Can we get the pic of the house without the mockup on it please?

Did they provide actual plant names or just a mock up? What is that nebulous white-gray blob behind the arborvitaes?

It's very formal with all those matched shapes in rows. Do you like that, and does it suit your house? I'm guessing no to both. My feedback to your gardener would be "I'd like something less formal, more naturalistic." Would not accept this plan.

Yeah, that’s terrible. Please post a picture of the house, and maybe consider a new gardener.

Except for the top row of arborvitaes & maybe the shrublets along the stairs, nothing else is evergreen so in winter all will be bare. is that the usual practice in your colder winter area?

Here is the way it looks now - he tried to get rid of the current shrubs

So that weird looking wall is just representing your stone foundation! He’s on the right track as your current plantings are overwhelming ypur house as they’re so overgrown. I see he suggests that tree come out too. Agree - too big. Do you have small Japanese Maples in your area?

Actually the existing tree is still too small to relate to the size of the house. With the problem being instead that it appears to be crowding the house.

The proposed planting does not relate to the house either, instead comes off as some kind of flower and garden show style attention demanding display. Wherein it appears to be trying to distract from the house rather than complement it.

I like the stepped wall and broad steps. What does the lower level of your house look like behind the existing shrubs -- any windows or features?

What do YOU like in a garden -- spring flowers, summer flowers? bare branches in winter, or evergreens? how much daily/weekly care are you willing to give?

KW, that is exactly my concern - how do you plan for year round coverage?

Kw, yes, there are small Japanese Maples. When we 1st moved here we had so many all the way in the backyard we gave some away (mistake!). In the front on the right (facing he house) we had to take out a dead cherry tree, then we did the walkway & then we finally re-sided the house. Behind those overgrown shrubs is a white brick wall which will get repainted. I definitely need to replace all of the trees.

@Robin Cooper - year round coverage - evergreens are the key! Now, for year round interest & beauty in spring & summer, evergreens mixed in with flowering shrubs are the key things. They need to be intermingled so there’s not a large swath of barren bed in winter. That’s what the result will be with the plans your person has given you. Row of emerald green Arbs then a row of hydrangea - the other rows i cant ID. This is why I commented he / she is on the right track but not there. With that slope you don’t want high maintenance pruning so need to choose wisely. i like repetition with shrubs but not in orderly soldier rows as plan shows.

"What is that nebulous white-gray blob behind the arborvitaes?"

I think the gardener just did that to grey out the existing green shrubs in the mock up.

In the plan, the cherry blocks the door and the evergreens will grow too tall. I would replace the pointy evergreens with a mix of evergreen shrubs, rhodo, azaleas, mt laurels. Some people like a glorious, but short lived display, others a range of bloom times. If you stick with the hydrangeas, the will bloom later, so the broadleaf evergreens can be one flush of blooms.

Your existing shrubs can be transplanted to be on a lot line, punctuating the end of a walkway. Seriously think about how you might use some or all of them.

But, frankly, that plan you got looks like something a complete amateur like me might produce in a few minutes. If you paid a lot for it, let me know, because it would be a good business opportunity. I could make a mint if people pay big bucks for something like that.

I could make a mint if people pay big bucks for something like that.

The main bigtime wallet crackers these days are non horticultural features like shelters, paving, walls, outdoor kitchens, pools and so on - the current market can see interest and value in that category but plantings (and planting designs) not so much. With announcements during interviews like "We don't want too many plants" or "We don't want to take care of plants" being frequently encountered by service providers at this time. An exception is large valuable individual woody plant specimens like 100 year old weeping lace leaf Japanese maples - a percentage of the consumer base is willing to drop thousands for these. Presumably because they function basically as living equivalents to non plant showpiece installations like fountains or sculpture.

Oh, I meant providing amateur plans badly photoshopped over the internet.

Sigrid, no didn’t pay for that. Our gardener who does our weekly care mocked it up to give us some ideas. I think we need to suck it up & hire a true landscape designer. I would love to replant those front shrubs - will definitely consider that. I agree on the pointy evergreens - prefer some smaller box woods. It’s a bit overwhelming to try to visualize what would work. I’m appreciative of everyone’s input.