it is great to work on a plan.. but i wouldnt do anything until the construction is done ...

the small bed between the walkway to the front door is for nothing beyond a few perennials with limited size potential ...

and with the height of the window facade.. you do need to come out into the lawn to plant larger things that are in proportion to that height.. but wont overgrow the limited space in the long run ...

if visitors will park on the street.. remember that passengers need some space to open the door and get out of the car ... so dont garden right to the edge ...

your first concept pic above .. is not a low maintenance planting .. and since you say you arent great with such.. do plan to make it all as care free as possible ... it is also severely overplanted ... too many plants in too small a space ... [not to mention a palm tree with tulips under it ... what the heck is that all about ... lol ...]

those are my general thoughts on what i see.. good luck ...

ken

Your first option (with the palm tree) illustrates pretty much what you shouldn't do to a house. (I know it's not exactly what you want, but...) The plants are too tall and situated too close to the house. It looks completely boxed in and hidden -- the opposite of good landscaping.

If you want privacy, you should plant trees AWAY from the house, so they grow closer to people who might look into your windows. The idea is to block THEIR view, not YOUR view out of your windows.

The landscape with the square tree edging -- super high maintenance. Look how manicured the grass is, and how impeccable the edging is (probably finished by hand clippers). During the growing season (which for you is all year round!) you will be out there with the mower and the edger a couple of times a week if you want to maintain this look.

Some valid comments above. And some advice from someone living in an almost identical climate just 100 miles or so south: growing edibles of any kind is not going to be a low maintenance proposition. In fact, a garden that focuses on edibles tends to be on the higher end of the garden maintenance scale. And make sure you are selecting fruiting trees that will actually grow well and produce here. Nectarines tend NOT to be on that list :-( It is just too cool here in our summers for them to be productive and the fruits to ripen. It's tough even to find peaches that will thrive in this climate!

One of the best resources for PNW gardeners is Great Plant Picks. This is a compilation of plants that are well suited to the PNW climate and growing conditions and are generally considered to be trouble-free and readily available. It was developed by some of the PNW's leading nursery people and horticulturists. They have a great listing of drought tolerant plants for full sun.

Unfortunately, GPP does not include many fruiting plants. For the best suggestions for those, I'd suggest inquiring with UBC.

I wasn't clear in my original post - I may need to start again.

We have a variety of fruit trees and bushes, berries and a large vegetable garden in the back. I'm not anti garden maintenance - I just tend to neglect the front yard because it never seems to look good no matter what I do (and I tend to prioritize puttering in the back with all the food producing stuff. We have run out of back yard space for fruit trees and at the same time I would like to add some taller trees/bushes at the front of our yard to create a bit of privacy as we are replacing some mirrored windows at the front and everyone walking by will have a full view into our front room. I was thinking if we had a nice looking garden along the road that we could then squeeze in a few more fruit trees in the front yard - but I would also like the yard to look nice.

I am horrible with design and I'm hoping to get some ideas for a garden area with some height along the front of the yard, as well as some opinions on if I can get away with adding fruit trees along the driveway, walkway and front of the house (right side), or if this would just look strange.

I'm not married to the look of the photo I posted above, I just want something that would look nice and create a bit of privacy.

It seems to me like many fruit and nut trees are deciduous. They would only provide privacy for part of the year. I think you would be happier with evergreen plants.

Perhaps think about espaliered fruit trees. The can be beautifully decorative and form a living privacy fence.