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You ripped out the Japanese maple, weeping conifers and the hydrangeas? What a shame!!

I dont think thats what they ripped out. i think those are renderings of what they are thinking to do. I think only the last photo is ’real’.

Yes, sorry that wasn’t clear. The last pic is the current reality and the others are my ideas.

@Celery, recognize this house? :) I love your designs and the variety you show. One thing that may not be easy to see, but there are brick edgers that define the beds so I’m kinda stuck with their current shape and size. Also, there are 2 white hydrangea trees in the bed on the left I’m planning to keep. That’s why I added more to the right side.

Also a question for the experts — what size evergreen trees do I need? My house is one story with a walkout basement so the foundation is actually quite tall. The bushes that are there currently are probably 5-6 feet tall.

Before planting anything I would widen the steps and walkway. The steps almost look temporary. You can remove the edging bricks and make better garden shape and size for your house/lot. Your evergreens (potential) are too tall. Look at @Celery. Visualization, Rendering images for proportions. Hydrangeas will be mostly sticks all winter.

But, please! No squiggly curves. They're unattractive--fussy looking-- and will be hard to mow around.

I too would want to widen the path and if possible, widen the steps to include the entire little porch/entry area. I know some of that will be just below the posts, but it will still look better.

Thank you for the feedback! Just for reference, there are large beds all around the perimeter of the front yard so there is already a lot of visual interest from the road (and a lot to maintain). The empty bed on the right side of the front is almost 10 feet deep and the bottom of the small window is 6 feet up. I think there is more space there than you can determine in the pics.

As for the sidewalk and steps — those are really great suggestions but we have to paint the house and add an addition next year (not to mention a huge backyard to deal with) so I’m pretty maxed out on projects for now. I’ll put those on the list for down the road. My immediate concerns are the naked beds and what size trees to buy. I drew up these plans based on scale recommendations from online gardening sites. I appreciate low plants — my front beds at my previous house were all low because it was a one story ranch and the scale worked. I think this house needs taller shrubs and trees towards the back of the beds because there is so much visible foundation, but if that’s wrong, please explain why. Also, are there plants you recommend to disguise the step situation? The PO had large boxwoods which were ugly but did the job well.

This pic shows what the yard looked like when we bought the house last year. Notice all the beds around the perimeter.

Thanks again for your help!

Here are a few suggestions:

@Dig Doug, thank you! I like how simple and streamlined this is— easy to install and maintain. A wider path and steps do look better. And I’ll take the hint that everyone dislikes the evergreen trees I wanted. 😆 But also good to learn that people don’t find the windows situation on the right side as unattractive as I do. I will definitely do planters beside the steps as you’ve shown.

and left burning bushes?.. if so.. get rid of those also

i really dont understand your first pix.. the weeping alaskan arb looks fake.. like a mock up.. but you state that was the plantings prior???

Slow down.

There are a fair number of very basic questions you should be answering before you start plunking down plants.

The usual place to start is hardscaping. Several people have already suggested widening the front path and steps. Do you need a path from the front door to the driveway? How do guests usually approach the house? How do you usually approach the house?

Do you want to keep the front perimeter beds? You've said they are a lot of work, are they worth the work to you? Do you need privacy from the street? Do you need privacy from neighbors? Do you need shade? Do you have deer which will destroy expensive plants?

These questions can take some time for the inexperienced to answer. So it is fairly common to recommend that very little be done to an established landscape until you've seen all four seasons in the house. You have to know what you want from the landscape before you can start planning it.

These are great questions!

1. I understand about hardscaping but as I explained, I can’t fix the stairs and walkway now but they are added to the list for the future.
2. Guests use this entrance all the time. We use this door very regularly when we are walking the dog or going anywhere by foot. Our cars are parked in the back so our family typically enters that way.
3. Here is our street view. Yes, we need to keep the plants on the perimeter. It’s mostly evergreen shrubs so not that bad to maintain, but it’s enough that I don’t want to add fussy foundation plants.
4. This is a busy street but privacy isn’t a huge concern. But we get lots sun in all those windows on the front in the afternoon, so taller shrubs by the sunroom are helpful.
   
   

I should add we’ve been here almost a year and the front beds were an eyesore that whole time (overgrown and then naked.) I really want a plan I can build on over time, but the priority is to get a basic foundation planted this spring.

If I could hire a local pro, I would!