more pictures of area

one more picture

I should add that I do have two "forever & ever together" hydrangea that were given to me and need a home, they are small compact varieties that grow on old and new wood, the tag says average size is 25" x 25". Maybe they would work in here somewhere?

"HELP! I am at such a loss as to what to do with these beds, we are new home owners and are trying to at least get the front of the house looking good." First, don't look at the front yard as small separate spaces that can be dealt with and improved individually and somehow, magically, it will all come together. You must look at the front yard as a whole. And in order to make constructive suggestions, we must do the same. But ... we can't!!! There is no picture that shows the WHOLE front yard. Please back up with the camera and show how everything fits together. Try to get the majority of the yard in a single picture. If the yard is such that you can't fit enough in the picture while standing at the street, PAN the camera with overlapping shots while standing at the SAME LOCATION.

The first thing I would do is remove the azalea closest to the door. It looks wrong to me but I can't say why.
You have a lovely home.

Here are some pictures of the whole front of the house, I'm not necessarily a fan of the row of boxwood along the walk, but since they look nice enough I don't want to change anything in that area at the present time, I just want to get the empty beds looking better. I don't know how to pan from the same location and get the whole front, but I think you can tell how these go together.

front yard

front of house

close up of the rest of the front beds to the right of the front door, (I will delete the separate post that I made for them.)
There is a lilac bush and a weigela bush already there, and although I don't love the placement, I am not going to risk moving or removing either one. The small area to the right of those bushes gets dappled sun until later in the day when it is shaded. The bed around the corner gets some dappled sun also, except near the back where it stays shaded. There is a forsythia bush there in front of the air conditioner, some spike speedwell in front of it, and then 3 hostas plus a dogwood tree. The approximate measurements are: The area with the lilac bush is 6' 10" deep and 9' 5" long (only the empty planting area, not including the bushes). The area with the dogwood is: 10' deep and 11' long (from the forsythia bush to the edge of the dogwood, not including behind the forsythia) thank you for any help.

This post was edited by Reneec83 on Mon, May 26, 14 at 16:53

close up of beds to right of front door

close up of the beds to the right of the front door

"we are ... trying to at least get the front of the house looking good." If that's true, then those things that make the house not look good must be changed. Making the lilac and weigela part of the permanent plan seem to be a contradiction to the overall goal.

If the quality of "being inviting" is part of the goal of "looking good" one must extend a visual invitation to those who are at the street. Impeding this are many visual and physical obstructions to the house entrance area. Even if visual enticements were present, they could not be well seen. Tree limbs that shroud the entrance area should be removed. Shrubs that serve much as barricades should be removed. Shrubs that are too large for their positions will not serve well as visual enticements and should be removed. Plants that create disharmony should be removed. All of these things must be dealt with before attempting to rebuild.

Yardvaark, then what would you suggest? I'm overwhelmed.

First, a major "clean up." Some steps cannot be shown or seen until preceeding steps clear a view. Do what is obvious and MUST be done before trying to figure out everything else. It will be difficult to determine all the steps while so many obstacles are in the way.

I would like to re-configure the walk and open up the entrance, but that is more work and money which I don't have at the present time. The big dawn redwood tree can be limbed up, we had already taken some off and just weren't sure if we should take off more. I would really liked to get the empty areas filled and worked with a plan that hopefully by fall we could do something about opening up the walkway. I would just really like to get some plants in so that I don't have weeds and dirt for the summer. Any suggestions at all would help with what I could start those beds with would be greatly appreciated.

Start by weeding the beds. Then go to a local nursery and buy a bunch of annuals and some mulch.

Then spent the next year seeing what goes on out there, making notes about what you like, and what you don't like. Also walk around and note what landscapes and plants you like.

Renee,
Look at the pic from the street at the front of the house.
Do you see that tree that is there? Really close to the house?
I would get rid of that. That is just one thing I would do.
People here are trying to tell you that you might have to open up the front area, get rid of some of the shrubbery, and you seem to want to keep it all.
Look at the pic from the street, pretend you are going to visit the house, and open the walkway up, by eliminating some of the shrubbery.
This is the front of your home, you want it inviting.
Oh, and the barbary, rip that out.
Go buy some annuals, even nice pots are nice to accent the front of the house. It'll add color, until you are ready to really have the place landscaped, which takes alot of money.
Congrats on your new home.

Thanks, I do want to open up the front, I don't want to keep all of those boxwoods lining the walk and blocking things, I just didn't want to rip them out right now, then it would just be one more area that is dirt and weeds, plus I have some other areas in the back and sides that I may want to transplant some to , but I'm not ready to do that yet. What I thought I would do was to try and get some plants in the beds against the house to start because that is where it is empty and has bare dirt and weeds. The tree close to the house that is kind of leaning, I do plan on taking that out, as well as the evergreen in the bed near the front window. I'm not against taking almost everything out, except for the lilac bush, but I will trim it back, and perhaps down the road remove it . Some annuals sound like a good idea, but also any ideas for other permanent plants would be helpful too. Thank you so much everybody.

One other question, if I take the boxwood out along the walk, what would work in it's place? Just ground cover?

The problem is that the spaces cannot actually be seen to determine what should be in them. They are obliterated by things that should shouldn't be there. That's why I suggested beginning with a clean-up. People are suggesting annuals precisely because they're not permanent. There is no point in putting permanent things in when it will be discovered later they are in the wrong place. (And we see how reluctant you are to remove such things!) Mulch and annuals are the things to cover the ground with when you don't yet know what will be planted.

I really love your house and plants/trees. I, too, would be reluctant to remove things I love (lilac and weigelia) until/if you are ready to replace them. I actually like a more naturalized look, so might even keep them as is. I would never limb up that large tree...to my eye it is the most inviting part of your yard.

If I were you, for now, I'd find the forum for your geographical area and ask for some suggestions of what you can plant to fill in the areas of your concern. I would rather buy some perennials, maybe some evergreen ones, to use for now that you might be able to reuse, than waste my $ on annuals and be right back where you are when they die.

You asked about your hydrangeas, they should do well near your hostas, or somewhere the sun doesn't beat down on them.

The pros here will have great suggestions when you are ready for a more comprehensive plan.