Photo is missing.

You should allow a space of at least 6'x'6 for the ninebark. And sufficient room behind it to access the house, if necessary. I'd move it out from the house at least another foot. It is really important to provide open and free air circulation around the ninebark to avoid issues with powdery mildew, to which they are often prone.

Oops. Here’s the photo! This is the first time I’ve ever worked in a garden and im finding it difficult to envision how things will grow or what the end result will look like. I’m really hoping to develop a knack for this! ~ Thank you!

I've had one of those for about 5 years. It about 4 feet high and wide. I would have it at least 3 feet from house. I've made the mistake of planting foundation plants too close to house. Had to make planting beds deeper and move plantings away from house. You do not want the plants touching house. I would make you planting bed deeper. Make bed larger, take out the big "mouse ear" shaped piece of lawn and make part of planting bed.

Also, ninebarks can get leggy. I cut mine back alot when they are done flowering in the spring.

You've gotten good advice above. Planting beds look good with curves, but because your curves are too small they look out of proportion to your house.

You need to move it, it’s way too close to the house! At the Whiteface Inn in Lake Placid, NY - also a cold climate, they have beautiful deep wine ninebarks used as screening plants in the lakeshore wedding garden, and they are at least 7 ft high (if not more) and as wide. Those my not be the same variety, but ninebarks can get very big when happily planted!

Thanks to everyone for your ideas and comments. Much appreciated!

I’m hesitant about creating more garden space as it seems like it would be so much garden space. I wouldn’t know what to do with it. It would appear to be more garden then lawn.

I wish I was home so I could take a photo showing the full
Perspective of my space from the street but I’m away from home. I’ll attach 2 photos. One is of the garden when we first bought the house and the other is how it looks before many items were replanted.

Please let me know if you still feel it should be increased in size. Thanks in advance!

Before doing any planting, you'd want to make sure the grade is acceptable. It looks like it dips downward across the front of the house, getting lower as it moves toward the porch. Along the face of the house, it will look best if it's level. Moving toward the street, grade will slope downward as it moves away from the house. You'd fill from the thin blue line to the thicker blue line in the illustration.

Before planting anything, you should make sure the grade is acceptable, and here, it looks like it's sloping in the wrong direction. It should be level along the face of house. From the inside corner next to the porch, it would slope down to connect to the lawn grade. It would be filled from the thin blue line to the thick blue line in the illustration:

Beyond the concept of size and spacing, there is also the factor of coordinating with architectural features. There is not enough space for the ninebark where it is. It would be better to center it with the window and move it forward so that there is space for it to grow back toward the house without crowding the house. It will easily occupy that entire space. There is not room left for the two plants in pots.

Personally,, I wouldn't create such a severe, looping bed line. Something a little milder would be easier to use and easier to look at. If desired, there could be room for a lower plants along the fore edge, and something colorful flanking the steps.

I've tried to draw out the shape that your beds are now (2 S curves side by side) and the shape I think they should be (a single S curve). You see that it's still curvy, but the curves are more gradual. You will not have more grass.

I learned to do this years ago from a landscaping book that I got from the library, (but sadly was never able to find again). The trick is to use portions of a circle or a true oval, not a free form "garden hose" method which often looks wrong to the eye because the curves are not quite even. The circles should just touch, and not overlap or have a space between them. You can see the pale gray circles in my drawing, and the yellow line that is the new edge.

I use a long string and a stick in the ground as the center, or a helper to hold it if the center is in the driveway. I use small stones to mark the circle as I draw it on the grass, so I can easily change it if the circles are not in the right place.

Yes, you are overplanting - read how wide each kind gets and then plant accordingly, unless you wouldn't mind them becoming all jammed together later.

Plants that mildew aren't good near concrete foundations because the drying of the soil by the concrete encourages mildewing - mildew is so much a summer phenomenon because it seems to like particularly (already genetically susceptible examples of) drought stressed plants with dampened foliage. As in dampened by dew or fog, like we often get in later summer in my area.

If you're going to use a curve it should be coordinated with the rest of the space, that you are not showing us here - I wouldn't have it go right over to the fence and dead end there, so soon after it started at the corner of the house. Lawns with curving edges work best where there is room for bold and flowing curves, with the grass area ending up looking like a natural body of water in shape.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><md>Wow,this is all great advice! And the photos illustrating the ideas of the slope and the curves were extremely helpful!

Thank you all so very much! This forum is great for newbies like myself.

Looks like I may be back to the drawing board and this little project may not be so little anymore. Yikes!

Don't over think this :-) You just need sufficient planting space for the plants to grow to a mature size without crowding or encumbrances. Bed lines can be gently curved (as in partim's diagram) or straight lines. There are no hard and fast design rules about this - it is your choice. Many gardeners/homeowners/designers do prefer to used curved bed lines as they tend to soften the hard geometry of a house or other buiding and offer a more naturalistic and casual feel.

Is this the type of curve you were referring to to make it look better?

Thanks again for the help! Really appreciate it!

Move the dip in the hose to a much shallower curve. it's still too deep.

I burst out laughing when I read “but it will be more garden than lawn.” Definitely not a bad thing at all. I like that you planted a native, I have the same plant and it is at least 4’x4’ now and I’ve only had it 2 years.

Make the curve shallower as shown by other posters. You can easily get some annuals every season to keep color in the area. I like that you’re trying to learn and take on gardening. It’s an adventure and a lifelong learning experience, for sure.

It still looks too much like diverticulitis. It should be complex curve ... not loop.

Yardvaard is correct. You need to make one S, not 2 S's.

FYI, if that is your only house number (on the rock) it should face the street so that emergency vehicles can read it, coming from either direction. And be sure that it is visible at night.

my SW nine bark is about 5 years old and they (2) are monsters. 6-7 feet.

i am in SE Michigan

Square spaces need to have enough room to accommodate sweeping curves or the curves just look squished and trapped. Rather than having any softening effect on the surrounding squareness.

The problem with your curve is it is too short - run the bed along the fence far enough to end up with a much longer curve.

Where the lawn curves into the bed something half way between yours and the Yardvaark curve - which is too shallow - would work best.

You have to make allowances for the lawn mower when laying out such areas. Don't just think of the planting beds. How will you trim it? Every. Single. Week.

Yardvaark, that was an excellent description.

I have a host of medical descriptions for landscaping. :-)