Not sure what plant zone 3-7 is. What is the nearest big city?

tj

Boston

start by digging and creating a 6 to 8 foot bed ... and then plant whatever your little heart desires at least 4 feet out from the house.. and then mulch it properly.. do not use landscape fabric ...

if there is a tiny bare space between the lawn and the house.. it is not big enough for much of anything beyond petunias ...

do shop clearance sales this fall .. because i am sure nothing will be cheaper next spring ...

you can move anything in spring if you dont like where it ends up ... this fall ...

choosing plants without a proper place to put them.. is putting the horse before the cart ...

my point. a bit clearer... is make a plan for the future.. and if you can plant some stuff this fall ... plant it according to the plan .. you can dig a hole to plant a shrub.. and then come back next spring.. and build out the bed around it .. if that is any clearer ...

let call it phase one.. of a 5 year plan... depending on budget and allotment of time needed to accomplish the ultimate plan .. but do have a plan ...

you should also plan the walkway from the front door to the driveway ... and dont plan it 2 feet from the foundation.. and then spend the rest of your life complaining that the space is not big enough to plant anything ... make the walkway out further.. for future garden use.. again.. due to budget.. i would plan it out.. even if i might not have the moolah to do the walkway for 3 to 5 years ... moolah is a very technical gardening term only the 'ins' know.. lol ... its a secret ...

and dont plant trees anywhere near the power lines .. if that need be said ...

and finally.. thats a lot of grass.. think about a tree or two halfway to the street ... that is waht is really going to make the future statement ....

ken

ps: is the well hidden by the wooden well thingee?? ... if so.. you might want to design something around that to make it less just sticking out there ... if you get my drift ...

Thanks for all the info Ken!! We are now considering doing a walkway from the driveway to front and hiding the well in some landscaping along the sides. There is a very full line of trees at the roads edge giving very nice privacy to the house, just to the left of the point of view of the picture - cannot see it from the road unless you’re at the driveway opening (where I’m standing taking the pic)

I don't know that I'd choose hydrangeas for the front of my home, especially not the #1 focal point of the front door. They look great while they are blooming but the other eleven months of the year they are just shrubs, and during winters they are bald shrubs. For the front of the house I want things that stay green and visually appealing all year.

In my own front of home area I used a lot of conifers and broadleaved evergreens, then a few carefully placed perennials for seasonal interest.

Around the very important front door zone I use large pots that I set various plants in while they are blooming and gorgeous. I have several I rotate through- they are planted in nursery pots that I just switch out as needed to keep something nice happening around my entry. When the blooms fade I set that pot out in my landscape somewhere and replace it with something that is blooming. I rotate through pots of annuals (petunias, sunpatiens, etc.), fall mums, and in winters it's an arrangement of dried things and small conifers.

Just some ideas for you.

You have a wonderful blank slate here and so much room for improvement that I anticipate you could really have fun and be well-rewarded for the right decisions. But I am concerned you are thinking of bad investments that may limit your impact long term.

First plan the seriously needed hardscaping. That front door desperately needs whatever you can afford. If you can't afford anything, imagine what you would do there if you could afford it, and don't plant shrubs where you would have to destroy them if you or the next owner ever could afford what is needed. If you are thinking about what to do with that long narrow walk from the driveway to the front door, imagine having it be a covered walk by extending the roof over it someday. A wide walk is so much better than a narrow one and can double as patio space.

Second, cearbhaill is right that you need to think about winter. Evergreens are best as the backbone of any planting that experiences winters. Your grey house will really be a stunning backdrop for any green or blue evergreen, but I'd avoid yellow tinted evergreens.

If you are thinking you just want a nice place to plant hydrangeas because you love them or have sentimental attachments to them, they might be nice at the foundation to the left of your house, far away from the entrance. The old cultivar Snowball made a good foundation planting for many Midwestern homes. Another option if you like old-fashioned flowering deciduous shrubs is bridalwreath. It also has been used for foundations away from entrances. In winter it makes a dense thickets birds love. It has great foliage in spring, summer, and fall. It is so dense it can be used in open spaces, as a specimen or planted in a triangle.

Anyway, think about how you will use the whole space. Think long-term. Enjoy your beautiful blank slate.

Wow!! Thank you all for the wonderful information. I’m so glad I posted because it sounds like I was about to make some major mistakes… step one must be addressing the hardscaping. I think we need to do a walkway and am now warming to the idea of a garden between the house and the walk way. I can’t believe I almost placed hydrangeas on either side of my door. Yikes, how sad I would have been for those 11 other months! Time to do some more research. I have reached out to several companies for quotes on landscaping and hardscaping so let’s cross our fingers we can get the hardscaping done before the fall sales go away. Thank you again everyone and I will keep you posted!

There is a well-respected, fantastic, inspiring landscape designer out of the ”ridiculous mansions” areas around Detroit name Deb Silver. She uses MANY hydrangeas, but when they are near an entrance she seems to place them behind boxwoods or something like that to disguise their winter appearance. If you like hydrangeas, go to her blog and look for posts like This one for hydrangea inspiration. Just remember she’s working on a grand scale, homes with zillions of square footage and LOTS of yard space. You’d need to imagine that on a smaller scale! Nonetheless, she’s inspired me regarding hydrangeas!

ANY time I see design photos of grand expanses of hydrangeas I think they should be required to post a photo of the non-bloom months right next to it, lol.

Abigail, be careful of plans made by garden centers. They tend to use every plant they can't get rid of, and the result is cluttered. As you live in your home pay attention to the views from your windows through the year. Try to use natives as much as reasonable.  Plan to use the outdoor spaces, not just decorate them. I'm glad to hear you want to start with hard-scaping. Plan for those outdoor spaces like rooms in a home and the walkways between them. Plan for reduced maintenance. Put trees in large beds with shrubs and perennials rather than alone in a lawn where maintenance will be more difficult.