Hi, 

Short version- I can send you links related to your question and you can sort through some categories, or we can narrow it down some more and get you started. I will collect links and send them to you soon. 

Long answer- If you would like for me to assist more than just links, please answer what you can. If not, these will be things you'll need to consider as you get started on your own. 

First- can you either describe or send images (3 per message is the limit, so you may need to send a few) of your current yard? 

Second- what are you considering- flowers, plants more like hosta than flower, ground cover/ under 6 inches tall, shrubs/ bushes, trees, a little bit of everything? Any interest in what you might want to attract to your yard- birds, pollinators, etc. 

Third- you'll want to consider shade and sun, as many like 6+ hours of sun- but it's not a requirement

I don't think the system saved your response. Could you please try again?

Thanks for the links and the help. Hopefully my description saved here.

It's a typical small suburban lot in DeWitt. What is unusual about it is

that the backyard borders school property. The school buildings are far

away and there is a narrow woodlot between our yard and the schoolyard. So while

we are small, we border lots of undeveloped land. We get a fair amount

of wildlife - woodchucks, rabbits, squirrels and deer. The deer pretty

much destroy any attempt at growing hostas. We have lots of songbirds,

woodpeckers and even occasional raptors. We particularly enjoy the birds

and would want to support them - although we have plenty of feeders. We

like pollinators.
The backyard slopes to the east away from the house and is about 30 feet

deep before it hits a narrow band of trees that separates us from the

school yard. That means our yard is in the shade from the trees in the

morning, in full sun for 2-3 hours in the middle of the day. Then the

house shades the backyard from the afternoon sun. So...it is less than

ideal for full sun. I'll need shade tolerant solutions next to the woodlot.

That said, I built a raised bed vegetable garden  this summer for the middle of the yard and hope I'm capturing sufficient

sun for it.Other things:

• I also put in a couple rain harvesting barrels this summer. I raise fish as a hobby and use some of that waste water in the rain barrels for use throughout the yard
• I value biodiversity and look forward to eliminating the monoculture of grass.
• I compost yard and kitchen waste.
  
• I'd like to avoid using chemicals.
• I also would like to balance all those values with low maintenance.
• I'm thinking of a mixture of ground cover like plants and native wildflowers/grasses. I don't need any more trees.
  

Thanks for whatever direction you can point me in.
Dave

Thanks for the links and the help. Hopefully my description saved here.

It's a typical small suburban lot in DeWitt. What is unusual about it is

that the backyard borders school property. The school buildings are far

away and there is a narrow woodlot between our yard and the schoolyard. So while

we are small, we border lots of undeveloped land. We get a fair amount

of wildlife - woodchucks, rabbits, squirrels and deer. The deer pretty

much destroy any attempt at growing hostas. We have lots of songbirds,

woodpeckers and even occasional raptors. We particularly enjoy the birds

and would want to support them - although we have plenty of feeders. We

like pollinators.
The backyard slopes to the east away from the house and is about 30 feet

deep before it hits a narrow band of trees that separates us from the

school yard. That means our yard is in the shade from the trees in the

morning, in full sun for 2-3 hours in the middle of the day. Then the

house shades the backyard from the afternoon sun. So...it is less than

ideal for full sun. I'll need shade tolerant solutions next to the woodlot.

That said, I built a raised bed vegetable garden  this summer for the middle of the yard and hope I'm capturing sufficient

sun for it.Other things:

• I also put in a couple rain harvesting barrels this summer. I raise fish as a hobby and use some of that waste water in the rain barrels for use throughout the yard
• I value biodiversity and look forward to eliminating the monoculture of grass.
• I compost yard and kitchen waste.
  
• I'd like to avoid using chemicals.
• I also would like to balance all those values with low maintenance.
• I'm thinking of a mixture of ground cover like plants and native wildflowers/grasses. I don't need any more trees.
  

Thanks for whatever direction you can point me in.
Dave 

Since you said some gets 2-3 hours of sun, you could lean towards some partial shade plants and see how they do in that area. It gives you more options to work with than just the shade plants.

If you want to work slowly, you could try introducing other ground covers -I do not recommend Ivy or goutweed, even though they are listed in one PDF as an option; they are more invasive and no longer recommended. I included lawn alternatives on here- one for shady, one for pollinators as ideas, not necessarily for shade- such as adding clover to your lawn that still exists as a way to work towards less non-native grasses.

There are quite a few tip sheets for other related lists, such as for pollinators, on MSU’s website-https://www.canr.msu.edu/home_gardening/tip_sheets/ .

MSU also has a native plants list that can narrow it down for you with codes on the far right for birds, groundcover, butterflies. There’s more information at this link if you refer to the top, but this list should give you a good idea about what you can grow.

https://www.canr.msu.edu/nativeplants/plant_facts/local_info/south_lower_peninsula

https://www.canr.msu.edu/uploads/files/Shady_lawn_alternatives.pdf

https://www.canr.msu.edu/home_gardening/uploads/files/PollinatorLawnAlternatives-2020-web.pdf