You will most likely get some good advice on this forum.
My advice is to seek out an experienced landscape designer, that has a horticultural backround in your area. It sounds like you can do the labor yourself and if you know what to do , and can rent some equipment you will be able to save some money. You have a great looking house, probably spent a lot of money. It would be nice to have the right plants in place, to compliment your home. The cost of a good plan is very small in comparison to years of poor advise from friends, neighbors and forums.
The person that built your home probably used a plan, why not get one for the yard. Mike

The good news is that your house has a very typical layout and there are no obvious flaws you have to work with or cover up. I would suggest driving around the neighborhood and taking pictures of landscapes that you like. You could use those pictures to develop a plan yourself, work with a reputable nursery or consult a professional (design only or design and install). Mike's post it good advice.

I notice that you like to be out front by you don't have a porch. You may want to think about how you could work a bench or other sitting area into the plan.

About Christmas time...and I am being serious...I do think that including pyramidal evergreens into a design so they can be decorated for Christmas is a good idea. You would not want a huge window blocking tree or something that looked out of place the rest of the year, but two months of interest from Christmas lights is more "bloom" time than any flowering shrub.

- Brent

Check to see if the barberry is invasive in your area before planting them. They are in my area, and before long it will be illegal to sell them here, if I'm not mistaken.

A lamp post looks pretty, but the light it provides is at eye level, where it tends to blind you rather than throw light on the walk, which is where you need it for safety. If you have plantings along the walk where you can incorporate low down-lights that throw the light on the walk (and a bit on the surrounding plants) you may be happier in the long run. I'm not talking about the lights you have there now, I mean lights that actually direct the light downward and don't look like the runway lights people often install along walks and driveways. Stagger the placement, so that they're irregularly placed, not in a row, and position them so that the pools of light overlap a bit.

You can spend a lot of money and energy experimenting with landscape plants, and still be unhappy with the results. If you don't know anything about gardening, you're at an even greater disadvantage in designing your own landscape than an avid gardener would be. If you want to do it yourself, don't rush it. Plant a bed for shrubs and perennials in the backyard and experiment there while you learn and gain some experience.

If you want good results and don't want to wait until you can learn enough to do a decent job on your own, get some professional help. In my area, which tends to be pricey, you can get a decent planting plan for a foundation planting for about $500. If you've looked at the prices at the nurseries, a couple of bad choices and dead or unsuitable plants will eat up that much cash in the first year.

I called a few numbers in the yellow pages for "landscape design" companies and they would only do the job if I also contracted with them to do the landscaping also!! Maybe I need to try a few others. It's all been very frustrating. We know we'll do the landscaping in stages, since we have a backyard that needs a lot of help also. I've driven through the neighborhood, and since the homes are new, there isn't much landscaping in place that looks nice. :)

I'm doing some research online and will try the library also. I've also checked out a few other neighborhoods and seen a few things I like. I know there isn't ONE right way to do it. I just don't want to choose one of the wrong ways. :)

Before I found the pic of my own house, I used a pic from our builder's website and played with it in a software program. Is there anything wrong with the basic design? Remember I new to this! :)
I'd eliminate the flowers along the right edge of the driveway. Also, more plants around the base of the evergreen on that side and the ones by the door.
{{gwi:30104}}

I think you mentioned that the front of the house gets all day sun, similar to my place. I've found that plants grow quite well in sun such as arbovitae, boxwood, azaleas, so 3 evergreens under one window will probably be too much in a short period of time unless you plan to have them as a hedge growing together. My arbovitae are about roof height now, so you have to decide if you're planning to cut them back over the years at the front steps and garage side.

I'd work on the sides to get privacy. I have a similar tight situation. I did row of burning bush on tight side and keep them narrow. Next to house is planted roses on trellises and viburnums, 5 years into it and that side is pleasant passageway. Other side had driveway 3 feet from property line so I did line of privet. They also are easy to keep narrow and when they shoot up I shorten them. It's amazing how a little screening makes for an emotionally relaxing space. If you're out front with kids, I'd also have a bench (with cushion!) in front and plant around it. And birdbath...

Thanks for the reply. I love your ideas for the sides. Do you by any chance have any pics? I'd LOVE to see it, especially roses and trellises. I'm thinking of trying that on one side of my house!

I like the mix of colorful flowers in front of evergreens. Kath, just beware that most evergreens will get four times the size of the ones pictured in your mock up, and in those cases you will no way want them planted that close to the house or that close together. So just be extra careful on the species and varieties you choose. For example, the conical shaped trees on the left and right side of the house could be spruces or firs or false cypress, all trees with a conical shape. None of these take well to pruning. There are some smaller varieties, but unfortunately I'm not an expert. A couple I know of are serbian spruce, (only slightly smaller than the huge blue spruces, but there's a gorgeous weeping form) alberta spruce, black spruce, swiss stone pine. Check the conifers forum for perhaps some better suggestions.

Thank you. I did find 2 drawf alberta spruces that will get a max of 5' high. I used them on either side of the front door and had a holly put on the left corner of the house and a flowering plum on the other corner. I've finally had some work done. It's not a finished product, but it's a slow start. :)

The mock up is deceiving you. It will not look like that. Those plants appear to be at least 15 feet away from the house and hovering above the ground to me. When you plant this, the ground plane will look flat and the shrubs will not look as tucked in as they do in the photo. This is why I am not a big fan of photoimaging.
You have to understand that you can not manipulate a photo to learn how something looks because you have to decide how it will look in order to manipulate the photo. It is a great tool if you have the experience and understanding of how something looks and you want to share it with others. The problem is that too many people use it backwards.

Go to any online photoimaging landscape design website and look at the pictures of actual built work (which will take you a while because almost none of them show you built work pictures - wonder why?) and you will see something that does not look as rich and beautiful as the photo in almost every case. Remember that they are showing you only what they want to show you and these are the best of the best. Also, these are people who are making a living and having lots of experience with photoimaging (and most likely very little in landscape design). If they can not do an accurate representation with that experience, what chance does someone with little experience have?

Have you gone back through the threads on this forum and read the ones that discuss foundation plantings? If you're here to learn so that you can DIY, you should. If you're here only to get free advice on your own front yard, you won't learn much from this one example.

Oh Kath, it sounds like you've already planted those alberta spruces. I think this is a mistake. Your front entry is so pretty...really a focal point of the house, with the stone, the columns, the beautiful color of the door, and the side windows. Why, in the world, would you want to be put clumpy, bumpy, lumpy, dime-a-dozen dwarf alberta spruces there?

Dig them out and put them somewhere else where they are not "specimens"...include them in a planting with more elegant beautiful things and they actually can be an asset.

DON'T obscure the best feature of your home. Remember, you are dressing your home like you dress yourself. Show off your best feature. Think of it this way: say you have a beautiful, graceful neck and collar bone. Show them off with a lovely, fine, delicate necklace of diamonds...don't cover them up with a clunky, boring, bought-at-Walmart acrylic scarf.

I know that the thought of digging up plants and moving them is a pain, but it will be worth it. (By the way, I'm the plant-moving queen. My neighbors joke that I don't look at home without out a spade in my hand. I'm ruthless that way. And, believe it or not, I've never had a plant die because I dug it up and moved it.)

You could dress up your front entry with a large (and I mean good-sized)pot of beautiful annuals. Or you could go the trellis and roses route on the side to the left, with a shrub rose off the bump out to the right of the door. A small bed of well-chosen perennials with some height is also a good idea.

Sorry for complicating the picture.
Patty

Patty-I have no problem digging up the spruces at all! I've already moved a few things today. :) I see what you mean about covering the stone, I hadn't thought of that. Thank you for the advice, that's the kind of help I've been needing.

As for some others - Do I detect an sense of being annoyed by my asking for advice in planning my landscape, or am I just misreading the "tone"? Is this forum for pros only? If so, I apologize and will move on.

Tones.....can't live with 'em; can't live without 'em.

"Do I detect an sense of being annoyed"

If you're referring to my post about free advice for your own front yard, no, I'm not annoyed, and yes, you are misreading my tone. Read it again and imagine me saying it in a kindly way.

I'm simply trying to point out that there is a lot of additional information available to you in other people's posts, information that you will not find here in the thread you started.

To find a landscape designer try the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Find a designer

Tones shmones. Have fun landscaping your house! That's the important thing. And feel free to share your enthusiasm and thoughts here! It's a forum, it just goes with the territory sometimes.

Why don't you use your basic idea picture that you posted? It's really pretty. Just swap out some of the plants for other kinds. You like the idea of three bushes out in front of the window? Then just get three small dwarf bushes like spirea, etc, that won't get large. You like the taller pyramidal bushes at the corners that you can decorate for Christmas? then by all means, find some small ones that will stay small and do that. You live there right, and it's your house, make it your own... Your picture kind of looks like it shows some little begonias for the short red and white flowers, but you can achieve that same look in full sun with some salvia (red) and sweet cream marigolds (white), or use geraniums in red and white, for annual color. I think the one thing that I would be most concerned about is the closeness to the neighbors, and I would plant some kind of a screening shrubs there like an thuja green giant, etc. Not sponsoring this company, just so you can see what I'm talking about. They would block your neighbors and afford some privacy without taking so much space. Have fun!

Here is a link that might be useful: green giant thuja

Kath,

Congratulations on the new home.

Warning, I'm an amateur. I think that your mock-up has 2 sharp of a curve in the flowers in front of the 3 bushes. I think that gentle curves are usually recommended.

I would like to second the opinion to get a professional design. My experience has been that even a couple of years down the road, a professionally designed landscape can add a lot of value to your home. The converse is also true. Luckily the two home that I have owned have both had professionally designed landscapes purchased by the previous owners.

Good luck.