Some ideas for you. The window box would not go smaller on the program. I also could not get the landscaping to curve which I would do to farm the house.

That's really pretty. What type of plants are the white flowers up in front of house?

sure! i'm located in nashville, tennessee. the house faces south. i'll measure the planting beds soon and take a few more pictures. this side of the house does get a good amount of sun. the only flowers we have now are irises (planted by previous owners in front of the window on left). i don't really like them very much and they're not thriving (probably because i haven't fertilized...etc.).

also, there is a little curved path that doesn't show in the picture. it leads from driveway which is just left of the house, up to the front door. the sidewalk that leads from door straight through the yard just goes to the street. i wouldn't mind taking it out but i'm guessing that might be expensive...?

The aged and sickly plants need to go. Your attractive house is being smothered by the chunky hedges/shrubs. I suggest you drive through some upscale older neighborhoods nearby and check out the landscaping. It may be more to your taste but without being too mature or too modern. What is the tree on the left? It looks to need some professional care. Perhaps if the steps/porch were painted gray like the roof they wouldn't jump out at us so much and the new landscaping could shine.

Gosh, your home is SO sweet! I'll only address the shrubs like the one on the right. Most people don't trim these shrubs correctly. All evergreen shrubs of this type must be trimmed so as NOT to "shade" the lower part. Imagine a ladder leaning against a wall, the bottom of the ladder is farther out than the top. This is the way to trim...and it's NOT easy to do correctly. Most "lawn services" will use a hedge trimmer, sweeping it from the bottom to the top. WRONG. This causes the greenery at the bottom to die, leaving it bare and scraggly looking. Mature shrubs add tremendous value to a landscaping...IF they are properly maintained. I had 40 feet of Yew hedge, eight feet tall, the lower three feet was bare. It took me four years of proper trimming to reduce the height to five feet AND get them "solid" from the ground up.

Your house is so beautiful!! Fresh landscaping would take it to a whole new level. I would get a professional plan with the idea that you would implement it in stages, as the budget allows. Talk to several professional landscapers and see what they come up with. If you explain that you cannot do everything at once they will quite likely get you started. I would hate to see you just start out making changes without seeing the final look. It might take a couple of years but it will be worth it.

Unless and until you have enough money saved up for something substantial to be planned and installed you can help the setting for your house a lot by removing shrubs (and trees) that aren't working out, keeping the grass mowed and edged.

Thank you to everyone for the comments provided so far! It is so helpful reading your ideas and advice! To address the questions you've asked: the tree that is in foreground of picture does indeed look sickly. It's no longer there. We've replaced with a nice River Birch that seems to be doing well. As to how to correctly trim hedges, I don't have a clue and do appreciate your advice, chiflipper! I guess I probably do need to get a landscape architect to look at house and give me ideas... Am just wary because of cost. Don't they usually charge to do this? I know it takes time. I'm kind of scared to death to just start jumping in and making changes without a real plan. I feel the house is so pretty and yard has so much potential that I don't want to screw it up!!

Oh, decoenthusiaste... Do you think we should paint steps and sideporch gray or just get rid of paint and leave gray concrete for a more natural look?

"Am just wary because of cost. Don't they usually charge to do this?"

Yes, there is a charge. But design fees are not exorbitant - one of the least expensive facets of landscape design - and a short onsite consultation is even less expensive!! Not much more than a couple of plants :-))

And you probably do not need a landscape architect - they tend to focus more on commercial projects. A landscape designer should be able to provide all the assistance you need.

Hi Laurel - I was browsing Nashville landscaping and thought this photo was what you were describing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWr3jr3RV68

Here's a video on selective hand pruning of Yews. It's not rocket science, it just takes time. As you progress you'll get faster. Here's a short article about when to prune.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/way-trim-yew-42445.html

See how the steps/porch look after paint removal. Then you can decide.

You may take some inspiration from traditional English Cottage Gardens, where you find densely planted perennials and annuals. They are often informal and provide color throughout the season https://www.gardenista.com/posts/garden-visit-flower-borders-in-a-colorful-english-garden-tattenhall-edition/

I would also suggest having curved borders along the walkways rather than straight, rigid ones. Curved beds and borders tend to be more appealing.

My friend the landscape architect does mostly residential projects these days. But for what you have on your mind, yes, I would choose a consultant or designer. And not pay L.A. level fees, that really aren't needed in this instance.

Hi, just skimmed through quickly, but wanted to give you a heads up landscape architects absolutely do charge a fee and it’s not a cheap one. In my experience, the landscape architects charge at least several hundred just to come out & do a meet & greet. Then, if you agree to work with them it’s thousands more for the design. Then, on top of that there are hourly charges for all of their employees ranging from $65 to $200 an hour and none of those people are the laborers who will actually be doing the planting & it also does not include the cost of any of the materials or plants! In other words, an estate-sized home budget! You want to research landscape designers. They will typically come out & do the initial consult at no charge and the actual project including plants & labor might cost thousands, but design fees & all that mess won’t. Cute place, so be sure to post the after pics whatever you decide & when everything is planted.

What I'm aware of being usual here is an L.A. providing design, maybe some related activities and a contractor with their own independent business being hired to do the installation of what the L.A. came up.

Your house facade is not geometrically symmetric so shearing plants into geometric shapes and other formal visual effects should not be part of the planted scene around it.

I'd be a bit skeptical of a designer that does an onsite consult for free. You do get what you pay for :-)) Their time, training and experience is worth money as well and they should be compensated for that. I charge for consultations - they make up a significant portion of my business - and all other designers I know do as well.

Interesting. In my neck of the woods, none of the designers or landscape firms (big or small) charge to just come take a look & see what you need help with. They give you a quote or cost estimate, then you decide whether or not you want to work with them & if it’s something that suits your budget. The landscape architect’s fee was $5000 just for the design alone.

Laurel, I love your house! I agree with consulting a landscape designer. One thing you might do is go to a local nursery (not Home Depot or Lowe's), show them your photo and ask for suggestions. Can't hurt!

I envy you with planting the River Birch...one of my favorite trees. We have a problem with birch borers killing them off here in Southern CA. For one thing, I was told our climate is just too mild to kill off the borers. Our water shortage and heat also don't help. Your tree will be fine.

I later remembered something I’d just read recently regarding the consult or no consult fees: I think in some areas or cities it is customary to charge, however in TN it’s not. Nobody would be in business if they did. Remembered some kind of provider talking about that somewhere recently & how he can’t charge those kind of fees in TN although he’d love to & has in other states. So doesn’t mean you’re getting a crap firm or designer if they’re not charging you a fee just to come take a look. Local markets don’t support it while looks like other regions do. Wanted to add that to help prevent confusion since I’m speaking based on my experience in the same state & to give you an idea of rates that I’ve come across just down the road from you, so to speak.

chloebud, are you sure about your problem with the river birch and borers?? They are probably the most highly resistant of the birch species to borers.......in fact, some even consider them immune. They do like a lot more water than other birches so maybe it is the drought that is the issue, not borers.

gardengal, sorry...it's European white birch that have become so difficult to grow here. I erroneously thought of white birch and river birch as the same. I've yet to see a single live birch tree as I drive around our area. A couple years ago I mentioned to our neighbor that their birch trees looked questionable. They had no idea about the borer problem, and lost all 5 trees. Another neighbor down the street just removed 9 of them. They were grouped together so nicely and looked pretty at night with lighting underneath directed up into the trees. Such a shame to watch them die.

We also lost several birches at our previous home. It was before the drought issues, so they got plenty of water. You could see the tell-tale little holes in the white bark from the borers.

Azaleas

A "look & see" is not exactly a consultation :-) In my world, a consultation is an in-depth discussion with the client of all the issues that present themselves at the site visit - what the client hopes to achieve with a garden design, what their wants and needs are, elements that are to be removed or maintained, material choices, what sort of budget restraints are involved and any other concerns. Advice is given and suggestions made. A design consultation sets up the entire process going forward and is an essential part of that process. It is far too premature at the consultation stage to give estimates or "quotes" of anything more than how involved the creation of a design plan may be and how many hours that might take.

Sometimes a consultation is all that is necessary to confirm or coalesce the client's ideas, especially if it is a very small project or area under consideration, but typically it is just the first preliminary but very necessary step in the garden design process. And yes, I charge hourly for all of them. And for travel, as I often drive many miles to get to a site and that takes up a huge chunk of my time as well.

Attractive house!

When you consider replacements for plants, you want to avoid the current look with oversized shrubs needing pruning, growing up in front of the windows and looking crowded against the house. In planting the replacements, figure out the width of the plant at 10 years by looking it up on a reliable source (plant tags typically give 5 years), divide by two, and then add at least a foot. Plant at least that distance (half the 10 year size plus 1'-2') from the house. That may require making the beds deeper, front to back. You also want to choose shrubs for under the windows that will stay below the windowsills without extensive pruning unless you really enjoy that chore. I think I would plan to use something like 3 types of shrubs, with at least some of them having seasonal blooms such as spring rhododendrons and summer panicled hydrangeas, both of which I think will be fine in your area, though I am not sure about sun. You could consider keeping the color palette simple, such as using white flowers to stand out against the brick.

The current walkway is rather narrow and would benefit from being widened to create a more welcoming look. One relatively frugal way to do that is to add a course of brick or block on either side of the path. Use the same material to create a broader landing at the base of the steps. If you will be doing this yourself, read up on proper installation of patios and walkways with block.

Just because you are removing bushes does not mean you need to replace them with more bushes. The house is so small it would look cluttered. First start with the house by painting that dark front door white and adding white shutters on just those large lower windows. And I agree wholeheartedly that you should widen the narrow sidewalk. Also, do not make your flower beds rectangular. Just lay a garden hose out across the area and choose a nice curved silhouette on the front. You may want to put in a small Japanese laceleaf maple with white rocks underneath, but be sure to put down a thick layer of high quality landscape cloth first. Also spray to kill any weeds or grass in that area beforehand. It might be best to put paver stones sunk down in the ground along the front edge so the lawn mower can drive over them and not strike your rocks or mulch without having to put up those ugly barrier edges to hold it back. Or you could put in an etagere with some Clematis on it. Another option is to get three white flower pots in different sizes and group them in a triangle pattern with something like petunias and a vine hanging over the side for a more minimalist design. But please, no concrete bird bath. Lol. Good luck with your project and show us some future photos.

Pay for a design consultation. Ask for a walk through of your garden. Take lots of notes. Ask questions. You will not regret it. I am still, twenty years later, implementing the ideas suggested to me by an exceptional landscape designer. Yes, I paid a hefty fee for her expertise. Was it worth it? Absolutely!!!!! She was a professional and earned what she charged. Remember...Rome wasn’t built in a day. A beautiful yard takes a lifetime of work and love. Enjoy the process. Your gorgeous home deserves it!

What a charming house! I agree with what many have suggested, that flowering shrubs are a good idea. For low maintenance, choose ones whose mature height and width is what you want. It's always on the tag, or online.

I had a landscape designer design my front. She put in too many plants and too large ones. We've been moving them and pruning them ever since. For example, she put 3 Limelight hydrangeas in a grouping, in a triangle about 3 feet apart from each other. Unfortunately, their mature size is about 7 feet wide, so every year we have to cut them almost to the ground to keep them small. She put a dogwood (mature width 20') 5 feet from the sidewalk and the lot line. And it died the first winter because it was at the edge of its hardiness zone, and planted in an exposed area. Probably not a bad thing because of its size, but a waste of money.

some ideas

Have you joined the Perennial Plant Society of Middle TN? Great group and each summer there are garden tours ...I've gotten a lot of inspiration from their gardens!

thanks to all who've commented lately. i'm grateful for your tips and advice!!