Check out this Youtube channel. I know he has had videos on this in the past and he is also in NC.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXXKLYf_tz_1cssixclHgnw

Find somebody locally to advise you in person, maybe draw up planting plans. One way you can search is by clicking on FIND PROFESSIONALS at the top of the page here at Houzz. A couple designers I know personally here in my service area are on Houzz which makes me think the service provider participation is fairly comprehensive at this point.

Daylilies come to mind.

You don't want to spend money on plants that won't do well. I'd suggest speaking with a local landscape designer or at least visit a reputable garden center for suggestions.

I thank you all for your suggestions. Keep 'em coming.

Thanks NHBabs' that was very in depth advice. I agree that the soil is too shallow. A good wind would cause havoc. I will incorporate your advise into my final decisions. Thanks.

Good ideas:

Increase depth of bed for the right side of the house [opposite garage]. Instead of linear, make the bed rounded, sweeping, the deepest part being right before the corner of the house, and continue the bed [at least a little] around the corner of the house. Doesn't look right for the bed to stop at the front corner of the house with nothing along the side. You don't have to carry it much around the side, but at least some.

Azaleas or rhododendrons are a good choice; just be sure to get varieties whose mature size won't be too large to encroach on windows, etc.

Make a list of evergreen shrub varieties suitable for your Zone, and suitable in mature size.

A shrub rose may be a good choice, possibly a KnockOut variety, At Last Rose, and/or Peach Drift.

Here are more rose choices: https://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/roses/the-easiest-roses-you-can-grow/?

And as stated above, bring the right side bed out/deeper toward the corner of the house to accommodate a small [SMALL] tree; placement would be just to the right of the downspout, almost centered between windows.

Living in N.C. you live close to one of the premier retail nurseries in the country, Plant Delights outside Raleigh. You also have the JC Raulston Arboretum as an excellent resource. My advice is to develop a plan and invest in your foundation plants first. There’s a saying that goes something like “ the best time to plant a tree is 10 years ago, the next best time is today.”

Your home has a beautiful charm to it and I love the colors, but so much lawn that overpowers it. I've never understood why paths to a front door became so unpopular with builders but most likely a cost saver to them. I'd add large concrete squares, rectangles, or irregular shapes to the front door to break up the lawn. You could add some sort of ground cover surrounding each one to soften the look. Paths to the front door are so welcoming!

There IS a path to the front door/entry, although a somewhat undersized and understated one. Pulling it out so that it creates a much larger planting area behind it and the foundation and enlarging the width will help.

A defined path/walkway to the front door is a requirement. How welcoming they may be depends on how well they are designed and executed :-)

I was speaking of adding a path from the curb, not from the driveway.

Relevance of a walkway from the road (curb) to the entry will depend on the specific situation. In many cases, street parking is not advised/permitted or not convenient. Parking on the drive for visitors is expected on most properties here, as properties are large with a considerable distance from the house to any street, so a walkway from the drive to the entry is the primary source of ingress to the property. It is only very urban, in-city lots (much smaller than that depicted by the photo) that would offer a walkway or path to the curb.

Not a one-size-fits-all situation :-)

Fyi, when NHBabs referenced making the bed deeper, she wasn’t talking soil depth (though you can do that too)... she meant have them extend out further from the house, a minimum of eight feet front to back.

And I second the find a good local independent garden center (not Lowe’s, Home Depot or the like). And if you are driving distance to Plant Delights in Raleigh.., go! Even if just for inspiration. It’s one of the best nurseries in the US.

I also live in zone 8. Two yellow/orange plants that have worked well for me have been lantana (although it dies back in winter, it does return) and Stella De Oro day lilies. They bloom all spring and early summer, die back a bit and then will bloom again in fall if fertilized. Knock out roses have also worked well for me if you need a bigger shrub type plant. I too only want easy to care for plants and perennials.

Lantana is a good filler, but ONLY during Spring and Summer. The rest of the year it's dead/dying and needs to be cut back down to the ground every year; for this reason, I do not use it.

On boy, this is getting good. Makmartell, thanks for the clarity of the depth issue. All the advice is great. Keep it coming.

I live in NC too and find it difficult to have some plant thrive without irrigation. So I would recommend that you have sufficient irrigation in the areas you plan to plant. Second, there is a Master Gardener program where I live that has a free hot line. They will also test your soil and recommend plants that will do well in your garden based on sun and shade. Check your county for the Master Gardeners in your area. Good luck!

Lantana is a beautiful flower and has nice foliage ( they are orange and there are also fuchsia and yellow types). Conceder also adding some violet and whites flowering plants in the mix as it goes beautifully with orange.

In reference to comment by gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9), making bed deeper means moving the sidewalk-----too expensive. Why not add planting space on the other side of the sidewalk and let the sidewalk go between. Feel this would be least expensive.

Modify or augment, if you like, the plants in the bed on the Left, but leave this bed and the walkway as is. [save time, $ and headache]

Do enlarge and change the lines of the planting bed on the right.

With the yard itself being fairly deep and Nothing but an expanse of lawn, you'd do well to make the bed on the right large enough to handle a medium sized tree, at the very least a small one. Poignant statement above, "The best time to plant a tree was ten years ago. The next best time is now."

Martha, a focus only on economy is not always the best philosophy with landscaping, as is the case with most everything else related to home ownership:-) As is usually the case, the walkway is likely far too narrow.......and is tucked in far too close to the structure. That already makes the walk to the entry unwelcoming for visitors. When you flank plantings on both sides of a narrow walkway, the effect is to become even more intimidating and unwelcoming!

Replacing a too skimpy and ill-placed walkway - a standard developer/builder stock in trade - is one of the first things I address with clients as a garden designer. It immediately recreates the setting and a welcoming entry sets off any adjoining plantings and the landscaping as a whole.. Depending on how it is handled, it does not have to be expensive and the expense is just another sound investment in the property and an increase the property value. In many cases this can be a DIY project requiring only moderate skills.

I have found it is better to take a long term approach to correcting these issues rather than a quick and dirty, cheap one. It is almost always a far better outcome.

Also, forgot to mention that water pools on the walkway during heavy rains. This makes it difficult to walk to front door without getting feet wet and tracking water into the house. Usually I have to go through garage until dry. I guess that I will have to address walkway or grin and bear it.

The fact that the sidewalk holds water is an important detail, and should be fixed.

You could use pavers over the concrete that are set slightly higher down the center of the walkway [crowned] to throw the water off.

If you have standing water over your walkway you have a problem of greater importance than wet feet. Water needs to drain away from your house’s foundation not pool in front of it. It’s possible you also need to regrade your front yard to slope away from your front door. It’s not necessarily all bad news because if the water pools on a regular basis you could design a landscape feature utilizing plants that like “wet feet”.