This is such an open question that I find it difficult to answer, so hopefully you can give us more information.

First check out this map of hardiness zones for different areas of MA. Most of central MA is either 5b or 6a with a small amount of 5a and perhaps a tiny amount of 4b in the hills of western MA. (I (as a cartographer) realize that the color choice is difficult to interpret, but if you look at the listing of cities on the right side, it will help you figure out your zone. You can zoom in quite locally.

Would you give us some idea of your:

- goals ("curb appeal" or feeding and providing habitat for birds and butterflies, or teaching your home schooled kids about nature or growing fruits and veggies as ornamentals or etc)

- ability and willingness to do upkeep like weeding, edging, watering as needed, pruning as needed

- prior gardening experience

- deer, woodchuck and other animals

A photo would also help since colonial covers quite a range of architecture and things like placement of windows, doors, and outdoor hardscape such as walkways will influence suggestions.

What direction does the side(s) of the house you want to landscape face as the sun exposure will be important in plant choice? Is this new construction? Often what is left near a new building includes subsoil and construction debris that needs to be replaced or amended for planting.

Can you tell us what appeals to you, especially if you look in the Houzz listing of photos for colonial front yards linked here. If you click on a photo you like, then you can copy the web address to show us what you prefer. Or just do a web search for images of Colonial front yards. Once we have an idea of what you like, then we can go about making plant suggestions. If you live in an area with houses somewhat similar to yours, you can snap a photo of landscaping that appeals to you and post it right from your hard drive using the photo button at the bottom of each post. Think about whether you like symmetrical plantings, especially if your house is symmetrical, or if you like a less formal style. Do you like a riot of color or a quiet green and white scheme or something in between? Does colored foliage appeal to you or not? Do you want winter interest such as evergreens or plants with interesting bark or are you happy with a smooth blanket of snow for the winter? Do you like a really full garden or do you like space between each plant?

Once we have some idea of what you are looking for then we should be able to to help with specific plant suggestions.

My home is located in the 5b hardiness zone. The front of our home is north facing.

Our goal is to enhance the curb appeal. We moved into the newly constructed home in 2011.

The plantings are of the builder HD variety. There are a couple of boxwoods flanking each side of the stairs; followed by Endless Summer hydrangeas, some variety of rhododenron (that do not flower) and some type of fine neddled evergreen. On the right hand side when facing the stairs there is a Sand Cherry shrub the seems to be doing well.

We are not against a complete over-haul with a mixture of perrenials and annuals.

I do enjoy yard work with the abitlity to weed, edge and prune. I like flowering plants with a variety of colors and textures.

I am open to different idea's with a semi-formal to less formal landscape.

Using nothing but annuals and perennials gives you nothing to look at for about half the year. There was some new construction near us landscaped that way . . . for a year or two.

The house is very formal. One of the problems with the current plantings are that they aren't up to the size or formality of the house. They look like they wandered in from a one story cottage.

Based on the information and photo I have provided please reply with your specific suggestions if possible.

Thank you

gle, thanks for the photo and the additional information; I have a few more questions for you.

- I see new lawn in this photo. Does that mean that this was taken shortly after the home was built, and so the shrubs are now a bit larger or is this their current size?

- Does the house have gutters? This past winter (or other winters) was there an issue with snow on the roof dropping off into the bed below?

- Could you do some bed measurements? How far it is from the house to the drip line under the eaves? How far is it from the house to the back of the nearest shrubs? How deep are the beds? Would you be open to adding depth to the beds by bringing them out further? Having deeper beds will also help balance the height of home so it looks more in proportion.

- Did any of the plants have tags so you know specifically what they are (ie what is the rhododendron's name or the boxwood variety or the type of the pointed evergreens at the corner)? If not, can you take a closeup photo of eachkind of plant? Knowing more specifically what the plants are will help evaluate their ultimate size, whether they are appropriately placed, and whether they are going to work in the landscape long-term.

- Would it be possible to add a photo taken straight on from across the street so that it includes the whole front of the property down to the street and from one side boundary to the other, or a couple of photos that show this if it all won't fit into one? I ask because the front of your house has a lot of large windows, which is wonderful for indoor light, but makes it difficult to plant taller plants near the house without having them grow up across your windows, something I wouldn't recommend.

I agree with mad_gallica that in the photo the current plants are small in proportion to the house. Some taller plants would help ground the house and make what you currently have more effective. IMO the solution isn't necessarily to rip everything out since what is there may be a good foundation for additions (though it may work better in the long run to start over.) It has evergreen interest for winter, some flowers, and it will get larger, so it may be something you can add to for more flowers and then plant taller plants (such as a couple of small or large trees) a bit further from the house to add height without blocking windows. So I want to know what the rest of the space is like.

I will see if I can find or take some photos of homes of a similar style to yours that illustrates what I am currently thinking about.

I think the fine-needled evergreen you have is probably a dwarf Alberta spruce. It stays compact and keeps its structure well, but grows really slowly and prefers a bit more sun so may not be the best choice for that spot. If it's something that grows more quickly it might provide nice structure and height. The other shrubs may be "basic" but work well in those sun/shade conditions. I'd start by considering the bigger structure--I agree with Babs and mad_gallica that you need some larger shrubs/trees. Maybe a flowering tree (magnolia, redbud, crabapple?) or japanese maple set out into the lawn at an angle to soften the edges of the house.

I'd probably keep most of the shrubs you have and let them grow in. I can't really tell how deep your bed is, but you may need to spread them out or move them away from the house You could also expand the beds to give you more room for interesting things.

Other perennials that could work well in north facing shade: heuchera, lady's mantle, perennial geranium like 'biokovo', grasses like hakonechloa, astilbe, hosta. For flowering shade annuals, you've got the standard begonias and impatiens (new guinea impatiens until they figure out the downy mildew problem).

Hope that helps! If you want more layout advice once you have specific plants in mind, go back to the landscape design forum where you started. They'll ask you for more pictures, though, so you might want to read through some of the previous posts to see what they usually ask for.

I was hoping that you would give us some idea of the bed size and current plant placement since without knowing what space is available and how large the current plants will be, it is difficult to suggest anything else. lalala said what I was thinking, " I can't really tell how deep your bed is, but you may need to spread them out or move them away from the house You could also expand the beds to give you more room for interesting things." It looks like all the shrubs need to be moved out from the house so that as they grow they won't rub against the siding.

So I will just suggest what I was thinking as far as a tree. Look into a 'Heritage' birch which is a lovely tree with decorative bark and an open canopy. You would want to plant it about 20 feet from the house and somewhat to the side.

lalala has given you a great list of shade plants some of which have bright foliage that will read similarly to flowers from a distance and will last longer than flowers. You want to plant in clumps rather than one of this and one of that in order to have curb appeal. Your current plants are symmetrical, so I would plant to continue that with the perennials and annuals.

Thank you for your suggestions and help.

I have been very busy; but the bed dimensions, plant names and more pictures are on the way.

Please continue to follow my post.

Thanks again.

Hi,<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

I could still use all of your help.

The bed size on the
left off the stairs while facing the house is W=14', D=9'.

It size is restricted
by the sidewalk going to the front door and the driveway.

The plantings in the
left side bed are: a Dwarf Alberta Spruce with is approximately 20" off of
the house, next to it is a Rhododendron (I do not know the variety; it's leggy
and has not bloomed since it was planted), in front and to the right of the
rhododendron is an Endless Summer Hydrangea (does very well with a lot of
blooms), followed by a Common Boxwood flanking the stairs. I have also planted
an Astible and a low growing bluish color ornamental grass.

The right hand side bed
can be made larger; it's currently scalloped edged with the same shrubs as the
left hand side bed along with a Sand Cherry which flowers nicely. The rhododendron
in this bed had one bloom this year. I have pinched back the rhododendrons each
year in an attempt to have the lower part of the plants to fill in. I know the
plants set out the bloom buds for the following year after it blooms, so my
pinching back of new growth is done early enough not to remove any new buds.
This bed also has a phlox plant and a dianthus.

2nd photo

Thank You

Baptisia australis, Echinacea purpure

We find the beds to be boring and typical to a "builders" selection of plants.

We are definitely not against removing the plants, although we do like the hydreangea's and the Sand Cherry.

Thanks,

gle2011

Are you willing to go with shrubs? I like Diablo Ninebark...sorta looks like sand cherry. I like holly, but you are too cold for my favorite varieties. You can't go wrong with Rhododendrons.

Personally, I think your house is tall enough there should be a tree somewhere in the middle of the yard. When you first buy a house is the best time to plant trees and things that take a long time to grow.

If the house is north facing, then you'll get much better results with plants for either shade or partial shade.

What I would do, is plant a shrub border along the west side of the property. These can be full sun plants, which are the best flowering kind. Then arrange an evergreen, formal foundation planting for the house. Possibly a boxwood hedge. Because of the windows it will have to be fairly low. There can be room for annuals or flowering perennials in front of it. The shrub border could possibly curve around part of the front with smaller plants. A large tree (not a 'small ornamental') could be planted in the curve.

Right now, one of the problems with the planting is that it is too much of a hodge-podge. The whole thing needs to be one or two types of plants. Since it sounds like you very much want more variety, the solution is to put that elsewhere.

Thanks for your inputs.

We like rhododendroms too; but the ones we have planted there now don't flower (planted in 2011).

We were hoping to find flowering shrubs/plants that do well on the north side.

Again thank you very much for your suggestions.

The North side gets the least amount of light, so with an expectation that you are going to be able to use 'flowering' shrubs, I think you may be disappointed. You might want to try to make it more interesting with different foliage colors. Something variegated or golden.

Kerria japonica is said to flower in shade, but I've been told it flowers better in more sun. And it's pretty informal.

Hydrangeas if they bloom there are great, but many have difficulty blooming in zone 5 even. You could consider Hydrangea paniculata varieties, which seem to be the hardiest, but how much they bloom in that position, I'm not sure.

Ilex 'Sky Pencil' grows on the north side of our house. It's very vertical and tall and evergreen.

I have tried to find plants that will flower in shade and I've been disappointed, so my best suggestion would be to go with shade plants for a North facing location. There are so many gorgeous Hostas now. Some have a lot of gold to them and they come in all sizes. You could put some in front of whatever shrubs you decide on. If you decide to add these, I'd visit the Hosta forum and ask which growers provide 'virus free' plants. Ferns are another very dependable addition to a shade garden. There are a lot of Japanese Painted Ferns that are very pretty. 'Ghost' is another variety that works out well. Lamium is a shade groundcover with almost white foliage with a green edge to it. 'Purple Dragon' is my favorite.

At Bluestone Perennials, right now - they do have a good search function, you can key in Shady and zone 4 or 5 and see what they offer. But if you bought from them, they are very small plants, which works out fine with perennials, but you have to be prepared to wait if you use a shrub this small.

Bluestone Perennials

Shrubs for zone 4 and mostly shady -

Taxus 'Helen Corbet' looks like a nice golden evergreen that might work.

Cornus 'Cardinal' or 'Arctic Fire' is listed, but the color you want in the stems in the winter, might not develop well facing North.

Sambucus 'Sutherland Gold' has a bad reputation for lack of vigor. I lost one after only a few seasons and then learned others had the same problem.

More choices with z5 -

Itea 'Little Henry' has really nice red fall foliage and it may flower for you there.

Cornus 'Golden Shadows' another with mixed results - lack of vigor

No experience with the rest.

For Perennials - z4 - full shade -

Astilbes apparently will flower in full shade. If your soil is moist enough. I've had mine peter out due to dry conditions.

Be careful of ferns that run and spread - they list 'Robust Male Fern' and that one will travel.

Weston Nurseries also has a very good search function.

I see Cimicifuga comes up in a z4/Shade search. There are some with dark foliage and they will flower for you there.

Clethra also - I grow this shrub and enjoy it. Mine faces east and flowers well, I don't know about a North location. It is an informal shrub and suckers mildly for me.

Watch out for 'Hay Scented' Fern - another runner

Good luck!

Thanks for the additional photos and the bed measurements. I am fairly sure from looking at your photos that your house doesn't face due north, since in all your photos there is sun either on the front of the house (first photo, taken either early morning or late afternoon) or on the bed itself (last two photos, taken an hour or two before or after noon, based on the shadow from the house next door.) So you should probably go to Google Earth (which always has north up like a map) and find your house to figure out what direction it's really facing before we go any further on plants. It looks more like it gets close to a half day of sun and even when in shade, the shade will be bright, so you have more flexibility on what you can plant beyond shade plants.

I'd still love a photo from across the street or plot plan that shows how deep the lot is and how wide, so I can figure out where to put a tree or two which are the only things large enough to ground your house and how to pull the landscape out some to also help ground the house. I would also love to be able to see both corners to see how to frame the front of the house, perhaps some flowering small trees or a taller spire of an evergreen. I still think that a more vase-shaped medium sized tree such as a Heritage birch would look great offset from the house, both over toward the right side and well out into the yard. Plant it so that the ultimate width won't overflow into the neighbor's yard.

I am thinking generally that the front beds need to be made just a bit deeper and planted with two rows of shrubs and in front of that a row of perennials in just 2 or three colors with several plants per group for mass effect. One row of shrubs should be all one kind of evergreen that will stay below window height or shorter, one a long flowering shrub such as one of the reblooming Hydrangea macrophyllas such as your current Endless Summer (since it is doing well) or one of the longest blooming, and then a front row of perennials in just 2 or three colors. Depending on the evergreens and the flowering shrubs, you might have either closest to the house (though plant leave at least 2 feet with no plants behind the ultimate shrub size for maintenance and to prevent house damage.) On the walkway side, the perennials can be on the side away of the walk away from the house, continuing across the entire front in a straight line but filling in back to the shrubs on the right side of the house. This will give you something with enough mass to be visible against the house from the road (unlike the current one of this and one of that), and walking to the house will be through the garden rather than in front of the garden.

Look at the first photo in thisthread from the blog of a wonderful landscape designer in the Detroit area, Deborah Silver, for something of the effect I am thinking of for your house's shrubs. She used H. paniculata Limelight, a taller hydrangea that is only just starting to bloom here, but you can choose one that will reach a height that come to just about your window sill level. The evergreens provide some color and structure for the five or so months that the Hydrangeas are bare, but don't need to be a formal sheared hedge as this yew hedge is. They can be a looser, naturally low growing evergreen. For your proportionately taller, narrower house (compared to the one in the blog), I would plant the trees off the corners, whether small flowering trees or taller narrow spires and a larger tree off to the side farther out into the yard toward the road as I mentioned above. You might even consider a medium hedge out closer to the road (though not close enough to be in conflict with winter snow plowing) to help bring higher the "ground feel" from the road (which looks like it must be lower than the house) to balance the house height. Something low maintenance with flowers such as some of the newer low care shrub roses or rugosa roses, or Hydrangea paniculata might work.

For your current plants, move them to the back or side yard if you have a place for them, or advertise them as free if the taker digs them.

Hi NHBabs and prairiemoon,

My house is 40 feet off of the street and the lots are 90 feet wide.

A total of 10,250 sq. ft.; it's a small house lot.

I did look at Google Earth and the house does face approximately 10 degrees east of due north.

Left of stairs

Right of stairs

Both the boxwood and the hydrangea look quite happy there, so if you want to stick with what is currently working, you could use a row of each, fronted by clumps of bright perennials and bulbs. I think that between the slight facing to the east, the reflection of light from the house, and the lack of overhanging trees, you can get away with part shade, zone 5 plants without any issues.

Here (along with the link I gave above) are two more photos of the general style that I think will work for your house to give curb appeal - to have enough oomph to balance the size of your home's facade. I do think that you should put a lowish wall along the front right to keep the bed level with the house rather than with the ground; since your house is symmetrical, you will want the garden to match that look.

In this link from the shrubs forum, scroll down to the end (yesterday 7/7/15) where there is a photo of the final result 5 years after planting. She used Green Velvet boxwoods faced with a mini rose, Green Ice. I don't think you have enough sun for roses to bloom well, but astilbe and hosta should do well and look good both from near and far.

This link has a row of rhododendrons where I would put a row of hydrangeas with a row of boxwoods in front. Along the walkway is a row of box fronted by a row of tulips, sedum and hosta, and I would use something similar (probably hosta, astilbe and a combination of large-flowered alliums and early daffodils.) Use clumps of each (6 or so in each group of the bulbs and 3 to 5 in each grouping of

And here again is the link to Deborah Silver's blog, looking at the first photo, but using your blue Endless Summer hydrangeas along with your row of evergreens and fronted by a row of bright perennials.

Do you like the look with a row of Hydraneas, a row of evergreens (essential to not have a totally bare house front all winter) and a row of bulbs and perennials in front? I think also some thoughtfully placed, large containers planted overflowing with annuals will add, along with some flowering trees and tall narrow corner evergreens, a look that may fit your requirements.

If this general idea is something you like, I will try to put it onto graph paper and also figure out where in the yard to put trees, along with substitute suggestions of plants that might work as well such as Checkmate rhododendron instead of the boxwood (boxwood has potential disease issues in the long term) which blooms well for me in part shade and has health small-leafed foliage that turns mahogany in the fall. It will be a couple of weeks, but you don't want to plant or transplant until fall, so that should be fine.

Hi NHBabs,

Thank you.

This maybe a silly question; when you mention a row of hydrangea's and boxwood's.

How would they be planted?

A row of hydrangea's the entire length under the windows along the back closest to the house and right in front of them a row of boxwoods? What distance front to back between the hydrangea's and boxwoods?

And repeat the plants on both sides of the stairs?

Thanks again,

gle2011

"A row of hydrangea's the entire length under the windows along the back closest to the house and right in front of them a row of boxwoods?"

Yes. You want to figure out the kind of boxwood (though as I warned above there are disease issues even though yours are currently healthy, you might need to replace if they are effected which is why I suggested Checkmate rhodies as an alternative.) Here's Checkmate (the little rhodie on the right side of the photo) in full bloom; you can see how well it blooms even in a fair amount of shade.

Here is sort of what the leaves look like in winter, though in reality it's a bit redder (less brown) though the leaves will curl when it's really cold, and it's an olive green in summer.

You could also look at some of the small mountain laurels (Kalmia) such Minuet, Elf, Little Linda, or Tinkerbell which are quite happy in mostly shade to half day sun, have mid to late spring blooms in shades of white, pink or red, and have tidy small evergreen leaves. They would be another reasonable substitute for the boxwoods and tend to grow 2-3' tall.

In general I leave about 2 feet between the house and the published width of the plants so you can do any maintenance and in case the shrubs get bigger than projected. Then you figure out half the width of the plant and add that to figure out where to plant them. So for instance, Endless Summer is supposed to be about 4' wide, so you would leave two feet empty and the plant them another 2' away from the building. You would leave another two feet for the front side of the ES and then do the same calculation for the boxwood/mt. laurel/rhodie. For instance Green Velvet boxwood is supposed to get about 3' wide. So I would add about 1 1/2' to leave empty between the two rows of shrubs, add another 1 1/2' for half of the width of the boxwood, and the plant the boxwood. Then leave another 1 1/2' of room of the other half of the boxwood. Leave about a foot and then plant the perenials and bulbs. The reason to leave the room between the rows is so that light gets to the lower part of the shrubs down between the rows. If you don't do that the shrubs will have dead lower branches.

House wall

___________________________________________________________

2 feet blank space

2 feet for hydrangea branches

center of hydrangea shrub

2 feet for hydrangea branches

1 or 1.5 feet of blank space

1.5 feet for boxwood branches

center of boxwood shrub

1.5 feet for boxwood branches

6" to a foot of blank space

depending of what perennials you want, take half their width

perennial center

other half of perennial

lawn

Due to depth of the bed, I would put the perennials on the lawn side of the walkway, and then extend that line straight across the front of the house, meaning you will need a double or perhaps triple row of perennials on the right side.

NHBabs Thank You so much.

I really appreciate all of your help.

Sounds like a beautiful design.

When would be a good time of year to do the planting?

Thanks again.

I like early fall planting (mid September) because the soil is warm (good for root growth) but the air is starting to cool off and the days are shorter, creating less stress on the shrubs. After planting mulch well to keep moisture even and the soil warm and then keep it watered until hard freeze, especially the evergreens.

I would also plant some columnar trees (could be evergreens or could be something deciduous like column hornbeams) off the two front corners of the house on a diagonal line. Figure out the width of the plant you choose, and then do the same math: 2' plus half the full-grown width of the tree is where the center of the columnar tree should be.

Out in the yard about 15' back from the sidewalk and 10'-15' in from the property line I would plant a deciduous tree that has less dense shade than some such as a Heritage river birch (Betula nigra 'Heritage') or a redbud or a Kousa dogwood. If you have room on the other side, you can plant something similar if there is room or else something smaller like a flowering crab (be sure to get one that doesn't have disease issues) or a Japanese maple. Having trees out in the yard will bring your eye out into the yard as you look at the house from the road and this will help balance the height of the house. Alternatively to trees in the yard (or as well if you are really ambitious) you could use a rock wall or fence or another line of shrubs with a perennial garden (at least 8' deep) along the sidewalk to bring your eye out from the house.

NHBabs,

All great idea's.

In an earlier post you mentioned

"Due to depth of the bed, I would put the perennials on the lawn side of the walkway, and then extend that line straight across the front of the house, meaning you will need a double or perhaps triple row of perennials on the right side"

What type of perennials would you suggest?

Thanks yet again.

"What type of perennials would you suggest?"

First I would check to see how much sun there is that far from the house. Now is a month after the point where the sun is highest in the sky, so there will be a bit shorter house shadow in June.

Because it is bright shade (no overhanging plants) I would think you cold get away with shade or part-sun plants since both your astilbe (shade) and the blue fescue grass seem to be doing OK. Whatever you plant, put it in clumps of several so they show from a distance unless they are large bold plants as singles. In keeping with the more formal look of this garden and your house, I would probably choose one or two bulbs/perennial to be blooming or of foliage interest at a time rather than lots of different colors and textures; just repeat the same plants several times across the front of the garden.

Clumps of 5 astilbe should show against the hedge from the road as would gold hakone grass (you can see it in the photos I posted of Marie's garden on the Show us your Gardens thread, around the large blue urn and some other spots.) Some of the larger Hostas should work well there also. You could plant clumps of daffodils (the critters won't eat them) behind the perennials but in front of the shrubs so that the daffs show before the perennials sprout, but then the dying bulb foliage gets more hidden as the perennials sprout. Clumps of 5 or more large sized tall Alliums such as Giganteum, White Giant, or Globemaster would work well there, bloom at a slightly later time than early and midspring daffodils and the critters don't eat them, either. They also need dying foliage hidden.

If you have questions about particular plants from Marie's gardens or other photos on the Show us your Gardens thread that appeal to you, just ask if they aren't ID'd or you want to know if they would be appropriate for your garden.