Left side

Right border

A bridal wreath spirea might look nice where you took out the tree:

"Vanhoutte spirea (S. vanhouttei), the classic bridal wreath spirea, grows up to 10 feet tall and 20 feet wide, so give it plenty of elbow room. Masses of small, white flower clusters cover the plant in the spring."

IMO your front yard would be enhanced if you also planted something near the sidewalk, in the "dead grass" zone to the left of your front path. It could be a small tree of some sort with a few perennials under it, or an attractive evergreen shrub. It would add a slight bit of "mystery" to your landscape, as well as a bit more privacy which could result in a more usable front garden.

I like the other plantings already in place.

You might find that a couple of large urns, one on each side of the path fairly close to the stairway, could help increase the look of formality a bit.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Guide

If you had three of the same plant in a row it would look more formal.Can you identify the possible boxwood plant?If you could get a third one you could plant it in the area now holding the euoynmus. On the other side you could plant two more spirea if you know the type you have.

Thank you both. Before I even read emmarene's suggestion I did go ahead and dig up the boxwood (or whatever it is) and moved it to the left side. I moved the spiraea to the right side. So now if you could give me a suggestion for something to go in front of the windows and then I'll put in a tree (love the bridal veil spiraea suggestion and also considering crape myrtle and Bradford pear). Here's a pic of the left side. Thanks for your help, welcome any suggestions. Next post will deal with the right side.

So here's the right side which now has three spiraea in various shades of pink and purple. What to fill in to the right of it? I have some of that yellow-gold euonymous I could move the, or I could move some emerald gaity euonymus into that spot (or go with something different). I was thinking of putting in another large rhododendron next to the one I have, which has a deep pink/lilac color bloom. What say you? Thanks.

IMHO ... you are severely over planted...

and have too many large plants.. too close to the house ...

if you were to do a total redo.. i would suggest you increase the bed 6 to 8 feet ... plant the shrub type things on the curb side of the walkway.. and have a nice small perennial flower bed on the house side ... and get rid of the straight line on the right side of the house ...

you have a very large front lawn.. i dont understand.. why you are trying to jam so many things into a 6 foot bed.. i like to tell peeps... foundation plantings are planted.. to hide the foundation.. not ON the foundation ...

when all would be done.. you should have a 3 to 4 foot blank space.. at the foundation.. for house maintenance ...

i have a classic bridal wreath ... its 6 foot tall.. and 8 foot wide ... left to its own devices... if you stick one in the existing beds ... you will be pruning it forever ... of which.. its possible to cut that one to the ground every year.. or so i am told ...

lots to think about.. if you climb out of the box.. of using the space you already have... increase that space.. and a whole world of other opportunities emerge ..

good luck

ken

ps: IMHO ... no tree goes in the beds you now have .... its a non sequitur ... to a tree guy ...

On the right side can the Rhody be moved or is it too large? It would be so much better between the windows. As for the left side you do not have enough repetition. Two in a row is not enough plants for a group. Should be three or five.
It is looking so much better so far.

Emma, picked up some nice traditional black urns at a great end of summer sale. Thx for suggestion. I agree that another boxwood would be better on the left. If I can get one, what would you put in that corner left space where the cypress was? Ken, sounds like not a tree? Something with some height, I would guess. We just don't want it to interfere with cable/elec wires esp after last bad winter. At the risk of over-planting, anything in back of those boxwoods? I can rein them in and they will not get any taller, just perhaps a bit wider, but again controlled by pruning.

I do have about four feet between the back of the beds and the house. Want to paint next year so I've been working on that this year.

We could try to transplant the rhododendron to center it. I think we will do that in a few weeks it is cooler. The right side bed used to be larger but it became too much for me so I scaled back by a few feet. Also, we used to have a lovely dogwood in the front yard on the driveway side but it died And I've not yet replaced it. It's certainly easier to mow without it but it was very pretty.

I have a large shade garden in the back and perennial gardens on the side, plus a small veg garden so I'm looking to make the front easier to manage. Thanks!

Lovely house; not run-of-the-mill-looking, so why settle for run-of-the mill plantings? For ease of maintenance, you certainly want to choose plants well suited to the site. If I might just add to the above advice (some of it very good, too):

Andromeda (pieris) needs part shade. In full sun it *will* be stressed, become infested with lacebugs, and will eventually decline.

Euonymus gets scale. Sooner or later you will begin to see "honeydew" on the leaves, and sooty mold, then plant decline. It isn't a reason to remove it now, but keep this in mind if/when replacing.

Have you heard about boxwood blight? New, very aggressive fungal disease of boxwood, sweet box and pachysandra. No cure. I won't go into detail, but "Google" it. There seem to be a few somewhat resistant cultivars. This disease does not travel great distances on air currents, but by water splash from rain and irrigation. It is also spread through contaminated plants and equipment (whether pruners or truck bed), so if you buy new boxwood, quarantine from other b.w. is recommended until you are certain the plant is clean.

Bradford/Callery pear ... please don't. These are invasive. New Jersey Invasive Strike Team has a list of plants invasive in our region. They are displacing our native plants, which provide necessary habitat for our native wildlife - birds and beneficial insects - which provide invaluable pollination and pest control services for us.

Our native dogwood is lovely; sorry you lost yours. They supposedly have about a 30-year life span, but the two in our yard, a good size when we moved here (coastal Monmouth County, NJ) in 1977, are still hanging in there. Stressed in recent years by environmental conditions, many dogwoods developed anthracnose and people turned to the anthracnose-resistant Asian dogwood "Kousa". This has also proved to be invasive, and, as it blooms much later than our native dogwoods, does not fill the same habitat niche for our pollinators.

Rhododendrons, like pieris (or andromeda), like partial shade/dappled shade, and an acidic, well-drained soil.

Sorry for all the "don'ts". For a low-maintenance landscape, and one that you won't see all up and down the block, please consider some native plants - they evolved to survive in this region so will generally require less maintenance and will give your property what is called a "sense of place." There are some amazing new cultivars of our lovely native redbud. The Native Plant Society of NJ (npsnj.org) has a good list, as I recall. It is wise to check habit, as some spread by suckers - often easy to pull out, but you are looking for ease of maintenance, so either steer clear of those or install a barrier to keep them in check.

A visit to a botanic garden or horticultural park may be helpful, if you have not already taken advantage of these resources. Check out gardenstategardens.org for a list of several public gardens throughout New Jersey.

Above all, please enjoy the process. There is such a wealth of plants that will thrive here in NJ, it is an adventure to explore, discover and evaluate them.

Am I the only one who can't look at the photos because they're all upside down?

For me clicking on the photo opened the pic in a new window.

Yes, clicking on a picture opens it up in a new window. Still upside down though. Just bigger. :)

Oh, sorry. For me it is turned upright in next window.

tfitz, I can definitely see a small tree or tall narrow shrub of some sort on the left side to soften the corner.