Before we can replay we need to know your horticultural zone, how much rain you get annually, and also a photo of the front of the house.

Where?

Northeast PA.

You're setting yourself up for a nightmare with the gravel. Is that inherited or a recent choice?

recent choice, why so? i didnt want mulch. i wanted something that was maintenance free. mulch you have to put down every year, plus deal with weeds. please explain.

You still get weeds in gravel. Makes it hard to dig holes for plants. I would not have used gravel for a bed. Can you take it out?

I've had both mulch and stone and prefer stone over mulch. I think it gives it a much cleaner look. I put the stone down about a year ago, have not had any issues with weeds at all.

i think success with gravel depends on the kind of trees and leaves and seeds/nuts you get. if one's yard has oaks or maples, the acorns and helicopters are nightmarish to get out of the gravel, the leaf blower will blow the gravel out of the bed before it would free the helicopters.

and its the 'underprepping' that prevents weeds coming through. but once you've accumulated some blown in soil, new seeds are happy to sprout in your gravel.

It would help immensely if you changed out the gray limestone gravel with some brown pea gravel.

All this homeowner has done it correctly. You do put stone up against the foundation in the area below the eaves where plants won't grow. New landscape will go in front of the stone. The reason for this is quite simple, he lives in an area where ground hogs thrive and they will dig out the foundation causing a lot of damage. I had to do the same thing after moving from Oklahoma to Illinois. In OKlahoma ground hogs are non existent problem for homeowners but in Illinois they dug out my neighbors basement foundation causing thousands of dollars of damage. I can play with a some landscaping ideas for you provided I have a good straight on shot. You will have to extend the beds out, remove the grass, but don't remove the safety bed of rock.

Here is my front yard and you will see the stone up near the foundation. The other reason no mulch is termites.

Some ideas. For the space between the porch and the sidewalk, I would find some hardy plants to put there for interest even if its iceplants.

First off, thank you for all the replies. bellburgmaggie I like your landscaping. Not too much but just enough. Not looking for any trees or big shrubs. Want something simple. Like I said, for the island i was thinking of 3 boxwoods and 2 lilies alternating. Then for the overhang side, I wasnt sure. I dont really want to continue the pattern. Or i could do that for the overhang side and put some flowers as shown above in the island. I am trying to get some ideas as I am probably going to see what a landscaper design has in store.

Another version, tell me what you don't like so I can play with it. The plants on the left are perennials. I took out the annuals, but they would provide a consistent punch of color.

No trees. Like the lillies. The colors on the left are nice too. I know pic doesn't do it justice but looks crowded. I assume that you would space them out? Like I said just trying to keep this simple and maintenance free.

As far as the termites issue - studies have actually shown that termite activity is HIGHER in gravel mulches than in organic mulches. I don't have the links handy, but shoot me an email to remind me if you want them. I need to load the designermobile and head out to a jobsite.