Where do you live?

big city name ..

why did you leave the one huge thuja??? on the corner .. it looks like its already scraping on the house ...??? .. i suspect i know the answer ..

i think you ought to figure out how to solve that issue.. so that in a few years.. you can get rid of this old monster ...

i had trouble with black mulch in sun and heat .... if you end up with problems in the future.. think about that as the root of the issue ...

if you did the stone work.. good job ...

is there a reason you cant step off the side of the porch to the spigot.. rather than having the random stepping stones???? ..

ken

I asked for recommendations several months ago and didn't get much. I just planted a dwarf Hinoki cypress, a dwarf Mugo pine and 2 Blue Star junipers. I had to do a lot of reading, looking at other peoples front yards and visiting the nursery several times before I finally decided on these. I understand the stepping stones - jumping off the porch into a bed of loose dirt and mulch and tracking it everywhere - you made a good decision. I like the tiered beds.

Justin, you are correct regarding 'Golden Globe' thuja, it gets rather large! 'Little Gem' and 'Little Giant' are good choices, so is 'Danica' and it's colorful yellow sports of 'Mirjam' and 'Harvest Moon', these are beauties, this is not a good photo, but you get the idea.

Christina - just updated location in original post. Thank you. I knew I was forgetting something when posting last night ;).

Ken_adrian - The thuja wasn't high up on the list to remove since it's doing okay. Need to remove the large tree beside it in the lower bed first since it's showing signs of age/disease. Haven't had a problem with the black mulch in the past year or so, but will keep that in mind. Can't take credit for the stone work, but thank you! I wanted to remove the railing so I don't have to use the stepping stones, however, it would leave the siding in need of patching, and it's 20 years old, so it wouldn't be easy to match.

Ikayetwvz5 - thank you for those suggestions - I like the look of the dwarf hinoki cypress! Sorry that you didn't get much help. At this point, i'm just happy with getting some suggested plant names, so If i'm able to get a few suggestions from everyone, i'm good :) It's hard to make a decision.

FrozeBudd_z3/4 - Thank you for those suggestions. Will look those up now!

What kind of hydrangeas are those? The one on the right is too close to the house, whatever kind they are. Hopefully you picked a type with a mature height of only 3’. IMO, though, that still may be too tall unless it is your goal to block your windows.

I'm in 7b and been struggling as well, it's semi tropical but I still need to find things can survive an occassional freeze here. Inkberry Holly grows fairly slow so it won't take a lot of pruning like boxwood and only gets 2-3ft, partial to full sun. Evergreen Azalea gets about 2ft but can get very wide and needs special pruning after flowering and likes shade. Winter Heath is 12-18 inches likes partial to full sun and needs pruning after flowering.

I meant I'm in 9b!

Little Bug - they are endless summer hydrangeas. I believe they are on the smaller side when mature. Don’t mind blocking the lower half of the windows as they are in the formal living room and almost go to the floor 😊.

Christina, thank you for those suggestions. I do have some azaleas in a bed closer to the road and on the side of the house. I like those. Winter heath looks like a good choice that provides some color. Never heard of that one before!

Justin D no problem! It looks pretty already and coming along well.