This is such a lovely and mature front yard, do not rip everything out !!! Perhaps you could create a symmetry on the right side of the photo and just finish the landcaping some new sod is all you need.

Most of us would kill for gorgeous, mature shrubs like those! I agree completely with Dytecture. Do not take anything out. Just add a little more layering of shrubbery on the right for some balance.

I like to hang on to mature things but you will need to make a tough decision in a few areas because the growth is obscuring the beauty of the home itself. Personally I would only keep the hedges at the extreme corners of the house and try trimming down the smaller stuff up front and live with it for the season. If it still seems too much come fall I would take out some of the smaller stuff in front. I love a Japanese Maple. They come in that lovely red color and it changes and it looks like the yard could use a pop of color. If you go with the dwarf variety they stay very small and just sort of spread out.

Have to agree with these guys, it be a crying shame to get rid of such beauty! I'm also with Dytecture concerning symmetry...think your biggest issue is balancing both sides.

Believe me, those shrubs could benefit from a severe pruning. The house next to me many years ago had yews, laurel and rhododendron as large as yours. I convinced the neighbor to cut the down significantly. It looked a bit drastic, but there was good regrowth after awhile. The next year they cut down a bit more. Now almost 20 years later, these same plants have been kept in scale and look wonderful.

I like to think of the landscaping is part of the history of the house and love that I have plants that are 25 to 75 years old on my property!

I think to create cohesion between your beautiful symmetrical house and the garden, the plants need to be symmetrical too. You have some mature architectural plants which should stay. But I would remove the large plant on the left of the doorway to see more of the house and to bring in more light. I'd also remove the large plant on the extreme left of the doorway. This would leave the large round bush just covering the edge of the house on the left. The two sides should be balanced and symmetrical and then I would plant a decorative box plant low "hedge" at the front on either side to form a boundary. Good luck!

I agree with Lin, get rid of them. This will give your house an more airy open look. Right now it looks too crowded and shadowy. Also, that look is dated. You might be able to keep one or two of the bushes and replant others to achieve a more open landscape design.

You need to remove some and save some. You have a hodgepodge of stuff, which does not please the eye and obscures the house. You want to frame your house and selectively harvest the plants that obscure the front of the house. Keep the ones that take the longest to grow and remove the ones that are easiest to get the height, ex: save trees remove shrubs, (you can transplant some to other areas of the house.) Tall in back, add shorter in front, think of colors of the foliage and texture. You will want both, mixing them creating visual appeal using texture and color of foliage. You do not want all the same texture. You will want to see the front door, and the windows. Prune to achieve heights that are desirable and remember when putting in new plants think about what the plant will look like at maturity. Do not over crowd your plants, mass like with like, in 3's 5's etc. Singletons are specimen plants, which are used as focal points. You can come down the sides of the property as well, possibly using some of the transplanted plants. This yard, like many, looks like they just picked plants they liked, planted them with no plan. Hope this helps. Happy planting and designing.

Love the house, it is a shame not too see more of it.

Your home is beautiful. I think you could make it even more so, if you are willing to remove one or more shrubs. If you are leery of doing this, I would suggest that you start by removing the shrub to the immediate left of the front door and do a serious pruning on everything else. (You could always change your mind later and remove more of them.) I've seen houses in our neighborhood where people either tear it all out and start from scratch, or severely prune the shrubs -- it makes the whole house look newer, and seeing some space between shrubs with some neat mulch visible is refreshing. I have pruned extremely overgrown hollies down to bare wood, and by the end of the season I have a beautiful smaller shrub that is staying "in bounds." I agree with Christine that you would love a Japanese maple. If this were mine, I would remove all but the outermost shrub on each side and plant a Japanese maple ("acer dissectum") -- one on each side. I think this would be more like a welcome sign toward your door. Good luck!

you have a fire hazard with those lg plants and they are very overgrown also plants that old should be taken out and replaced as a Master Gardener i would replace the plants with ones that I could keep pruned low below the windows..and with more veried colors..japanese maple , golden and blue drawf spruce.. bird nest spruce..etc. these are low maintance and low water once established..as for the fore ground try native grass or bufflo grass.. try "High Country Gardens.com" for a real choice...

I agree, the house is lost behind all that overgrown shrubbery. It is a beautiful house :-)

I agree with the others who feel like you should take out the overgrown plants. You could even do it gradually if you are very unsure.

Sometimes it is hard to see just how overgrown plantings get when you see it everyday. I think you will find it will allow the house to "breathe" and show off more of your it's lovely features. Take the plunge!

I agree with Christine, the bushes are completely covering the windows, a trimming will bring the house out of hiding. It definitely needs some flowering trees, or maybe red japanese maples will also do the trick, replace the lawn, and add some flowering plants

To those who believe mature plants should be saved, that is partially true. Shrubs in front of a house should never be allowed to reach maturity, they should either be pruned yearly to stay under the windows or height of the porch or plants should be chosen that have a mature height that will never exceed these parameters. Shrubs that border your property are valuable when they reach maturity because they provide privacy from neighbours. The front of your home is a semi-public zone where the goal is not privacy but integration into your neighbourhood and providing a welcome to visitors. Overgrown shrubs in front of your home say stay away, I don't like people.

You really have a maintained front yard. You just need to plant some more flowers so that it can look more inviting.

Your house is hidden shrubs are too large

I am a plant lover and would definitely struggle severely cutting back or cutting down trees/shrubs, but if it my home, I would rip it all out and start from scratch (unless you truly like the privacy it provides for the front windows).

Six year old post - 2012

Haha.....we love these old posts, don’t we? :)...I wonder if they ripped it all out.