Congratulations on your new home! Please give us a better idea of your location (nearest big city & state). I applaud your town's effort to maintain tree canopy. Is there a list of approved street trees? Four trees sounds like a high number but two can be curbside. Does your street have a sidewalk?

Not far from Detroit Michigan. No sidewalk. There is not a list of approved trees. Thank you!

Redbuds, dogwoods and crab apples will probably not get too tall. They are all (well depending on the sort of dogwood, check) native to America, although whether to the Detroit area might require more research. But, probably, pretty close to native.

Often, people like clumps of birch, so you could do that and stick all or most of your trees in the same spot. Then, I'd get some shrubs for the front of the house. My faves probably want more shade than you have. I'd plan out the foundation plantings before putting the path in. Often, people have too small or too big a space.

My path from porch to driveway is already in place. That leaves quite a large area between path and house to landscape. I'm stumped on how to landscape this area. What shrubs and other items specifically would you suggest?

Thank you.

Would you prefer a traditional landscape style with evergreen foundation shrubs (yews or boxwood) or would you like a more modern style with grasses and perennials?

Foundation shrubs should be planted five feet out from the foundation to give them room to grow and give you space to maintain the house. So you don't really have a lot of space to play with between the house and sidewalk. You could have a row of shrubs with flowers in front of them along the sidewalk.

The modern foliage works for me. Do the grasses provide winter foliage?

I would do something simple and striking on the right side--perhaps a row of Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster' with a groundcover like Geranium 'Biokovo' (evergreen) or in place of the Calamagrostis, a row of tall Panicums, maybe Northwind or Heavy Metal. Taking a second look at your photo and diagram, I'd do the same on the left. I'd put the required trees along the west side where your lawn will be. Or along the west side of your house, perhaps 20 feet from the house--can't really tell from the pictures how much room there is between the large trees and the house. I'd use small trees--redbud, Amelanchier, Halesia, Cornus kousa, etc.

The grasses I suggested would stand through winter, though you have to cut the old foliage in late winter/early spring. But you'd have the groundcover at their feet.

You don't need anything complicated because your house is very attractive. What is the depth of your porch? Do you enjoy gardening or will you hire someone?

The porch is 7’ deep. I want low maintenance as I will do the gardening myself.

Good. Six feet is a deep enough planting bed for the front. Do lawn for the rest. I can't recommend shrubs as I live in California. A local person will know what is good. The important thing is to pay attention to the mature height of the plant. You don't want to struggle to keep a monster plant below window height. As I mentioned before, your house has nice architecture so it would be a shame if plants covered it up. What I recommend is very simple.

Plants are best grouped in odd numbers so I would add three trees on one side with a single specimen tree on the other side. I was thinking a dwarf weeping cherry.

I forgot to mark shrubs, sorry. Plant them about three feet out. You'll need to walk behind them once in awhile to clean windows and such. You will still have room for flowers in front if that appeals to you. The placement of trees is an approximation. Adjust as needed. My drawing:

The oval is the specimen tree.

Simplynatural's rendering is very helpful showing the appearance of eyebrow shrubs with your new home. Please reconsider Laceyvail's suggestion of grasses or massed perennials to give a softer prairie style aesthetic.

Here are some ideas:

@Dig Doug's Designs: I love the added curvature!

Here's another softer look, Heavy Metal switchgrass against the house, with Biokovo geranium at its feet, as @laceyvail suggested, with a sea of various ornamental grasses on the left. (This is a late season view; grasses take a while to grow again after their spring haircuts.)

Or could extend the grasses to the right to enclose one of the required trees (as @DigDoug showed; other three on the left), possibly sprinkle in a few perennial flowers to float in the grass sea, and vary the grasses against the house, using lower ones under the windows. (Some switchgrasses grow quite tall and would cover part of the windows in late season. Switchgrass bloom is very airy and see-through, so choose by height of the grass itself without bloom. Bloom in front of windows would be fine.)

Or a wider arc, giving the porch more space?

Some option

Or . . .

Japanese maples, azaleas, rocks.

I wish I had come to this group BEFORE my steps were poured. The wider steps look very nice. As that will not change now, I am focused on the plant aspect. Thanks for the feedback.

As you are not going to widen the steps, for safety purposes your landscaping plan should include taller plants/bushes planted at ground level around the front steps/door level and pots, benches and/or railings on the front door level to give visual clues about the ~2 foot drop to the ground. Also don‘t plant anything with thorns in case someone does take a fall.

Wow, so many beautiful possibilities! Since this is zone 6a, I do think there should be some low growing evergreens immediately in front of the foundation, to back the things that will disappear during the winter.