I love azaleas, so I would vote to keep any that you think will thrive.

All the other ones are healthy and bloom usually around Easter.

Is there also a brick planter box on the left? Your home is wonderfully charming. I would take it all out and start over. There is much hiding/blocking the loveliness.

Thank you. That's a good point. We've seen a few neighbors use that whole area of grass in front of the boxes for plantings.

Hi, Justerrilynn, no there is no other box like that under the other windows. Thanks. It's small, but it is cozy. Our neighborhood is now very hot for RE because of the well built homes.

I was wondering about that brick planter and if it was deep enough to add a floor and black railing (sitting area) like this picture. Then, keep a mulched planting bed on other side with small plantings, keeping it simple.

Pretend the little porch area is on other side.

ETA:

If it's not deep enough could the bricks be re-used on a bumpout? I just love how this idea adds a whole new dimension and extra character.

go big.. or go home... wait.. you are home ...

you can do it in stages.. over the next few years .. or you can do it all at once ...

i might suggest.. that if you do it piecemeal .... the new stuff is going to look so good.. you are going to wish you didnt leave the old.. and eventually remove it anyway ...and if that happens.. you ought to have done it all at once to start with ...

i dont care how you do it.. its your castle.. im just trying to make you think outside the box ...

oh.. and if you are paying for removal... you really dont want to pay them to come back a second time ... so thats a plus for just doing it all at once ...

you will be replacing plants with plants.. so i suggest you avoid any tree hugging proclivities ... in my world.. if you have a problem.. get rid of the problem.. lifes too short to have them in your garden ...

enough on that.. foundation plantings are planted to hide the foundation .. so the base problem with what is there.. is that it was planted ON the foundation.. with no real idea of the future potential of the plants ... so they had to be sheared year after year... until they became square blobs that dont bloom ...

so .. on that logic.. yes.. i would make the whole small bed inside the walkway.. garden bed.. and site better plants ... in better places ...

and i would increase the bed on the left at least as far.. and perhaps a bit further... just to avoid a straight line across the whole front of the house ... you have enough straight lines in the house itself ...

after all that.. imo.. plant choice is left to you ...

good luck

ken

ps: one way to SEE the potential of future growth.. take the full latin name of a given plant.. and take it to the images page of a search engine.. and you can get a flavor of long term growth ... dont rely on plant labels ...

pps: nice primer on planting ...

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

Yes, I'd definitely remove all those squared up bushes and start fresh. Your house is adorable, but the plantings make it look less than it could with some lovely landscape there; a bit like an outfit left over from the 1970's worn today. If you love azaleas, plant some new ones!

Even just doing something like this to start with, then get a plan for adding to it, would really improve the curb appeal:

A simple and not too expensive plan, just to give you and idea of how nice it could look:

Oh that's cute. No, it's about 2' wide. I finally found a photo from maybe two years ago.

These are great ideas! Thank you so much! I love the cleaner looks of the photos you've posted. I've got extra money from teaching summer school, so I just need to convince DH.

I tried to landscape but it came out like a cabbage patch lol. Hope you like cabbage : )

JTL you are so funny!

I would remove all the overgrown shrubs, clean the brick planter and start fresh. You have a neat, attractive home with some cool detail, especially in the right side.

I would plant a few low growing evergreens that will spill over the planter, like creeping plum yew. I have some and they grow fairly slowly and won’t ‘take over’ in height. You could keep some coleus for color interest in summer.

Encore azaleas are fairly easy to keep trimmed after they bloom in spring. You could put those in front of the planter, just keep them loosely trimmed to stay natural in shape. And don’t plant anything too close to the porch. Use large pots with seasonal interest on your porch or at the bottom if you need some color and if you have room.

I would bring the bed out right to the path, and plant the shrubs a little farther from the foundation. How much sun do you get? The azalea left by the porch seems very healthy. On the other hand it shouldn't be a rectangle (more like a nice loose low dome). If they already got a hard trim I'd leave them at least a year and then start shaping them according to the article below:

http://www.walterreeves.com/gardening-q-and-a/azalea-pruning-large-ones/

OR I agree with Ken that often times if you rip out and start fresh, you can avoid problems by siting your new shrubs more carefully than the old. So if you have an azalea with the potential to grow 8x8 feet, plant it at least 4-5 feet away from your house so you're not always trying to keep it in check. In my yard I hacked out a GIANT bridal wreath spirea (its placement was awful) and took down four tall but sickly pine trees and about 10 junipers. The previous owners just didn't understand that their yard is all shade, and tried to plant sunloving things? Didn't work and I was ruthless.

An example of two slightly bigger curved beds that come right out to the path (although the plant choice for photoshop was a little odd).

The other thing to note is that often times smaller, younger plants grow faster than larger, older specimens because planting them is less of a shock. So after five years you might not see much difference in size between a $30 1 gallon shrub and a $100 5 gallon shrub.

Plant ideas to go with azaleas: small japanese maples, mountain laurel, pieris, ferns, hosta, japanese forest grass, witch hazel shrub, dogwood shrub (needs room), oakleaf hydrangea (needs a fairly large, 6x6 or more space), degroots spire arborvitae (grows 20' tall so only to the very sides), upright japanese plum yew (8-10 feet tall, 4' wide, slow growing)...I could go on!

Of course, this has turned into a much bigger project than anticipated. Maybe I would not have cut down those front azaleas had I thought it through. Ugh. I am teaching summer school and research that is keeping me busier than I would like. Plus, now it's 95+ degrees here.

Thank you for all the feedback.

Maybe you could use your education standing with a nearby horticulture school and offer your home as a training project. Free labor but you cover the costs of plants.

OK, here's some advice from someone who does teach horticulture but like the plumber who always has a leaky faucet at home, is lazy as heck in her own yard. I would rip it all out, because nowdays, breeders have come up with dwarf varieties of almost every popular landscape shrub which stay small without pruning. So don't feel bad about ripping out a large poorly pruned shrub and replacing it with a newer, smaller cultivar that will stay the size and shape you want (at maturity) without much effort on your part. I don't know your planting zone, but around where I live, now is a good time to pick up plants dirt cheap at the big box stores. June is pushing it as a good time to plant things, but if they are just in pots anyway, you can plant them and just keep them well-watered for the rest of the summer and they will hardly know the difference. As some have mentioned, they won't take off in growth this year but give them some time, they will rocket off in the next two years. Meanwhile you can just be zen about your "negative space" or fill in with some easy care annuals. Can get annuals cheap now too, they may look a little ratty but most can be cut back and will rebound. Depending on how well you water them. Water in late morning or early afternoon, so your plants will be cooled off during the heat of the day. Don't water at night, they will stay damp and that will encourage disease and fungi. Mulch the heck out of stuff. Fertilize with those little slow release beads that you can shake around your plants. Done.

Two other issues. Avoid the common mistake of planting things too close together and not allowing enough room around the plants to accommodate the size they will be at maturity. Plan now to save yourself or the next homeowner the ripping-out part again. Like I said, learn to live with the sparseness for a season or two, that's all it will take. Plant temporary fillers or use pots or lawn ornaments or rocks or just ignore the space.

Second issue, where to get these marvelous "dwarf" varieties I am talking about. I constantly peruse the big box stores since they seem to randomly get stuff in at random times. Read labels as to mature size. If there is no information, take advantage of your smart phone for looking it up. You can also try and find a good nursery nearby and make special trips. Or you can do mail order. Now is NOT the time to mail order. If you are going that route, wait til it cools off in the early fall. That's when they will start digging plants again for the mail order trade. Conditions too bad now for stuff to survive the trip through the mail, even if you could find a company that might ship. Ask me how I know . . .

Another vote to take it all out and start fresh. But I'd seriously consider native plants. Ecologically they're a much better fit-no need for extra irrigation or fertilizers. Plus they would be a big boost to the historical value of your home. Another bonus-they don't need pruning!

Gscience, given our zone, I would wait until late fall to plant anything given your busy schedule. And use the time now to plan your next steps. You could even prune your azaleas and relocate them into a new place in your landscape.

Neetsiepie, in our area, natives will outperform expectations in many cases and many will definitely need pruning. Oakleaf hydrangeas are a good example. They are a favorite of mine and we have several. They can grow anywhere from 4-10 feet depending on conditions. So yes, they might need a good pruning after they bloom. But hydrangeas such as limelight or Annabelle would be a wonderful plant to mix in this front yard to replace the hollies or some of the azaleas.

Thanks. We are a 7b/8a and it is very hot right now and will be for the rest of the summer. DH just cut those down to the ground this morning so it looks a little better. I think overall we need a landscape consult and a plan to implement. Now, to convince DH of that. We also need help in the backyard because we have so many places where nothing really grows. Since we don't plan to move, I'd really like to do this. He also wants a paver area in the back for grilling. He thinks this is something we can do, the pavers. I feel this is beyond our skill set, and it's too darn hot. I am fine with getting up early and starting, but by the time he wants to actually get moving on things it's too late in the morning/afternoon, though he is out there now with the tomatoes.

I pinkmoutain, my previous townhouse was once owned by someone who was a horticulture major or teacher, and I had a nice front garden where things bloomed all season long from early to late. I just pretty much had to weed it and mulch it. Although I think the guy who bought my place ripped out a lot and planted tomatoes.

Been there GS. I get my best ideas perusing magazines and the web, places like Pinterest and here on Houzz and Better Homes and Gardening has a lot of great stuff. Even landscaping plans, LOTS of them. I'll see later if I can find that link . . .

I'm all about natives, but also "right plant right place" is the key to having an easy care landscape. Figure out what your conditions are as far as how much sun and from where, the moisture and soil conditions, the space available, etc. Don't put your plants at a disadvantage from the get-go, pick ones that will naturally feel right at home where they are planted. Your backyard might have too much shade from trees hogging all the light, water and nutrients. Or the soil may be worn out and compacted. I've dealt with both situations. Cooperative Extension does soil tests that might help you diagnose the problem and come up with the most effective solution for the least amount of effort.

Yes, we have nice shade trees and the only place we get sun is the area around the deck where we have the tomatoes.