wild' look, requiring trimming every couple of years for luxuriant growth.

I seriously would hesitate to repeat the lawn, they are high maintenance and for what? Reduce lawn to a small section if you wish/need to retain it. There are native grasses that can be mowed (less frequently than exotics, such as microlaena stipoides), which would create a softer look if you felt like placing a little formal lawn somewhere, once all your designing and planting is done.

In any event, from a basic design, you can fill it all in in stages, as inspiration strikes. Mass planting to a formal design (say clumps of lomandra, or fast-growing shrubs in key positions, or lots of native violets for ground cover (hederacea; there are two types, which will take off and propagate themselves in the warm weather) will save lots of indecision about what to plant; heavily mulch empty zones until you decide on what to plant, or pot things up for planting later; you can always dig up ground covers, move shrubs and replant later (after replacing lost nutrients to the soil!).

Best of luck and may the joys of gardening be with you!

Thank you for taking the time to reply and your suggestions, I've been drawing a few versions of what I might do however it's such a large space. I love the idea of a path down the middle. I'm going to sketch out your suggestions and see how it turns out. Thank you again, I love my gardening so I want to get it right.

My pleasure, Caitlin! I'm in the middle of a garden taking wonderful shape after three years (many large and small birds now feed on our grevilleas, lillypillies and blueberry ash), so know how overwhelming it can feel to start from scratch!

I've learned that if you keep to simple curves and squares scaled to the site and proceed in manageable steps, the results be surprising and the rewards immense.

All the very best with your project.

Caitlin in which state is your garden situated? Is the back of the house north facing? Is the lawn miserable from cold or is the soil clay?

Hi Timandra Design, the garden is north facing so it gets the afternoon sun and the soil is sandy, I'll put some more images up.

Hello Craig

Owing to the sandy soil, the best advice is to keep to native plants - they cope better with sand.

For structure you can't go past hedges. A single hedge is good, but double or triple hedging is even better if room allows. And you need to consider the eventual widths of all plants that you choose. Do some research and see how these can look.

Gardens need trees; they provide the best structure of all. There is now a partnering group who are trying to encourage more people to plant trees in their gardens and councils to be more responsible about tree planting as well. For the environmental impacts that they offer, they are becoming essential to good garden design. I am part of this partnership.

Deciduous and/or native trees should be considered, depending on which side of the house the trees are planted.

Alison

Gingermeggs: I love your thoughtful planning. I would be interested in either hiring you or marrying you. What are the options.

An admirer from afar.