Mulch won't hurt concrete. The reason that you sometimes see gravel around theedge is usually when there are no gutters. Gravel takes the impact of the water off of the roof without moving and splashing up on to the siding. Other times it is when the siding is too close to the grade of the soil (8" separation is code) as a bandaid to reduce the possibility of rot and bug access.

Thank you so much, you guys! I'll just make sure the beds are graded sort of downwards and not worry about mulch contact against the concrete (what a lot of work you saved me!).

Do you think a foot or so of space between any foliage and the house is far enough away from a planting perspective? I'd kind of like to be able to get my body behind things anyway in case i need to prune or what have you in the future.

Yes, that should be OK. Just plan for the mature size of any shrubs.

Imagine the plants at full size or pruned at full size and that would be your distance.

Imagine the plants at full size or pruned at full size and that would be your distance.

And add a bit so you can get between the plantings and the house, just in case you need to. Makes life a bit easier.

Take it from me, hoovb is right! Previous owners of my house planted a red japanese maple 6' from the porch ----
it is a pain in the neck now and must be pruned yearly so as not to grow through the windows.

Yikes, joy_blackthumb, what a horror! I try to be really forward thinking before sinking something into the ground. I have a particular paranoia about tall trees close to the house. In fact, i may overcompensate a bit. I just like to keep my gutters clean and my roof happy. :)

Thank you for the feedback, guys. It's such a great help.

I like to leave 2 feet between mature planting size and the house...but 18" is plenty. Actually, a foot is probably enough, but two feet makes ladder placement easier. (No worries about damaging the shrubbery.)

melanie