What a nice neat job and beautiful home!

I find planting beds along sidewalks troublesome. Do you have kids or pets that don’t always stay on the sidewalk? Do guests or deliverypersons take shortcuts across the lawn to get to your front door?

Will there be irrigation to these proposed beds?

Be careful with flowering plants around the mailbox. Some postmasters frown on anything that will attract bees.

At any rate, keep your plantings low to prevent a tunnel effect. And don’t plant things that will flop on the sidewalk or yard which will brush against people’s legs as well as ruin the appearance of the neat handsome bed.

Thank you for your response.

Yes there will be drip irrigation in the beds and sprinklers will not hit them.

Not worried about kids or pets taking shortcuts. We reserved about 2 feet closest to the steps as a ”walk through” and delivery drivers come straight up the sidewalk.

Here are a few suggestions:

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Sorry, but I don't think a bed like that is a good landscaping choice, no matter what you plant in it.

@BG Archer I’m looking at your neighbors across the street & their shrubs. Note the home on left in pic - the yellow shrub next to porch - looks like a bright spot, yes? That bit of color adds some zing to the otherwise plain green layout. @Doug Lockwood, VSLD Certified (zone 8) post shows a layout with varying textures, something with height & some color in flowers. That’s the look I’d aim for. I’m also looking at your zone 8 & see you posted in Southern Gardening topic. I’m zone 8 in PNW so a very different climate than your zone 8. Looks like the street side of your walkway gets lots more light since the north facing house shades the house end of walkway from any afternoon sun. I’d want at least 3 different plant types, mostly evergreen, would not line them up like little soldiers but spread them out in the hourglass shape with tallest plants on grass side of beds - not next to walkway. Look for some small grasses to give movement & texture. Penstemon fountain grasses are smaller & don’t reseed. Not evergreen but have interest most of year & easy to maintain. Do azaleas do well in your area? Nice spring color & evergreen. Dwarf & mini conifers are almost no maintenance & have very slow growth rates - plus, evergreen & lots of texture differences as well as shades of color from blues to greens to yellows. I’d also have a big pot of something evergreen - maybe a fern? - on each side of your front door. I’d want something with height in the width part of bed up at entry too. Maybe a Pixie Dust Alberta Spruce if they are available there? Don’t overplant the bed but do add a nice mulch to top dress & keep the bed weed free.

ETA - when selecting plants do pay attention to the fact that street end of bed gets good sun & house end of bed is shade. That gives you a chance to have a wide variety & mix of plant types. Research the plants & light needs & draw out the layout of planting bed before buying any plants! A local nursery should give you good advice.

Thank you! This is helpful and practical advice-especially the part about “not lining them up like soldiers.” I have a tendency to do that because I like symmetry, but I’ve been trying to do things differently. The most challenging part is I struggle with visualizing, so I appreciate your clear advice. 😀

KW gives excellent advice. You’re going to get such a variety on here of people with different experiences and different zones so that consulting your local Nursery or hiring a local designer might be your best bet. You’ve already invested a substantial sum in this hardscaping, it might be worth your while, as the plants will also be an investment. I would mix some perennials in…with whatever shrubs… so that you have four season interest…depending on how much you like gardening and how formal you want to look. There’s some good design suggestions here and I’m in zone 5A so I’m not going to suggest specific plants.

Understood. Thank you!

Here are some different ideas:

@BG Archer - the deal about not ’lining up the plants like soldiers’ was explained to me by a landscape designer while pointing out to me the areas I could improve in my own yard. I love symmetry too but have learned that asymmetry is also pleasing to look at when the objects are related in some way. 😁 This same designer stressed the need for ’exclamation points’ meaning have some plants with height so all the plants aren’t the same height. It gives the eye something to look at - travel over the highs & lows. Designer was explaining why she included pencil holly & a small tree in the design she was creating for me. Basically, I’ve learned that we create a yard landscape using many of the same rules or guidelines used to decorate an interior space. Group objects /plants in odd numbers. Create texture with different leaf types. Use colors that flow from one room / area to the next - for your landscape this means include a plant on your porch that blends with the plants lining the walkway. Don’t rush with your choices & have fun with your project.

Oh my! I love this one! The flowering bushes at the front… what are they? The flowers look like small hibiscus. And is this an AI design tool you’re using? Thanks very much for sharing your ideas.

It may be hardy, perennial geranium also called cranesbill.

Ok thank you! Looking it up!

I'm going to try to ease .you into liking asymmetry! I don't have any specific plants to recommend for your zone or light conditions, but just some layout suggestions.

First think of the relationship of both sides. They don't have to mirror each other in order to play well against each other.

A garden layout works wonderfully when you work with odd numbers - 3 and 5s. Pick three main, larger shrubs that feel similar to each other and place them as your anchors - 2 on one side, 1 on the other.

Then pick two or three brighter shrubs or plants that give you a pop of color - lime or a purple leaf for example. Then find smaller plants to layer throughout.

Consider height and how that impacts shade. If you are just thinking about the curb appeal, maybe you consider tallest closer to your house and height descending as you get closer to the street. However, I'd consider two views for this garden: 1. The view from the street, and 2. The view from your door looking out. It is not wrong to also have some smaller plants in the back that face the .home and that you enjoy when you are looking out.

I personally would blur the edges of the cello (yep, that is what it looks like) by having some plants hang over on to your lawn. Of course you do have to consider how close your mower can get to them.

For a formal entrance walk like this I do think symmetry is fine. But not lines of soldiers. You can obtain a sense of symmetry by repeating pairs of focal point plants at regular intervals and filling in with your threes and fives between them. And, fwiw, I also don't like the concave curves half way along the path They have no function and distract from the focus on the front door imo. Also they complicated mowing. But, given that they're there, have you considered a twin brick pillar to match the mailbox? That would lend symmetry, balance and formality to your entrance, which at present is lopsided.

" Penstemon fountain grasses are smaller & don’t reseed. "

The poster must mean Pennisetum, not Penstemon, which is an entirely different plant and not a grass. Actually, most Pennisetums reseed like crazy, though there are a couple of new cultivars that do not reseed. If you want those, search specifically for sterile Pennisetums.

I don't care for a design with visible mulch. Since you created a cello shape, the plants should fill that shape.

I agree totally on the visible mulch.

And Doug's pink plants look like Cistus to me.

I do not use A I. The pink flowers near the street are Cistus. The pink flowers in the shade near the house are Shishi-gashira camellia. Visible mulch showing in a landscape exhibit, such as the Chelsea Garden Show, was explained to me by someone who won a gold medal at the Chelsea show as a No-No in English gardening. However, I find that many people in the U.S. like some visible mulch.

Got it. Thank you.

@laceyvail 6A, WV is correct - I meant pennisetum. It is a warm season grass & does spread by seed not rhizomes. This grass doesn’t bloom until fall & goes dormant in winter when they’re usually cut back. They aren’t considered an invasive here in PNW but may be in warmer climes. About the mulch - many opinions & more varieties. The favored mulch for planting beds is something that will feed the soil, suppress weeds & protect plant roots from extreme heat & conserve water. When planting a bed & allowing room for growth between the plants there will be lots of bare soil showing so mulching with compost or hemlock bark mulch provides the weed suppression, water conservation etc. No weed cloth or rocks can do what organic mulches will do for a planting bed. Mulch choices do vary by regions.

The Pennisetums I had seeded aggressively when we were still a zone 5. Now we're nearly zone 7. (I've tried repeatedly to make the change to my name on Houzz but it just won't let me.)