Yardvaark,

Thanks for the help. Here are the close-up pictures.

Santu, the first idea that I'll offer for improving looks of your home is to simplify. Having many different plants, instead of helping, can become a cluttered distraction to strengthening the overall artistic statement that your home is making. Actually, all the plants directly in front of your home are as if you're still building onto your home. I notice that you only have one kind of brick. There's not a reason to think that using 5 kinds of brick would be better looking. With plants, you must consider the same effects and attempt keep overall harmony and to coordinate the plants to some degree with the architectural features.

A second idea that I'll offer is not to smother the entrance way (which begins at the arch) with barricade-like plantings. I'm suggesting you remove the bed entirely from that area and having nothing more there than the green velvet carpet that is the lawn.

While I can't show clearly in the picture what might be alongside the stoop because of the angle we're looking from, let it suffice to say that all would be low. Maybe it's a low groundcover or maybe you subdivide it with low perennials. But keep it low so that the porch area does not start feeling like a holding room. It should feel open to the yard.

If you want to do some of the kind of gardening that doesn't necessarily help the appearance of the house, it's better to do that in the back and side yards where it is less visible and keep the front yard for the more organized, tidy kind of plantings.

Yardvaark, that looks great. Thank you very much. It needs more work than I was hoping for but I will slowly work with one area at a time. I kind of like having tall plants around the porch because we spend decent amount of time in the porch area and plants provide some privacy. Can you make one drawing with flower bed in front of the entry way?

Also, I recently planted a crab apple tree on right side (near side walk) of the property. Is that good location or will it look better some where else?

When you say a crab is at the right "near the sidewalk" ... I'm stumped. I see a driveway, but no sidewalk at the right side of your house. (BTW for clarification, as we discuss front yard and say RIGHT or LEFT, it is from the viewpoint of the street while looking toward the front of your house.) You see where I've placed a tree at the right of drive in my drawing. If the crab is there, or close to there, it will be fine. If it's not, I suggest you move it.

Santu, not every outdoor problem is solved by adding plants. Sometimes doing so worsens a problem or creates new problems. In good conscience, I cannot bring myself to wrap a bed around the walk in front of the entrance. The best I can do is extend the bed and place a SMALL tree in it (so that there is a reason to extend it.) Shown in pink outline. If you need privacy at the stoop, you could screen in the arch in such a way that it still looks attractive. Trying to screen it with plants I'm afraid couldn't look like anything but error or dereliction.

Yardvaark, crab apple tree is marked in the below figure. Is that a bad place?

No. It's not a bad place. But it's a yard tree there, not so much a part of planting for the house.

The backyard is for privacy.

I don't know what your zone is, but having large evergreen shrubs against the house around my way (zone 5, 4 seasons), creates problems by holding moisture and debris against the house which harbors insects and causes dust and mold to collect, which some people (like me) are sensitive to. If you want to replace those with a flowery, cottage garden, go for it! But only if you love to fiddle and fuss with the garden. I have a flowering border against a rock wall just like you describe. There are many beautiful dwarf flowering shrubs to choose from, but make sure they are dwarf. A flowery cottage garden doesn't lend itself to big shrubs and evergreens. We have large, hardy clumping perennials as our backdrop, and also trellises, which have a conical shape. Remember, repetition is your friend. You can have a few surprise single elements but too many and it just looks like a hodge podge. Also, perennial gardens looks kinda stark until late summer so plant for some spring interest. If you like to sit on the front porch, you have a great spot for a fountain there too, if you really want to go all out. They are a pain though, particularly in the sun due to algae growth, but if some of that area gets shaded by the house, it could work.

Here's a photo, the blue stuff is Russian sage. There are coneflowers in there and rudbeckias and blanket flower and yarrow, and some small knock out roses in other places. No lilies but they would look great there, but where this garden is the deer would have them as their nightly salad. The trees in the background are redbuds but we have crab apples in the front yard in front of this garden. There is a big decorative bird bath off to the right which you can't see in this photo.

Thank you pinkmountain. That is a nice picture. I also live zone 5 and most of the homes in my area have yew shrubs all over the yard. I have not yet decided whether I want to redraw the flower bed or use the existing layout and fill with nice flowers and small shrubs as you said. I am leaning more towards keeping the existing flower bed layout. I am really not looking to improve the house aesthetics, just want to have some nice color instead of evergreens. I really like cottage type garden.

On the plus side, Russian sage, would kind of go well against evergreens and add some color. It's big enough to hold its own and the blue green could compliment what you have. If it were me, I would rip those yews out, one area at a time. I'd start with the big meatball ones behind where you planted the lilies. That's a poor way to prune anyway, and something blowsier would still give you privacy during the seasons you're out on the porch, and blend better with perennials. Just my .02, but Ms. Kim lilac would also smell great coming in and out of the house in the spring, as would the mock orange, but get a DWARF one, the other ones get huge and would require a lot of pruning. Hydrangeas also match a cottage garden aesthetic and are easy care and there are some smaller breeds out now.

However, if you don't rip out the yews, then their big size is always going to be out of proportion to most flowers you plant there, like the ones you have there already. If you're not pulling them out, then better to match then with some flowering shrubs that have a little more presence. Another way to "add color" is just to bed out one or two annuals, all the same color, planted close together, which can then stand up to and contrast with the yews. You see this outside of commercial and public buildings all the time.

Hmmm. I planted some Russian Sage just this afternoon. Looking at that picture, I think I may have planted them too close together . . . .

I am definitely going to remove all the yews. My plant choice is limited by japanese beetles. It seems that they can eat anything. So far dwarf hydrangeas and russian sage are in my mind. May be some columbines here and there.

Something to remember is that perennials, and even deciduous flowering shrubs, will disappear for the winter. I think the house can stand without any foundation plantings, but that is what you will be doing for about half the year.

Santu, I think you may be better served posting on the Perennials Forum. You will get better bed planning help there. Also, as you have no interest in, "house aesthetics" you have posted in the wrong place.

Santu, many fine cottage gardens use evergreens as bones or background, the better to show off the flowering finery in front. Rather than removing all the evergreens, retain those that are not overgrown so that when your flowers are out of season, your garden with still have some presence to it. Structure is the one element most overlooked by novice cottage gardeners. Height is second most overlooked. Notice the trees and tuteurs in the photo posted by l pink mountain -- as stated, they serve a purpose. As far as which evergreens to use, I couldn't say, as I am unfamiliar with your climate.