No ideas? None at all? Colors, shapes, favorite flowers?
A blank slate can be intimidating, but remember, it is only hardscape and plants. There is no single RIGHT way, so dig in and enjoy.

Step 1:
Lose the landscaping stones (the small ones, right? Miserable to dig in and awful for plant roots). Try an ad on Craigslist offering "Free landscape stones: You dig and haul!" Adding a pic seems to help movel things there, IMHO.
Craiglist NW IN
[If that doesn't work, you might need to recruit a couple 'friends' and invest in some quality beer and pizza.]

Step 2:
Add a curvy walkway leading to the house. Lay out the garden hose, or an old rope, to find a pleasing curve. Or play with computer software to change the look (Photoshop, etc.) or just print out a photo and draw on it.
Garden Paths

Step 3:
Widen the beds next to the house. Keep organic curves. Pick your edging.
Edging discussion

Step 4:
Choose your plants. Test your soil, learn about what will grow best there. East light is great!
Purdue Univ Consumer Horticulture

Step 5:
Have fun, and take lots of before and after pics!

-VW

I think it is very true that your hardscape limits how innovative you can be here, and that the improvements suggested by VW would really perk things up. However, you don't sound as though you're looking for that kind of magnitude of project.

If it's just plants you're willing to get into at this point, I think you're on the right track with the maple. I think I'd look to a mix of japanese maples and rhododendrons for a different impression than the meatballs would make.

KarinL

Thanks for the tips!

Eventually I would love to change the walkway and widen the beds (and maybe add an island bed), but since we just moved into the house that will come later.

I know what I like, I just don't know how to put it together. In the backyard beds, I'm more willing to take chances because not as many people see it. We do live on a golf course, so there are people that see the backyard, but I'm still very willing to experiment back there.

I've created a few new beds in the backyard and I'm in the process of filling the existing beds with more color. I guess after doing some more experimenting in the backyard, I'll be able to put something nice together in the front yard.

Oh, heck, I just saw the design opportunity...

Well, all my free advice comes with a double-your-money-back guarantee *grin*.

Pretty house tho, and I say go for experiments in the front bed as well. What is the worst that can happen? (As long as you aren't in a HOA).

-VW

I don't know what any of the rest of the posters think. I'm very new and really a novice who is just learning.

However, I see a real need for a shade tree. Between the lamp post and the second porch railing.

Does anyone else agree with me?

(I live in San Antonio, where trees comes first!!)

I agree with the shade tree and curved walkway. House looks a little detatched without them. BUT it IS a beautiful house - wish I had one that nice ;)

I'd like to see something twining up the lamp post. Perhaps a clematis. And maybe a climbing rose on the far right of the porch.

Patty

You say you know what you like, so to enliven the discussion, could you add a few details? For example, when I look at your house, I see "big old midwestern farmhouse," so for my taste, I'd want to fill up the bed in front of the porch with pretty, easy care and nice smelling colorful flowers and shrubs to greet me when I came home or sat on the porch. But to someone else, that might be a nightmare of maintenance and disorder, they might want something tidy and well mannered, like boxwoods and globe arborvitae.
What do you want out of your front yard?

I love flowers and I'm not scared of a little maintenance, but I'm scared I'm going to plant something that is going to take over and become a maintenance nightmare. I've been researching as many plants as I can and there are few that I know not to plant. Though, I am a beginning gardener in Zone 5 (I came from zone 10!).

I agree with the previous poster about a shade tree being needed, I'm not sure which one at the moment, though. We do have an Oak tree that is closer to the street, but so does the whole subdivision. I guess that was one of the "rules".

I also agree that something needs to be done about the light post. It's so plain and boring (much like the rest of the front yard). Clematis is an excellent idea.

I like a lot of shrubs and flowers, but I know I want evergreens as the backbone of the front bed. I was also thinking about putting another hydrangea in (there is one of the side bed). As for fillers, I like daylilies, coneflowers, veronica, and asters (I know these are well-behaved). I'm more interested in perennials than annuals, also.

Here's a clematis growing up my lamp post.
Patty

{{gwi:27613}}

You don't always have to name the plants as you design your beds or your yard. You can say "mounded evergreen here" and "tall narrow evergreen there" and then "spiky plant there" and "colourful filler in between." That way you can think of bones and winter interest first, and then dress it up for spring and summer.

KarinL

You have some good ideas!
MHO: to minimize Zone 10 envy, take advantage of the great plants that do well in Zone 5: Lilacs, Tulips, Daffodils, Peonies, Daylilies (but not Stella D'oro- yawn), Iris.

Clematis would be a good start on the lamp, figure out how to keep its roots cool. Maybe an island of plants including small trees and shrubs, dwarf conifers? dogwood? there. Birch is standard, but they are nice ornamentals.

but I'm scared I'm going to plant something that is going to take over and become a maintenance nightmare Kind like that vine in Little Shop of Horrors? There is always the judicious use of chemicals:

{{gwi:32771}}
-VW