This is confusing. Do you have another post ongoing?

As to the hose placement for bed expansion, I say yes! As-is, your bed is much too narrow in spots.

Yes I did - sorry about that. Thanks for your input!

Before considering plant choices, please tell us your approximate location (nearest city & state). Thanks.

I live in Ontario, just north of Toronto.

Is there a reason why you're only considering deciduous small trees? I'd pull out the pom pom and plant an evergreen.

To my eye the whole arrangement is too busy Too many individual items and no cohesion. I'd expand the border, yes, but get rid of all he rocks and plant groups of plants not one of each dotted around.

What calli said 👆. My first impression was a smattering of this-and-that.

Pick something and plant 7 or 9 or 11 of them (depending on size). Then plant one or two coordinating other things.

I really don't know why you'd block your porch and the view out of your window with a tree that close to the house. In general, tree crowns tend to be about the same width as the tree height. If you're looking for privacy on your porch and through that window, you're still better off with the tree further away.

I like smallish, pretty trees in the middle of yards, but well away from the house. If you wanted a small tree, I wouldn't put it much closer to the house than the line between the truck bumper and the red car bumper in pic #4.

I concur with the need for more cohesion. I'd plant a groundcover under the leftmost juniper, I like Tiarella Cordifolia, but you could do artemisia, which would pick up the silver in the festuca (grass) and Russian sage. Or a heuchera with some silvery tones (can be a bit of silver on a maroon heuchera, they are are a ton of colors).

I'd probably add a bit more of the Festuca (is it Elijah Blue?) particularly along the path. I'm not very fond of the yellow thing near the rock. Is it a yellow potentilla?

In short, I'd stick to a color palette of silver with pinks and purples and whites and just add more plants. You have a lot of plants that fit with this palette: the Russian sage, the grass, the stone (okay, not a plant), the juniper near the rock by the truck bumper. I think the grass seen between the mums in pic#4 probably isn't bad. The rust-colored mums aren't the best choice, but I'm suspecting they are annuals. You have a salvia or veronica in the corner near the door. That's probably a pink/white/purple in the palette. The dark pom-poms look good in this color scheme.

Anyway, to sum up, I think more plants and a cohesive color scheme will make the garden look great and you have a very good start. In fact, you may be able to just divide your existing plants.

We love the pom pom so attempting to keep it in the garden.

I will take hanging planters down and move 2 urns to clean it up a bit right now.

Would I just plant one tree in middle of yard? Border around it?

Hi Sigrid. The yellow shrub in not a potentilla, I want to say bayberry- has thorns. The reason we want to plant dwarf tree close to the house is to break the view of the neighbors driveway when sitting in the family room.

And the neighbor's driveway is going to be there year 'round so the new tree needs to be an evergreen. I suggested removing the pom pom juniper because you don't have much space to play with.

I'd imagine a small tree or shrub much further from your house would do the trick. A lush, tall shrub right by the neighbor's driveway might do the trick. A ninebark or a clethra, for example.

Options:

Moved the pom-pom shrub to the column near the door, replaced with a substantial shrub at the left corner for privacy. Moved the "rocks" into the middle of a larger bed, surrounded them with plants to soften their rather square shapes. Planted a serviceberry toward the front left, surrounded with low shrubs. Even if this doesn't block the view of the neighbors' driveway completely, just having something in between you and it makes it recede into the background. (I did put darker shutters back on the second-floor windows, since to me the house looks too austere without them.)

Simply natural - I love your design.

The big rock by the truck is massive so won't be moved, but I could expand bed to plant something soft it front of it. What do you think are chances of the pom pom surviving a move?

Could I get some suggestions re the smaller shrubs

For the smaller shrubs look at dwarf conifers so they look pretty in all seasons and don't need pruning. I like bird's nest spruce and blue star juniper. Little rascal holly is another possibility. You could visit a garden center (not a big box store) and see what appeals to you. Just don't pick anything with thorns (because you'll be in close contact with it weeding and mowing).

Simply natural - what would the shape of the new bed in your photo look like?

I would like to add that you should make sure your new curves are easy to mow against.

Yes! Right now mowing around the beds painful!

Heather - I’ve read all posts here & you’ve received great advice. This was said in first post or two but I’m compelled to repeat - make the bed larger! Move your hose out for a much deeper bed. What you’ve got outlined in pic really isn’t worth the work of digging up the grass for the impact that will / won’t have. The bed size @simplynatural shows is great. I don’t agree your hanging planters have to go. They are great for summer annual color. I also agree tree to block view doesn’t need to be too close to house / window. As long as it’s in field of vision when looking out window, the eye will see tree not driveway behind it. You don’t want to block view of your entry with tree too close.

I think the design for my front landscape could easily be adapted for yours.

It's hard to create an accurate plan from a photo without measurements. The driveway, for example, looks angled in some photos, straight in others. Here's a rough, not-to-scale plan of what I envisioned, which assumes everything is at right angles to the house. It would have to be adjusted to actual conditions and dimensions.

Thank you so much!