Hedge and bed.

We are in Atlanta.

Where in Zone 7b do you live - the zones are only winter cold, not rain and summer heat (the zones put Phoenix AZ and Tampa FL in the same zone!)

Definitely take out the hedge ... if it's an azalea hedge, you won't get many flowers from it. Replace it with a farmhouse style rail.

4 feet is barely wide enough for sitting and walking past the sitter. You'll have to get small seating. One thing that might work is a "coffee house" bar/railing combo like this, but shorter
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The bush by the mail box needs to go, too. It's going to be blocking the driveway real soon, and be a hazard to backing out. And that one at the corner of the garage will be a traffic hazard. (If you can't tell, I'm really more of a landscape usability person than most - clear lines of sight, ease of walking and working are critical to liking the landscape)

I would make one LARGE bed from mailbox to corner of house, inside the purple lines. Easier to mow and makes an impressive display. Plant with various low and occasionally taller plants selected to give you a long bloom time. Spend the winter plotting and looking for the right plants. Start with some low evergreens and spring bulbs, then the mid and late-spring perennials (iris? Daylilies) . You can also use vegetables and herbs (not mint, it will take over) such as basil and peppers for seasonal interest. ornamental grasses? Succulents? Look into grpoundcovers that alsoi flower, such as creeping thyme or sedums.

Make sure that you have just as good a view from the porch and front window as from the street.

Make the entrance pad larger and wider - as wide as wall to post - and add a lantern light there for safety and looks.

I would redo the entire planting around the hedge as the formality (including the shearing) does not go with the symmetry of the house or the informal planting out in the main garden. Since the house does not have a geometrically symmetric facade (same uniform pattern all the way across) all of the garden should be informal, with curved beds and planting organized to follow the curving of the beds.

It's okay to trim the Azaleas. They'll grow back. What happened is that years ago, they started small, looked pretty, got neglected, got too big. It's okay to take them down. Then a once-yearly trim, right after bloom, can keep them to the size you want.

If you have some healthy well established plants, you don't have to get rid of them. Why spend money when you don't have to? Why toss some healthy plants into the nearest landfill and spend money on more that will end up overgrown also?

Here is a link that might be useful: Rehabilitative pruning

This post was edited by hoovb on Tue, Nov 11, 14 at 12:09

Anything shown could be transplanted and replanted elsewhere on the property at suitable times of the year.

Thank you all for the ideas. We are in Atlanta, so hot and humid summers with mild winters. I like the idea of curved beds and an informal look. Enlarging the bed would however not be the best choice at this stage. I failed to mention that I have two young children that love to play all kinds of ball sports and other games on the front lawn. The neighbor's (to the right of the photo) child plays along too, and they end up running across both lawns. They are good at staying out of the beds though.

I can move the butterfly bush to a sunny spot in the backyard and plant something more contained in that space. The bush to the left of the garage is a Yuletide Sasanqua.

I agree with the poster who said do not remove the hedge (unless you despise azaleas). It was never meant to get that large. The hollies are oddly placed. Since you only have two I would suggest one be sent to the back yard and the other moved over to the side with the unknown shrubs.

I want to know the identity of the two unknown plants as well as the ground cover in front of the hedge. Please provide close up photographs.

I am a Camellia worshiper (cult of one, me) so of course I hope you keep the Yuletide.

As to under the Crape and under the mailbox I would wait for spring and just put annual flowers there.

If you find you cannot keep yourself from removing the Azaleas I would replace them with perennials only.

You got a variety of suggestions and here's mine .... not about color or what you should plant. It's more about layout, organization, form.

This post was edited by Yardvaark on Sat, Nov 15, 14 at 13:17

Emmarene, I've attached some extra photos. The bed did not have a ground cover, those were frost bitten Vincas. I pulled them this morning. The rest are some spreading Pansies, a Gerbera Daisy and two types of other plants.

The bed

Plant in bed

I'm surprised that no one seems to have brought up a key point: namely, azaleas look best when allowed to look like azaleas. If you have to shape them like cereal boxes in order to make them fit, you have the wrong plant in the wrong place. Yank 'em.

There are some Azaleas in the backyard that can grow as wild as they want to. They have enough space not to need any unnecessary pruning. I won't be particularly sad to see the front Azaleas go, as I agree that the formal hedge doesn't really go with the rest of the house. I do like informal flower beds with all kinds of bee and butterfly attracting plants.

Yollies, I didn't see an acknowledgement so not sure if you saw my suggestions.

Yardvaark (great name)... I'm impressed. Those simple suggestions of yours absolutely lift the place.

get rid of what has been called cereal boxes ...

and then see how the rest blooms out in spring ....

and then get rid of some other things ...

things that were planted as babes.. when the house was built.. with no clue by the planter about how things grow ... and then tortured by hedge pruners.. simply need to go ....

you are trying to deal with big freakin problems left by peeps who had no gardening sense ... probably a builder who bought what was cheap ...and what ended up as a nightmare ...

get rid of it all ... and plant your own nightmare... and then.. move in a decade or so.. and leave it to the next person to deal with ... lol

ken

ps: and if you were the original owner.. lol.;.. and made all the mistakes.. well ... time for a change.. just like you got rid of the shag carpeting.. and the paisley Formica in the kitchen ... do not get wound up in keeping .. PROBLEMS .... just like decorating the rest of the house ... time for something new ...

Thank you everyone for input! Yardvaark, I saw your layout too, thanks. Ken, if you think the front is bad, you should have seen the 25ft red maple that was in the middle the small backyard. I know how you like maples and badly positioned trees. The maple is now gone.

I agree that is probably time to start over with plants in the front yard. It seems like Ken said, that all the established plants are old. The size of trunks and general size of the plants suggests this. I will keep the Sasanqua and the Crape Myrtle. I like Yardvaark's bed layout and will aim for a similar layout. It has a lighter feel than the current crowded space. Azalea and Buddleia will go. Buddleia can be moved out back. I also like the little railing suggested for the porch.

Now I have all winter ahead to plan what to plant!