Blank slates are always welcome here. But before we can offer good suggestions we need to know where on the planet you are...what section of a state or perhaps the nearest large city...something for us to go on.

tj

Oh shoot, duh. St. Louis, mo is the nearest big city. Zone 6

That is a great straight on front view. Can you add two more photos, one of each side from closer up, including any walkway?

Do you envision just a foundation planting, or do you want a full yard of beds with paths between, being realistic about how much you have time to care for or something else?

I live in an area that has snow all winter, but I use a combo of evergreen trees, shrubs, and evergreen perennials for winter interest. The evergreen perennials (dianthus, Hellebores, Heuchera, Heucherella, Iberis, Carex, and Vinca are useful after hard frost until we have snow. The EG shrubs (hardy Heathers, Rhodies and Mountain Laurels along with lower Arborvitaes and spruces) are good when the snow is shallower, and during those winters we get more than 8' of snow, I rely on larger Arborvitaes, spruces, pines, and hemlocks for winter interest. I also like the shape of the bare branches of dogwood trees, Stewartias, and Japanese maples. I have acid soil, though, so I don't know what will work in your more alkaline midwestern soil. There is an OK forum, a shrub forum, and a conifer forum that may have specific suggestions for kinds of plants once you have decided on size and type (broad-leafed vs. conifer) of evergreens.

If you want your location info to come up in your post every time you post (like in mine or in tsugajunkie's above, go to Your Houzz in upper right of every page, click Edit Profile, and on the left side click advanced settings. Well down the advanced settings page is a blank labeled Climate Zone for Garden Forums.

You add info on your state or the nearest large city as well.

Then return to the top of the page and click Done Editing.

This only cuts off a foot , maybe less, of the right side. There is a 4x6 concrete pad at the foot of the stairs and that is the only thing set in stone. As for what I envision....I want to start with foundation plantings. I would love to fill it with flowers but my hubs is leery of snakes (he thinks they will lie in wait to ambush his ankles!). The right side needs a sidewalk. I could take 100 pics of my layout and it would still be confusing, once I get these monsters - er kids to bed I am going to draw it up

Not much of an artist, hope you guys figure this out! Everything is really " potential" beds :), but especially between the current bed and the sidewalk (which right now is just stepping stones). It's just an awkward spot that I have to maneuver the riding lawn mower into. I am NOT married to a straight 30 ft long sidewalk, I would love something creative! P.s.the beds on the R and L are about 7ft deep now and in front of deck, about 3 ft

A-a-r-r-g-g-g-g! four paragraphs just disappeared. I will redo later . . .

That keeps happening to me too! Aah! Thanks for trying :)

I am adding a link to this thread on the Landscape Design forum that has some additional photos.

First start with layout and then hardscape. I would make the beds on both sides of the house the same depth. The sidewalk should be 4' wide so two people can walk abreast - it's more welcoming. I would fill the entire depth between the house and the sidewalk with garden. With a 4' wide walk, DH can walk on the lawn side and not worry about snakes. You can plant that front part with something low - take a look at something like Dianthus 'Greystone' which stays at about 3" high. Trying to mow a small patch of lawn between the walk and the garden, and trying to keep the lawn out of the garden will add a lot of work.

Are you planning to put risers on the steps and lattice or something similar (with one panel hinged for access underneath) around the porch? If not you will have critters such as skunks moving in IME. You can alternatively use hardware cloth (wire mesh) but that won't look as attractive. With lattice, bury wire mesh a few inches into the soil and then run it up the back of the lattice, and critters will stay out.

I plant so that there is at least two feet between the house and the edge of the plantings so I can easily get in to do maintenance and so the the plants aren't brushing against the house. It also means that the plants aren't under the eaves which are either bone dry due to the rain shadow from the eaves or getting dripped on by whatever comes off the roof. So for a shrub that is supposed to get to be 8' wide, I would plant it 7' from the house (2' to leave under the eaves + 4' for half the width of the plant + 1' because the published width is at 10 years, and I know from experience that they often get wider than the published width.)

In your garden I would have similar plants on both sides of the entry to create a more unified look, and plant in larger blocks of plants rather than like a more traditional cottage garden since you want it to read well from the road which is quite a ways away. I might put plants that get a bit taller (but will still be much shorter than the roofline) in areas where there aren't windows and restrict the plants in front of the windows to ones that stay below the level of the windows so you aren't having to constantly prune, and I would put a small to medium sized tree off the left corner as it slopes down, but a good 12 feet from the house at a minimum, and perhaps one of a similar size and shape off the right side near the drive. You want something not too messy if it will be overhanging the drive and patio.

I think I would put a more traditional cottage garden along one or more sides of your patio (shown in photos on the other thread) where you can enjoy it close up.

Of the plants you listed above:

vicary shrub - privet gets to be huge without pruning, and I don't like what they look like when pruned. (I also am not fond of the scent.) In some parts of the country they can be invasive (in the formal sense in that birds eat the berries, then poop them out in areas where they aren't wanted.)

knockout roses - a block of these might look good near the porch on either side

weigelas - are these short ones? If so and they seem happy where they are, repeat on the other side. You can probably start more from cuttings. If they are tall ones, move them to the beds along the house, but plan on having 2 or 3 so they read as a decent size from the road.

agastache, daylilies, iris, phlox,1st year hollyhocks - Use in blocks of one kind on each side, all the same kind, or move to a cottage garden near the patio to use in smaller quantities.

Regardless, annuals and mulch will be your friend until the plantings fill in. Also, plan on edging the part of the garden without the sidewalk. I favor unobtrusive edging, either a cut edge (a V shaped sort of a ditch a few inches deep) or a buried edge - I use black plastic from the big box store buried right up to the rim and lined on the inner edge with bricks so the mower wheel can run along them so weed whizzing isn't needed.

One great resource in your area is the MO Botanical Garden. Go visit their display gardens to see what looks good in various seasons and what is happy in your area. They have a nice online site (though sometime slow) that lets you search specific plants or general types of plants that fit your needs, and then links you to specific details about the plants.

Wow. That is so helpful! I agree about the vicary, I just don't like it! When we were first doing the house I just picked some stuff (on sale :) to get going on the front and now I just don't know what to do with it! I hate to kill it bc it is so healthy - and that's saying alot around my house. Thanks for all the info, you were so thorough I can't even think of any questions for you!

If you don't like the vicary privet, get rid of it. You may find someone who wants it on Craig's list.

I used to have a long low house and it really helped to have large dense shrubs, either rhododendron or something else at both front corners of the house. You want something that would anchor the view of the house to the rest of the landscape, if that makes sense.

Wow, that's amazing! Did you design all that yourself? I have never been a fan of evergreens, but I am really seeing the need for them, and they look gorgeous in your landscape!

Evergreens are most important in the winter i think. I use mine as anchors for the rest of the landscape....also i use the idea of focal points....the eye needs to be drawn to areas of interest, sitting areas, art, fountains or water ponds....i let that define what i plant.....figure out what plants you love...look at photos and see what you want to borrow ideas from...where you want your eye to go....what critters you have to contend with...we have deer that love everything i plant and especially my day lilies..sigh....i am a bit unorthodox and design by the seat of my pants so to speak.....i let the terrain speak to me rather than the other way around. Our terrain is a challenge....we do all of our own planting and building and wall making...i am 66 and do crazy stuff like lift giant rocks....my husband and i built the rock wall.....i built a grotto fountain in my backyard. I put in the small spitting fish pond one afternnoon just because i wanted someting to look at when i sat on the bench....the bench guards the knockout roses from bambi along with rosemary planted on either side of the bench...they dont like the smell....think outside the box.....i do art some too.....it helps me be creative maybe....

look close...mama deer brought baby to visit and sample gourmet...lol......just be sure to love what you do...then it is worth the effort

nanakeroyd - wish u could come over & help me! haha We have a wooded half acre with deer. I am 61. Have also built rock walls! I love your strategy. I also work things out as I go along. Some pics of my hard work.

Yes, a kousa but also have pink and white dogwoods and azaleas and rhododendrums in hot pink and wild azaleas in bright orange. White snowball spirea billows over rock wall on one side of drive. Forsythia on other side of yard on property edge. Also double bloom cherry. I use lots of deer off on them and milorgonite. My hubby took every board off the deck and planed them and replaced what needed to be. Redid rail with metal baulsters and copper tops. Have to be frugal when can be. Stained it but needs another update....stains dont hold up well in harsh conditions no matter what they say. Ours has been constant project...5 years so far. I went crazy creating gardens at last home....an oriental one, an alice in wonderland, an english country garden, a texas garden, a water pond garden, a country garden, a day lillie garden, a rose garden.......aughhhhh.....must have been off my rocker....

These are the wild azaleas and rhododendrons and one of my backyard friends, Notch the chipmunk.....he is a nut lover so he likes me a lot

ellenros - just wanted to say I LOVE Lowes clearance plants too & have hundreds of them. I load up in the fall. To look like nanakeroyd's takes a lot of plants & who can pay full price?

nanakeroyd - u have a wild kingdom like us! No bears, bobcat or puma that I know of but everything else u have we have. Posting a pic of an owl that I took in my backyard.