Is that where you always like to sit, or do you move around with the shade? I'm wondering if you could put a seating area up closer to the house, in front of the big shrub hedge under the window.

Do you want to keep that big hedge, by the way? It's a small yard and the hedge does command a lot of attention.

You need to determine what you want first. Do you want a garden, or are you just looking to spruce up the appearance of the front yard? If you want a garden, how much experience to you have? How much time do you want to spend maintaining it?

If you use the area for sitting, you want to think about how you want to experience it from the inside. Do you want some privacy from the street? Or just a bit of separation?

Are you just looking for a couple of shrub suggestions to "pretty it up" without the increased maintenance of a border with flowers? Or are you thinking of paving a small sitting area or putting in a fence or hedge near the sidewalk? How much do you want to spend on it?

You need a goal before you can get suggestions on how to get there. I would suggest looking at other people's yards and making notes or even taking pictures when you see something that appeals to you. You can also look at gardening and landscaping books and magazines, and bookmark the pages when you see something you like. Then go back through your notes, pictures, and bookmarked pages, and try to identify what it was you liked about them.

Were they full of flowers? Minimally planted with shrubs? Private, or exposed to the street and passersby? Colorful, or mostly green foliage, or mostly one color? Were there "built" objects, like paving, fences, or arbors? Was it the simplicity that caught your eye, or abundance?

Also, it's impossible to design an area in a vacuum. What does the rest of the front of the house look like? What do the other homes on your street look like? Is there an "atmosphere" you want to blend with, or do you need or want something totally different? The style of your house will make some types of designs look out of place.

I'm in FL too natich26, so I can kind of "see" the neighborhood. I see you've got the obligatory green electric box...I have one too - ugh!

Saypoint has some great advice above, have you seen something you like? Your front yard looks small, so maybe try to keep it simple, not too complicated. This is why I was asking about how you sit out front...do you want a nice seating area as a starting point?

Zamiagarden & Saypoint, thanks for the advice. Let me add a little to the post. I am helping a friend fix their front yard. I believe the friend has the chairs outside just to have them. I don't believe they sit their. they have had a couple of letter from their HOA about fixing their front yard. I told them I would help and try to come up with a couple of ideas.
My first thought was to get rid of the viburnums and replace with lorepdulm and may in front of that a smaller green shrub maybe indian hawthorne.
Next I was gonna sod the from the back of the tree to the house because it get's full sun from 2:00pm on.
I would like to make a big planting bed from the sidewalk leading up to the front door over behind the tree and ending at the utility box. This would be a shade planting bed possibly hostas, azelas, hydragena, and one or two periennals (miss spell). I would also like to add one or two hibiscus on the side of the walkway leading to the front door.
The friend has a budget of $500.00.
What do you guys think. Thanks again for the advice.

Okay, NOW I get it.....you confused me natich26!

So your pics in the later posts are of YOUR front yard, and the original pic is of your FRIEND'S. Forget the chair/seating area, you're looking to landscape your friend's lot in a similar manner to your own. Okay. Did you landscape your own front yard yourself, or did the developer do that?

I would first say that if they got a letter from their HOA, time is of the essence before the HOA resods FOR them and bills them for the cost. If there is not enough time to implement all you mention above, then just resod for now (which will probably eat up the whole $500 anyway), and then slowly carve beds out over a more leisurely time frame.

Yes, rip out the viburnum hedge - too depressing-looking, too dense and too huge. loropetalum might be airier-looking, but can get huge and cover the windows if not trimmed regularly. If they can maintain the shape and size, then loropetalum might add a nice pop of color (I assume you mean 'Razzleberri' or some variation?).

I like your whole plan, really. I think you've got it down.

Also - is that a Live Oak? The pic is small, so it's hard to tell. If so, it looks like it may need some pruning this fall, so it might be wise to leave enough room around it to be able to get up into the tree (ladder room), so you might want to wait before planting anything under the tree (if indeed this was part of the plan).

Thanks Zamiagarden, your post was correct. Sorry I confused you. I was just posting my own landscape at my house just to show. I did most of the work myself. I like the idea of planting beds, but at my friends house I was a little worried or confused about planting beds with such a large amount of shade. Thanks so much for your help. Do you have any suggestions for shade plants if add a planting bed under the tree?

If the HOA is sending letters is it likely because of the lawn...HOAs sure love carpets of green grass. With a $500 budget I would not remove the viburnums. Are they evergreen? You might just want to give them an aggressive pruning to keep them in check and add some annuals/perennials in front for color. In general I like your planting bed idea. I do have to say that the plants you list make me think more of a New England garden than what I picture for zone 9 Florida. I thought that hostas needed cool winters.

- Brent

The Tree:

Well, I have a similar set-up myself - small front yard with a young Live Oak right in the middle, so this was/is my thinking:

1) I'd create a clear edge around the drip line...it's just easier when mowing. Maybe inexpensive black plastic edging if you can't afford anything decorative. I myself laid simple pavers set in sand - very easy to install and change if need be...pretty cheap too. Make the bed under the tree BIG...those tiny ones people do look unbalanced. I also have a dislike for the "high-walled" ones...but maybe that's just me. Plus, more bed, less grass, better for the environment (shrink the lawn, right?).

2) Consider just mulching lightly for now, because you'll probably want to prune in the Fall/Winter to open up the interior a bit and let some light through. Otherwise, just plant some annuals that you don't mind losing later.

3) For whatever you'd choose for under the tree permanently, I'd stick with one mass planting. I ended up going with white wax begonias, but I'm not sure yet how they'll do long-term. I also considered dark green liriope and if the begonias don't do well, I may replace with liriope (I don't want to spend money on new annuals each year). Impatiens are supposed to do well in shade too...also ferns could be nice - anything that won't compete too much with the tree's root system.

Brent above mentioned that the hostas might not do well in FL...I was under the same impression (but maybe there are some that do? haven't tried any myself).

Here is a pic of my own tree. I'm just a mere home gardener, no landscape designer, so this is simple stuff. The begonias are filling in nicely and getting bigger each day...we'll see if I can get them to last through the winter.

The front yard is still young, but I think it will all age together nicely.

{{gwi:24369}}

Thanks everyone for the great advice. I will post a pic when I finish. May be a couple of weeks.