Sorry, let me try posting those photos again :)

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Front of house. There are two red maples and a small bed in front of the porch which has boxwood, a crepe myrtle and a holly bush.

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A closer view of the front bed. That is a small crepe myrtle with white flowers, two small pink knockout roses on either side of it, six boxwoods, and a holly bush on the corner of the house. Oh, and also some bulb flowers planted in a thin row along the wall at the base of the porch. Does this bed look to busy? The crepe myrtle and knockout roses are new and not really flowering yet, but hopefully they will next year.

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These are two eunyonym (sp?) shrubs on the side of the porch.

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Another view of the front bed.

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This is the north-facing side of the front yard. Obviously needs lots of help. All there is here is a holly bush on the corner of the house.

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Here is the other front side yard (south-facing). I would love to cover up the foundation of the house.

20 min in MS Paint....

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Wow, erict! Thank you so much for your ideas! It looks like it would be fairly inexpensive to do and would really make the space look so much better! I had not even thought about putting trellises there. You wouldn't happen to have any ideas for the other front side yard? :)

Thanks again. I really appreciate you taking the time to do that in MS paint.

Sandra

Is your trim in the front black? You might also consider doing the trellis in black metal like the one in the link below or maybe one that has an arch on top.

You can often find these at stores like Home Goods, Tues. Morning, Hobby Lobby, etc.

Before putting a lot of work on the side of the house, I'd suggest addressing the downspout and directing the water so it doesn't wash out the bed.

Here is a link that might be useful: trellis

frankie - I hadn't thought about training a shrub onto the trellis... sounds like it might be easier for me to do a vine like a clematis or something like that. What shaped trellis and spacing of them do you think would be best for that? How can I hang the trellis so it is a few inches away from the house so the vine won't damage the vinyl siding?
Also, the crepe myrtle is a dwarf variety that the nursery assured me would not grow more than 8-12 feet high and can be pruned to keep it smaller. I hope it will be okay there even if it gets fuller around. The maples were planted by the builder and are about 15 feet from the house. Think those will be okay? I sure hope so.

annz - the trim in on the house is a dark green. That's a great idea to match the color of the trellis to the trim. Oh, and thanks for the tip about the downspout. I will definitely do something about that.

Thanks to both of you for your advice and ideas! I really appreciate it :)

Sandra

If you're willing to drill holes in the siding - attach backer blocks to keep the trellis several inches away from the siding, then attach the trellis to the blocks. And you would definitely want to have a plan regarding shapes & sizes, and distances between each trellis before drilling any holes. HD, Lowes, etc. all have trellises as well as info on mounting. They'd also have exactly what you need in downspout extensions.

There seems to be quite a slope from front to back yard on both side lots. I have the same situation at my home, and spent the bucks and built a drystone wall near the house, covering the foundation. Had that filled with decent soil, then hired someone to come in and lay a flagstone pathway, with shallow steps down to the back yard, next to the raised rock wall. It was the best money I ever spent.
Took my yard from the mundane to spectacular.
Often you are better off spending money on hard scaping rather than plants. Pondy

I hope you have an excellent pair of pruning shears and the time to use them, as you will begin using them very soon. This planting is over planted and will, within 5 yrs., be one solid hedge. Plants do grow, 10 plus times their size from the one gallon pot size you purchased. LOL

diluth - Thanks for those instructions :)

pondy - That sounds awesome... do you have any photos you could post? I'd love to see what your wall and pathway look like.

petzold - I did recently just buy some clippers :) What specifically do you think I should do? The builders planted the boxwoods and I do hope they grow together some day, but do you think the knockout roses will get too crowded there? If you think the bulbs that I planted here and there make it look too busy, I was wondering that myself which is why I asked for feedback. Thanks.

I would move the roses and what appears to be daylilies (in the back). A suggestion for you the chew on: extend you planting beds on both sides of the house to the property line. You can make curved pathways to access the gates. The new portions would need a mid-sized tree as the anchor plant. The increased planting area would make the house look wider than it is and visually reduce the height of the house. Remember to use curved beds to soften the horizontal lines of the house.

In my past life, I spent a lot of time redoing the work these bam-bam thank you mama landscapers did. They are told to make things "look nice and full" to increase the appeal of the house. I bet that all the houses in your neighborhood built by the same builder have identical or nearly so landscapes.

Think outside the BOX, you'll be happier 5 yrs. from now.

petzold -
Thanks for your suggestions. I think I will move those roses to the side of the house this fall. And your idea about extending the beds out on either side has definitely given me something to think about.

I have a similar problem with my front & side areas. My side area is almost identical to yours but my immediate problem area is the front. I havenÂt a clue what to plant in such a narrow space. The dimensions of my front beds are about 4ft x 12ft and IÂve heard that 4ft isnÂt much to work with, but IÂm not going for anything grandÂ.just something that will look nice from the street. The side bed is much longer, probably about 50ft, but its even more narrow than the front ones at a whopping 3ft 9 inches. Here are some pics to give everyone a better idea of what IÂm working withÂÂ.(***keeping my fingers crossed that erict will do the same with my pics as was done for yours***).

LEFT OF STAIRS: this area faces south. I just finished amending the soil about a week ago
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RIGHT OF STAIRS: this area faces south as well. I started amending this side first and finished about a month ago. This pic was taken around twelve noon so the "corner" bush is still providing shade to a portion of the area. Its doesnt get full sun until about 3pm.
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LEFT SIDE OF HOUSE: this area faces west and is right next to my driveway. As you can see, I havent gotten around to amending the soil on this side. The area is shaded by the roof most of the day but it does get sun for about 2-3 hours (as the sun is on its way down). Even still, it gets very HOT over here, probably because of the pavement. Should I take that into consideration for plant selection?
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FULL FRONTAL: View of the house from the street
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BUMPING....for more suggestions