All the plantings are much too close to the house and too tall for the low windows. The boxwoods should be replaced a low groundcover. What appears to be burning bush (Euonymus alatus) are also badly pruned and much too close to the house. With the low windows, you also should use only a low groundcover, probably the same as where the boxwoods are.

The small tree, unfortunately is also badly placed since the spot is much too tight for anything. Bring that low groundcover around from the left and into that spot.

Concur with Lacey, those shrubs should all be removed. Post photos on the tree forum - maybe your Japanese maple can be pruned back a bit to better fit its space.

agree but rephrasing ...

the small space of ground.. between the house and the sidewalk ... should be filled with small annuals or perennials ... it is not a big enough space for any shrub or tree ... work on the other side of the walkway if you want shrubs ....

foundation plantings are planted to HIDE the foundation.. not ON the foundation ... and that sums up what the builder or first owner did .. no real concept of the potential of the small plants they planted .....

you can try pruning the maple back ... just to learn pruning ... but i suspect.. in the long run ... it should go ... it could have been trained to that spot .. but that moment in time was lost long ago ...

just get rid of the burning bushes ... and replant something else.. about 5 to 10 feet from the house .. so they have space to grow naturally ..

also keep in mind.. properly sited ... you should be able to paint the house.. clean windows ... and get a ladder in there to clean gutters... without battling the greenery ...

ken

There is plenty of room to plant something other than just groundcovers or perennials and annuals in that space!! You just have to choose the appropriate plant carefully. The box are indeed too overgrown for that space height-wise and cutting them back will just result in a bare bunch of stumps indefinitely. I would consider replacing them with true English boxwood, Buxus sempervirens 'Suffruticosa', which is an extremely slow grower and takes decades to get much larger than 2-3'. And can be pruned or sheared into a much tighter presence. Or if not fully hardy in your climate, look at one of the hybrid box varieties that have been bred for colder areas and that has 'green' as part of the name - Green Mound, Green Velvet, Green Gem, etc. All of these are also very slow growing, small in stature and easily pruned to remain in scale with the planting space.

If not box, investigate what other small/dwarf shrubs suitable to your climate that could be used in this place - not all woody plants grow to be monsters and careful selection and attention to any necessary pruning should offer any number of possibilities.

And they have the enormous advantage of offering a permanent, hopefully evergreen, presence along the front walkway, which is always a desired effect.

I'd remove and replace with bay laurels in back and golden cypress mops in front-give some depth and texture.

I don't think those evergreen shrubs are box. If you showed closer views it would become possible to tell.

Cyprus is an island, of course, and not a plant. The Sawara Cypress cultivar is called 'Golden Mop'.

Thanks for catching that. Fixed it.

I think you could well be right, Embo. The leaves look too big for box.

Regarding the suggestion to use bay laurels (plural!), although they are handsome trees, they are exactly that - trees. They'd need constant shearing to keep them below the windows.

My neighbour's single bay tree. This was some years ago after it had been pruned. It's bigger now.

As long as you're self-editing the "golden cypress mops" should be 'Golden Mop' cypress.

Nope. I'm done editing and being edited.

Too far. I think the OP gets the idea.

Haha. Yeah, I was able to find pics of the "Golden Mop". It's a very pretty shrub. Here are a couple of pictures of the leaves on the shrub in question. I may have mis-identified it, so now I'm curious what it is. Now, the red shrub on the left, I'm pretty sure is a "Burning Bush". I thought those were supposed to be able to tolerate being pruned to pretty much any size. Is it still a poor idea to keep the way it's placed?

Embo was right. That isn't a Box, which has opposite leaves. Looks more like a Holly.

Burning bush wants to be a very large shrub. You need shrubs or perennials that will stay under three feet tall with an attractive shape. Whatever you choose should have 'dwarf' in the name. I think golden mops are too large also BUT there's a dwarf available if you like that look. You really don't want to prune shrubs more than once or twice a season - there are more enjoyable ways to spend your weekends. Pull out the current shrubs in March and replace with something more suitable. Nice looking house by the way.

hi mrcase, I think that this is one of the ornamental hybrids of Arctostaphylos. It is too well groomed and tidy to be our east coast native. Remove the shrubs in front of your double windows and replace with something like this. You might also think about Juniperus procumbens 'Nana' however you will be trimming it from your sidewalk.

Due to the way it branches Burning Bush does not lend itself to being pruned part way back at all. It can, however be cut down to near the ground at end of winter periodically to make it markedly smaller for several (or fewer) years. And there are dwarf cultivars of it on the market, that aren't as large growing as the very commonly seen 'Compactus'.

I figured from the start the "Box" were probably Ink-berry and it looks like that may be the case. However I don't know if all the blunt-ended leaves in the second shot still fit that one. But I also don't know what else it would be in a cold winter climate.

'Golden Mop' is the dwarf (and dense) version (of 'Filifera Aurea'), it has therefore the synonym 'Filifera Nana Aurea' - which equates to Dwarf Golden Thread-branch Cypress in this context.

There is also 'Sungold', it differs from these other two by being less yellow and less prone to burning in the sun.

The above ground cover planting could still be a Bear-berry cultivar.

Yes it's to big. Remove and find a dwarf variety.

Very nice looking home ya got there

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I'm getting estimates now for having the old shrubs taken out and seeing what I need to do with the tree. I always seem to wind up planting dwarf nandinas everwhere I move (it seems like the point when they start looking mature is always my cue to move. lol), so I may just put some of those in on the left and I'll kind of poke around and see what's available to put under the double windows. I've never had the dwarf nandinas get taller than a foot or two.

Thanks for the kind words about the house. It wasn't really on my agenda to move, but I was really excited to get it once I did.

I say rip it all out and start over. It seems like these were planted by the builder.

Replace boxwooods (or whatever they are) with (since you like nandinas) 'lemon lime' looks good paired with 'blush pink' or 'lemon lime' paired with 'firepower'.

Remove the burning bush, put in a 'Sky Pencil' holly in on each side of the window, then put a groundcover/low-growing plant like coreopsis 'nana' under the window.

The japanese maple could be pollarded, or ideally removed. You could replace it with an abelia grandiflora (or one of it's cultivars) or if you really want a tree, what about a weeping JM like 'waterfall' or 'crimson queen'.

wow mrcase, you really have an "abundance of riches" with all the suggestions, some better than others :). By now you know you want something low in front of your double windows. You need to see out of them, get to them to clean, etc. Here is a tapestry of creeping thyme. It is really delightful, just keep on top of it and watch for blow-in weeds.

@sam_md Yeah, there's definitely plenty of food for thought here. Definitely much appreciated! Luckily I've got a few months before I could even pull the trigger on something if I wanted to. What is the small shrub in the picture by your hat? I'm assuming you're saying it might be a candidate as well for my single window? My old house had a juniper bush and I'm not super excited about putting one in since they were kind of prickly to deal with.

Could those bushes that we thought might be Box be Euonymus? The leaves next to the coin sort of look like it. But then it morphs into something else when a close up of the shrub is shown.

Nice house and nice spots to plant things. What about a dwarf Maple in the spot where the tree is? Something grafted onto about a 6' trunk and then weeping down, and sort of filling the area in time.

Speaking of time, your thyme looks wonderful, sam.

It does resemble euonymus japonicus.

Euonymus has opposite leaves, so no, not euonymus.

Let me ask you guys this. Would you try and DIY design this or should I hire a professional landscaper (since it's the front)? As you can probably tell, I know just enough about landscaping to be dangerous. My first house, I just sort of augmented what was already there and, in my last house, my neighbors had overgrown landscaping so I wasn't super worried about it. Where I'm at now, everybody seems to have pristinely done landscaping. So, I'm not sure if I should just suck it up and figure it out or if I should seek pro advice so I don't wind up being the landscaping equivalent to the people who have Christmas lights up in June. lol

remove the shrubs..I wanted to show you how practical and convenient it is to leave a service alley next to your house..we ripped out overgrown shrubs and planted low growing perennials with some smaller shrubs closer to the sidewalk..our Japanese maple will never be too big..it's a different type than yours..and it's centered in front of the stone (hard to tell in the pic) so it will never block the windows..the wooden "birdhouse" is covering an ugly sewer cleanout..wish we didn't need it..you could move those shrubs if you could use them or put "free shrubs you dig" on Craig's list..don't let just anyone prune that maple if you keep it..I don't let my husband near any of ours unless I'm standing there haha..my neighbor moved a maple about that size and it's done very well..I love working outside and only hire out big tree work..do you like gardening?..I don't want anyone else making my garden decisions..I would do it myself..

Google is your friend. Master the art of google-fu and use GW like you are right now, and I think you can do fine.

I'm with nichol on this one. You seem to be interested - it's great relaxing fun, and you can get lots of help on these forums. There's a landscape forum where you could post your pics, along with dimensions, and get advice. And, if the end result doesn't please you, you can dig it out and try again. :-)

Well spotted, Dave. I went out and checked my Eyonymus and sure enough, he was sporting the latest in opposite leaves.

mrcase, re: hiring a landscape designer or going it on your own, I'd suggest you split the difference :-) Consider hiring a design consultant (many garden/landscape designers offer this service) for a short, onsite assessment of your situation. A renovation or refreshing of just your front entry garden does not necessarily require a full fledged design plan but perhaps just some suggestions of plants suitable to your climate and situation and how best to place them, Relatively inexpensive for an hour or two and will eliminate a lot of unnecessary trial and error. And an onsite visit is always much more efficient and with a more satisfactory outcome than ad libbing based on a remote gardening forum :-)

gardengal..an on site consultation from a qualified designer sounds great..how do you find the right person?

You can check with your local chapter of APLD (Association of Professional Landscape Designers) or you can inquire at your local independent garden center/nursery - they often have a list of qualified referrals.