Welcome to the New England forum! Your house looks really nice, and I hope you have a great time planning the gardens. It's a rewarding hobby - or for some of us, more of an obsession than a hobby.

Planting something that's too big for the space is a very common newbie mistake - I know that because I did it for years. It's MUCH BETTER to plan for the ultimate size of the plants, and not have to keep pruning. Plants fare better, and look better, if they're allowed to grow the way they would naturally, with just a snip here and there if needed to keep them nicely shaped.

I'm not familiar with blue baron rhododendrons or arctic rose azaleas - what's their mature size? There are certainly dwarf rhodies that would fit, so if that's the direction you're leaning towards, by all means find a small variety that you like and use that.

One other thing - if the space is 3.5 feet deep, you absolutely need to put the crowns of the plants at least 2 feet from the house. That crawl space will become really dank if you plant too close to it - you want to keep good air circulation there. And, maybe more importantly, it will be really hard to get enough moisture into the soil any closer to the house. The soil under the porch is totally dry - hopefully - and will suck any water away from the soil around your plants.

If you'd like to try perennials, the cost shouldn't be an issue. You can inter-plant annuals for the first couple of years, for one thing, plus you can come to one of the New England forum's plant swaps and load up your car with divisions from other people's gardens. It's a deal that just can't be beat - look for the threads with plant swap in the subject.

One thing about perennials, though, is that most of them disappear in winter. It would be nice to include either some dwarf evergreens - is skimmia hardy for you? Otherwise, there are tiny conifers out there, and they're inexpensive, at least if you buy young ones.

Although you're thinking of all short plants, it might compliment the house more to intersperse a couple of narrow, upright, taller evergreens, like Ilex crenata 'Sky Pencil'. There are some that stay less than a foot wide, and reach 5 or 6 feet in height.

Alternatively, if you're planning to put a wider garden to the right of the front door, you might consider just filling this narrow area with something un-fussy, like vinca minor or hellebores, with spring bulbs inter-planted. If you try to plop a complicated design (or a random mix of plants) into this narrow space, it might look a little ... odd.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the other members recommend.
- DtD

DTD has given you some great advice.

I second the point of what are you planning on doing on the right hand side of the steps? If you plant these large shrubs to the left of the steps and have nothing on the right, the whole house will feel out of balance. Personally I think it would make more sense to create a largish garden to the right of the steps - start at the corner of the walkway and curve around to the corner of the house. I would make that the more formal garden and treat this strip as a balance.

I'm also not familiar with the growth habits of the 3 plants you mention. When I googled - it seems like that rhodie gets pretty large. In a few years you could have branches encroaching on your porch and front walk. If you are looking for a bit of privacy on your porch, maybe plant some clematis or other vines and have some strings for them to climb up to the porch roof.

I would suggest looking into some of the dwarf and ground junipers. They could give you 12-24" of height and they are evergreen. You could then add some spring bulbs for early color, and then some daiies or echinaceas for late summer color.

Perennials may be expensive, but they have the benefit of lasting near forever. So they are an investment. In your 16' of space, you could start with 8-10 perennials. Many of the smaller pots are available for $6-7 a piece. They may be small now, but in a year of 2, they will have filled in nicely and some could even be ready for dividing. Keep in mind that you could easily spend $100 a year on annuals. But if you make the investment in perennials now, you can easily cut that annuals expense in future years.

I agree that you could wrap a larger garden starting to the right (as we see it) of the steps and going around the corner to the side of the house. In addition to what's already been mentioned, evergreen conifers are always good for a year-round 'backbone' of the design, but be sure to check the maximum height and spread. There are many that won't get too large for your space. They come with all sizes and textures of their needles, and colors range from yellow-green through dark greens and bluish-greens. Also, there are broadleaf evergreens, such as euonymus, that form attractive mounds. Many are variegated in interesting ways, and the difference in color and leaf texture provide nice contrast even in winter. You might also want to look at some grasses. There are many kinds to choose from, and they provide a great variety of forms, colors and heights, from a few inches to a few feet. Most are interesting all winter as well, and they establish very quickly. You have a really nice house. I hope you see your landscape develop nicely as well. Good luck!

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Welcome, Kellycrash! You have a quite attractive house. Thanks for including the photos; it makes it much easier to offer intelligent comments. You've gotten great advice so far - evergreens for continued interest in winter, plant for the size space you have, areas against the house tend to be dry. The advice to keep this area relatively simple is a good one too as it is a small area. I'd probably plan to use some of the plants you use here elsewhere in the garden to provide some continuity.

I would suggest working out a plan for the whole front of the house and perhaps the whole front yard right now. If you don't, each small part is likely to reflect where you are as a gardener at a particular time and not necessarily gel well as a whole yard. Figure out where you are likely to want to walk and how you will use it (kids' soccer field? just decoration? future patio? etc) before starting planting. You don't need to plant the whole thing, but at least get a feel for how you want it to look in the long run. Drive around and look at plantings for houses similar to yours and evaluate them - decide what you like or don't like and what will work for how you will use the space. Get books out of the library that have pictures of whole house landscaping, again to decide what look you like. Worry less about particular plants until you've decided on the big picture items. I'd also probably mulch the whole cleared area now with an unobtrusive mulch (not dyed) so that weeds don't get started while you plan. I'd also really check out your amount of sun carefully. If you have more than 4 hours (noon to 5 instead of 1 to 4) you may be able to grow many sun-loving plants and shade lovers would find that much afternoon sun to be too much.

Once you have done that, then find plants you like the look of that which will suit your conditions of part shade, probably acid soil (though your new concrete sidewalk may leach lime for a while), and whatever your soil texture is (sandy, clayey, or whatever.) 3 1/2 feet is quite narrow to keep plants both off the base of the porch and off the walkway. I'd try for plants that grow narrowly upright rather than have to fuss with pruning them away from both the walk and the porch lattice. You have a tough situation - narrow and somewhat shady. It's a shame that the walkway isn't 2 feet farther out as it would give many more options.

As far as your specific plant ideas so far:
I like that you have found plants that will look attractive year round, with evergreen and/or variegated foliage for when there isn't bloom. Here is a webpage link to copy and paste for Blue Barron rhodie.
http://www.westonnurseries.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=plants.plantDetail&plant_id=37
Since Weston Nurseries is the breeder of the plant, I'd take their zone 6 seriously and not try this plant in such a prominent position. If you put it off one of the porch ends where you have enough depth for several layers of plants, if it has a bad winter, the other plants may help to camouflage this. To help find alternatives, linked below is a rhodie seach database. If you want a similar one for azaleas, click on 'plant data' on the same page and go to 'azaleas' If you use the multiple parameter search you can put in your hardiness info (-15), your height info, and the description will tell you if it is more upright or spreading. You can then do a general web search to find info on width. Purple Gem might work for you and many of the hybrids and selections of R. yakushimanum (commonly called Yak rhododendrons) like 'Anna Hall' or 'Ken Janeck' should stay small enough for quite a while since they are relatively slow growing. You could also check out Leucathoes which are another evergreen, some with variegated leaves and many stay small. I have both small spireas and the two small Deutzias (Chardonnay Pearls and Nikko) in half shade, and both bloom well. Both look rather twiggy in winter. You could consider one of the smaller and more shade tolerant clematis on a narrow obelisk. If you get a type 3 prune (something like Justa or Savannah don't get too tall) you will cut back the dead vine to 6 or 8 inches in the fall and have the ornamental obelisk for winter interest. Here's another search page, this one from Clematis on the Web. Leave blank any categories that aren't important and just put in height and pruning type.
http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/new-clemlistsearch.cfm
If you decide to do this, I can give you some reputable mail order places that have more varieties than most local nurseries. Another option is the selection of a native honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens 'Major Wheeler'.

Some groundcovers that play well with other plants and are happy in part sun (to wander around the feet of other plants):
Veronica 'Georgia Blue' or 'Waterperry Blue'
Cranberry - perfectly happy in average soil and is evergreen

Some perennials that should stay within bounds, look good all growing season, will be happy with afternoon sun, and you may be able to get at plant swaps, though you might have to buy:
daylily
mounding perennial geranium (not the geraniums grown in pots)
Heuchera
Siberian Iris

I like the idea of planting bulbs there, since it would give you flowers early in the season. I love planting reticulated irises for early bloom and daffodils for midspring bloom.

Here is a link that might be useful: rhododendron database search

Hi Kelly! Your home is so beautiful and obviously you want your yard to look as nice as the house, but you'll need to be patient and do some research. I actually chuckled out loud at DtD's post about "newbie" mistakes because I've made some whoppers in my time. In my first house (40 years ago) I bermed the earth against the foundation and ended up with termites! This is a great forum --- you'll learn new tips all the time here.

So, here's some advice based on what I noticed from your photos. First of all, the left side of your front walkway slopes down and is less prominent (kind of sheltered by the stairs), but the right side is level and more prominent. Also, the left side looks like it's shaded for longer, probably because the house itself blocks the sun's path.

For those reasons, you should consider the above suggestions and focus on a garden to the right of the stairs. That will help to anchor your home into the landscape. Plus, you have more room on the right for a very wide planting area to put in some of your favorite plants, especially if you extend it out beyond the corner of your house. I like to plan foundation gardens at least 6-8 ft out from the house not only to prevent plants from touching the house but to give room to go behind them and prune or trim.

Is there a well-stocked garden center nearby? If so, you should visit with the idea of getting suggestions for foundation plantings. You could take these photos in and ask for help. Look around for textures and colors in evergreens that you like and for perennials that appeal to you. It's always best to actually 'see' the plant before you buy it. Consider two elements.... evergreens and perennials … as the focal points in your yard.

Molie