That huge window is too prominent IMO. Paint the trim on it a color that blends easily with the rest of the house. And, what does the rest of the house look like? The shrubs cut it off from view. Is there a front door? As it stands, it doesn't look very welcoming.

I'd consider Flaming Silver pieris or Ivory Halo shrub dogwood. The pieris has variegated evergreen foliage and will display colorful flower buds throughout the winter. The dogwood will lose its leaves after developing some fall color but will offer wine red stems for winter interest.

Neither get too large with regards to the other plants but there are additional selections as alternates as well.....use Midwinter Fire dogwood for more of an orange stem color (to accent the widow trim?) or any other dwarf or compact pieris.

Both are tolerant of some shade as well, as that area does not look like "full sun" to me!

Even in our usually mild climate, not much flowers here in winter. You might want to try a winter flowering heath, like Erica carnea or xdarleyensis, in the sunniest positions.

I love the giant window with the highlighting trim color. What slightly bugs me is the uneven top on the hedge behind the fence. That is easy enough to fix.

Some larger winter blooming shrubs to consider that would be more specimen plants than a row of filler are camellia and witch hazel. Helleborus could work as an evergreen winter blooming ground cover height plant.

Gardengal48 - thank you for some really great ideas! I hadn’t thought about pieris! I think that could be a good solution. I also like the idea of some heath, they would be good for some winter color and I like how they look with helleboress.

Christopher CNC - the hedge has since been trimmed lol - this is an older picture and the uneven yews were bugging me too.

The camellia and witch hazel would be great there. There are some really beautiful big witch hazels in our neighborhood that always catch my attention. I do have some hellebores planted here now on the left front -adding some more might work well and I always love a reason to add more hellebores to my yard. Thanks!

I like to add ’hardscape’ items for year round interest. It looks like you do have a concrete container in center of yard. Have you thought about adding a couple or three of very large frost safe pots with interesting shapes & in colors compatible to your home? They are an investment but large ones are not easy to cart off so seem safe for front yard. I love dwarf conifers & they are fairly fuss free for pots & have many interesting shapes & colors. Dwarf means slower growing but you can work with them to keep them in pot for years or just transplant to ground space after a few years. I get what @gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) is saying about your area not looking like full sun - is that a true West or maybe south facing yard? I’m also in PNW in SW WA & the plants she suggests do very well in my area. I do agree with @Christopher CNC about that hedge top. 😊 Looks like Yew or maybe Pencil Holly? A plant site I like is www.greatplantpicks.org This site is specifically for PNW & lists proven plants for specific situations. I have found it a great resource over the years.

ETA- @caththegardener just saw your post after my reply. Yews!

KW - thanks for your great suggestions! There is a large rock birdbath out there, but I do like the idea of some year round color with some pots. I don’t know alot about dwarf conifers so I will look into them. I do like how they look though.

I always thought that we faced west, but I just finally figured out we are mostly facing south! I think the bright afternoon sun threw me off. lol BTW I just love great plant picks!

Oh sure I see now that it is a rock bird bath - rockn with a concave top! Nice! If Portland Nursery is a place you can get to, they usually have a nice selection of conifers from Iseli wholesale Nursery. Most large nurseries around here carry theirs. Here’s link to Iseli to give you an idea Iseli link If your house & yard faces south, it must be the trees on left of picture that’s casting shade over the yard as sun goes around. My bet is you have more sun there on yard in summer when the sun is higher. BTW, Portland Nursery has nice pots too. I think it’s the Vietnamese high fired pots that are safe to leave out year round with plants in them

I suggest Seafoam Artemisia. I found this picture online.

If you go for Camellias or Hamamelis, I'd move the Choysia forwards. It would be lower than those two shrubs and hence hidden by them.

I'd have to question how well either the witch hazel or the camellia (let alone both together) will fit in that small space that is already heavily populated with other plants. Both have the potential to get large enough to overwhelm much of what is currently planted as well as obscuring the very striking façade of your house.

Emmarene - thanks! I hadn’t thought about artemesia!

floral UK - thank you!

gardengal - I would probably have to really rearrange to fit them in. So many great ideas and plants it makes me wish this spot was twcie as big.

I always love using evergreen huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum). It’s slow-growing and won’t overwhelm, and it won’t mind future shade from your stewartia. In the meantime, it will get some great color from sun exposure with redder stems and leaves on new growth. (And of course, also on the GPP list. 😊)

Here are a few suggestions using Shishi gashira camellia & dwarf loropetalum:

Loropetalums are not well recommended for PNW gardens :-) They dislike our cool summers and rather wet winters and are reluctant to overwinter reliably.

Jenny Island - a great idea with the huckleberry!! Thanks!

Dig Doug - that looksreally good! Love being able to envision it! Thank you!

The scale is misleading in the mockup. The Camellias would not be lower than the Choysias.

The camellias shown can be maintained at 36" or less. It is not a misplaced plant in this design. Camellias come in many sizes from prostrate to small trees.

Certainly, but why not plant things which suit the available space?

Dwarf sasanqua camellias suit the space perfectly.