Definitely wait till fall. Remember last summer's drought? We've been really fortunate so far, but I wouldn't bet plant material on that continuing. If you want to feel like you're accomplishing something, I'd say work some organic matter(finished compost) into the beds, mulch heavily with straw to keep weeds down, and hold off till fall. Your plants will love you for it.

Agree wholeheartedly with marcinde's advice :-) As far as plant suggestions are concerned, use the time now to visit local nurseries, garden centers and/or public gardens and arboretums to see what does well in your area and fits your scale/maintenance issues. There are endless possibilites and viewing the plants during the peak of the growing season or in situ should provide some inspiration and good suggestions. Be sure to include some seasonal interest throughout the year, i.e. spring or summer flowers, colored foliage, winter stem color or berries, etc. Generally this is accomplished through a balanced mix of both broadleaf and coniferous evergreens as well as deciduous plant material.

Absolutely wait until fall to do any planting.

It looks to me that the beds you have are very small and shallow, while you can't do anything about the one between the house and sidewalk you could definitely widen and wrap the far corner of the house on the right side.
Because you house is very vertical I'd plant a nice small tree off the right corner (at least 8' from the house) something that has horizontal branching, a Japanese Maple or dogwood would be nice. Planting around that corner would also screen your air conditioner from view. Avoid anything pyramidal in shape.
For a nice easy foundation plant you could look into Otto Luken - cherry laurel. They are evergreen, slow growing (minimizes pruning) and have a nice leaf shape. There are some azaleas that can take sun also. If you would like a mix of foliage color you could check out loropetalum. They are dark purple and have bright pink blooms. Do some research on a variety of plants and remember if it's low maintenance you want, watch out for words like vigorous grower (aka needs lots of pruning)

You can't get any lower maintenance than mowing the lawn, assuming you take the laissez-faire approach to lawn care (that is, mowing only) rather than the "raising perfect individual blades of grass" approach. So if low maintenance is seriously an issue for you, I'd do all lawn, right to the foundation.

To my eye, this house doesn't really need foundation planting. It's a nice house, nice foundation, nothing to hide. It's got a backdrop of big trees so is pretty well grounded even though it's tall.

The one specimen shrub you have does give a nice effect, and you could put a couple more, maybe a tree as well, out further in the yard to give a bit of a spatial sense of distance from the road and screening. I too would focus planting on where they would soften the right side of the house (and maybe the left if you have space there) rather than worrying about the middle. That would also offset the verticality of the house, which to me is its only issue.

Then you have to consider whether you do anything in this space - play badminton or croquet? - that you'd want to leave room for.

KarinL

How do viburnum do in your zone? There are several varieties and most won't grow past 6-8 feet, so won't block your windows (or you can trim). They get summer flowers, berries in the fall, interesting fall color, etc. Then can take part shade, though, so you'd have to check their heavy sun tolerance.

Wow! Thanks so much for the suggestions! Our beds are not that small. I guess small is relative. I think one is about 8x10 and the other about 6x10.

Our front yard is actually very small, though it's hard to see in the picture. We are in a cul de sac. We have a large backyard that backs up to wetlands.

Okay....so cherry laurels, viburnum, Japanese maples, dogwood, azaleas (actually we ripped out two half dead ones). I will look into all of those! We can't really do grass up to the house. All of the other houses around here have some kind of border.

I've also seen this pretty little short plant around with all these very vibrant red leaves. Anyone have any idea what that is? (Probably a ton of possibilities.)

Thank you!

You need to go to a good nursery! They are few and far between. There is exactly one in my two county region. There may be more where you live. A good nursery will have someone knowledgable about plants to advise you. A good nursery will have a wide variety of selections of plants, particularly small dwarf varieties. A good nursery will have plants with tags with good accurate information on them. At the very least, tags with the scientific name and variety listed for the plant. You can then Google them and find out what they need in terms of care and how big they will get. Drive around your neighborhood, take pictures of things you like. Visit show gardens, especially ones related to houses. Take more pictures. You can then take those pictures to a nursery and they can help you select plants to get that look. You can also browse the landscaping section of your local library or bookstore to get ideas. Most important, do what you like, don't worry about the neighbors, as long as you keep your yard well maintained.

You're in Richmond - take a tour of the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. See things growing, in bloom, in dedicated gardens, conservatories... Or, if you get to Colonial Williamsburg - after closing you can wander around the restored area and look at the recreated gardens at your leisure and without the crowds. Fun and you might see things your neighbors aren't growing.

Wonder if the short plant with redleaves is nandina or maybe barberry?

One caution: I don't know if dogwood or japanese maple will do well in full sun. At least it won't in Mississippi. Also azaleas typically need some shade.

Duluth and Louisiana are right on target. Get thee to a good botanical garden! As someone else suggested, visit gardens, drive around the neighborhood take note of what you like (and don't); look at overall effect as well as individual plants. Consider exposure.

Call you local county extension office for some information.

Dogwood, japanese maple and azaleas are, indeed, understory plants - they'll survive in full sun, but will most likely be stressed, dogwood especially, the native form of which is suffering from anthracnose. The asian Kousa dogwood (cornus Kousa) is resistant and is a lovely tree, but I do like the flowering time and flower form of the native (cornus florida) better.

Since you have a few months before optimal planting time, consider doing some sheet composting or lasagne composting in those beds. Put down newspaper (at least 6 sheets thick) or cardboard to suppress weeds, cover with compost, coffee grounds, sprinkle on some paper from your shredder, wet it all down then top off with an organic garden mulch or shredded leaves. The soil organisms will go to work on that (and, no, it won't smell) and by September you'll have rich, soft earth in which to plant ... easier on you and your new plants. Remember to water and mulch well. If it's a dry autumn, be sure to water as needed - you don't want them to go into winter with drought stress.

Very nice-looking house. The project you're undertaking is for the long haul ... take your time, do your "homework", and enjoy the process! Then don't forget to come back and post photos so we all can see ;-)

Thanks! We've been driving around the area and went to our local nursery. Also talked to my dad who has a much greener thumb than I do.

I think we're leaning toward some dwarf English boxwood in the back. Nandina was also suggested, and we liked the look of that as well.

I loved the Japanese maple tree and would really like to add one of those somewhere, but I'm not sure.

I guess we'll hold off until the fall since everyone we talk to says we should! So we'll get the beds ready and figure out exactly what we want by then.

I have a japanese maple, variety "Fireglow" which is thriving in full sun, although I baby it with water and compost and mulch, and it has a good set of companions. I got it from Herter's Nursery, which I think is in NC somewhere, not sure how far from you. Fireglow is a somewhat common variety though. Much better than Bloodgood, IMHO. Bloodgood gets bigger, is more umbrella shaped, doesn't hold the red color as well, and Fireglow really lives up to it's name. It makes a very nice contribution to my mixed plantings.

Here is a link that might be useful: Herter's Nursery