Print out the first picture, and start scribbling on it. How big are the shrubs you are considering? Color on blobs that look something like them.

How does it look?

your first problem is indicative of my pet peeve which is summed up in the following, AND I WILL YELL:

FOUNDATIONS PLANTINGS ARE PLANTED TO 'HIDE' THE FOUNDATION .. NOT 'ON THE FOUNDATION' ....

the numero uno problem.. with your 16 to 20 foot house.. is that you have a 3 foot bed at the base.. which is all out of proportion to the height ... and which restricts you to plant plants that are out of scale to the vertical height ...

and, in fact,.. you have no vertical height to your scape.. and add to that.. the liner distance to the road.. you should start to understand that you will NEVER accomplish anything in those beds ... meaning they are fine as they are .... but that is not the space you need to work in ...

make any sense ...

below is a pic of my yard.. hiding the neighbor 200 feet back there .... 10 years ago.. it was flat, bare horse pasture [excluding the mature trees in the background]... my point is.. that i did not plant at the property line to solve the issue.. i covered the space in between .. and you need to not really think about those little beds at the house.. but the lawn in between.. to add architectural landscape interest to your manor house ...

ken

{{gwi:240153}}

You have a beautiful home. I love the porch.

I agree with Ken. To get some sort of proportion between the border and the house, the border needs to be much bigger and perhaps even a few trees are in order. Do you need a lot of lawn? Do you have kids that play on the grass. If not I think some island beds would be very nice like in Ken's picture. But then there's always the budget and sometimes large borders are just not in the cards.

I'm a little further south than you in NH, but I do have good luck with Rose of Sharon in a shade/sun situation as well as Weigela. You may be a bit too far north/cold for those though. Are you north of Franconia Notch? I had thought the new USDA hardiness map put most of NH into Z5 unless fairly far up north. I have a friend in Meredith who is a solid Z5. She can grow Japanese maple 'Bloodgood' up there which might be a nice tree for your yard.

What do you see for shrubs in nurseries up by you? I would peruse them in the spring for ideas. Too bad about that ninebark. I do have good luck with Plant Skydd to deter the deer. Expensive (and gross in the liquid form) but it does seem to help.

My first thought was similar to T2D's and Ken's, that adding shrubs to your current bed, which is relatively narrow, won't be enough to balance the size of your lovely colonial. I think you want to broaden your approach to the issue, though this may be way more info than you want. ;>) Before planting woody plants, you will want to do a general front yard plan so that you don't later have move things (much more difficult with woody plants than perennials.) So here are some general questions to consider:
- How do you (or will you) use the front yard? for example mostly to frame the house, or for touch football games or will you want a front yard seating area eventually, etc
-Where do people need to be able to walk to get to the house from the street, from the driveway, does the mailman or paper delivery person cut across the lawn?
- Will you want to be able to easily get around the corners of the house into the side and back yard, for access to utilities or with yard equipment?
- Do you want to block any views or be sure to leave any sight lines such as to or from the deck or porch or a neighboring structure?
-Do you want shade for any of your outdoor areas?
-Does your dog have particular paths s/he uses where you don't want to plant?

I would begin by figuring out where you want your walkways and access to be so that you can plant around their eventual location. Be sure to plan walkways wide enough for two people to walk abreast to look welcoming and access wide enough to get whatever needed through the space. You don't need to actually do any of these right now, just know where they will go.

Then widen your current foundation planting. If needed it can go on both sides of the walkway across from the driveway to the door. Be sure not to plant anything so close to the house that its eventual size will interfere with maintenance of the house. For my old cape (much lower than yours) my beds tend to be 10 feet or more wide, and the shop/barn, which has a similar mass and height to your house, has beds wider than that, along with large trees to frame it.

Once you have figured out some of these general questions and done some general planning, you are ready to start to answer your original question.

My inclination would be to leave a large sweep of lawn between the house and the road (unlike Ken's beautiful yard, but very different house and setting.) I would probably place a large tree (sugar maple, blue spruce, etc) off the corner of the house, 30 or more feet out, depending on its eventual size - something that will have some mass to balance the house and sort of frame it. Traditional with your style of house is sugar maples out by the road, which is a look that I find appealing. Be sure that anything large that you plant is not going to interfere with overhead wires over the long term. I'd also probably place a smaller ornamental tree with nice branching structure on the opposite side of the house from the larger tree and closer to the house, though still more than half the eventually width of the tree away from wires or the house. I like T2D's suggestion of a hardier Japanese maple (Emperor I would be my choice for you,) or some other ideas include paperbark maple (Acer griseum), Stewartia, red-flowering buckeye, crabapple, a hardy clone of redbud (I have one and there are some in Plymouth at PSU) or dogwood. I have both Kousa dogwoods and pagoda dogwoods and there is a thriving red-flowered buckeye at my local school.
Pagoda dogwood in spring:
{{gwi:240155}}From garden photos 07

and in August the birds love the berries
{{gwi:240157}}From garden photos 07

Also consider spire-shaped trees closer to the house such as a columnar gingko (but still keeping in mind the eventual width.) These will help ground the house without blocking the nice architecture.

Think about adding a large bed with small trees, shrubs, and perennials close to the road (but far enough back that the plows wouldn't interfere with it.) From the road, these plants will look relatively larger and will help ground the house.

In the bed near the house, one way to add height would include clematis (particularly C. Stolwijk Gold which has blue flowers in spring and gold foliage - can get from http://hummingbirdfarm.net/clematis.htm when they open their online ordering later on) or other vines like native honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) on a trellis or obelisk or on a wire framework up your porch pillars, or even growing into a large shrub. Large spring-blooming shrubs might include traditional lilacs (grow slowly, so get larger ones if you can afford them,) some of the larger hardy rhododendrons such as Roseum Elegans or PJM (red foliage tints and medium leaf size), some of the native viburnums, hardy magnolias, Amalanchiers (shadblow is one of the common names), chokeberry (Aronia), high bush blueberries or a variagated leaf red-twigged dogwood which will have multiseason interest unlike the regular green leaved ones which are really only nice in winter. There is a lime-foliaged Philadelphus (mock orange) and a variety of dark and variagated foliaged weigela. Golden/charteuse elderberry (Sambucus Southerland Gold) has multiseason interest as do some of the dark-leaved varieties like Black Beauty or Black Lace. There are a couple of forsythia to look into with gold or variagated foliage: Fiesta, Kumson, Evergold' and 'Gold Leaf' AKAGoldleaf, though you may not get flowers except below the snow line. Look into conifers - I know there are some shrub-sized selections of blue spruce, but I have had some issues with bud worm killing back new growth.

I don't have much in the way of deer issues usually since I am in a rural enough area that there is plenty else for them to eat, so you will have to talk to the neighbors and nursery folks near you about what is less likely to be eaten or plan to have deer avoidance strategies such as spraying or black bird netting over vulnerable shrubs. I can tell you that in my neighborhood both arborvitae and yew are deer candy and so you probably want to avoid them.

Here is the 2012 USDA zone map.
http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/
If you click on NH you will get a larger image of NH and can probably figure out if you are still in zone 4. I am north of Concord in the Merrimack Valley and am in zone 5a, but there is a lot of zone 5b north of me, so you may find that your zone designation has changed. That will help you select plants.

I know you commented that you don't need winter interest due to snow depth, and I used to feel that way also. Then I though about all those months when it isn't the growing season, but there also isn't much snow as well as years like this one with little snowfall. So what most people consider winter interest I consider late fall (Nov. and Dec) as well as early spring (March or April) interest and I do plant for that.

T2D's suggestion of visiting nurseries to see what is available in spring is a good one. I tend to plan for general shapes or sizes and types of plants (evergreen conifer, or rhododendron, or deciduous shrub with gold leaves) and then visit area nurseries and find what appeals to me that fits my requirements and is available. Driving around established neighborhoods both now and in the growing season is also a good strategy. Find areas with architecture similar to yours and see what appeals to you, both in plants types and placement. In gardening season if folks are out in the yard, they are often happy to tell you about what they have planted if you ask. Besides Plymouth State (one of the grounds workers used to put up a weekly what's blooming on the web and do periodic plant walks, but I don't know if he still does), Dartmouth may have an arboretum that you can visit for ideas as well if either of those are close to you.

Fnally, consider asking some version of this question on the New England forum, or just go over there and browse. You will find that there are some great gardeners there with a lot of expertise. Check out some of T2D's photos of her garden in various posts.

FYI....un-pruned Miss Kim will achieve 6-8'.

Great advice from all above. Not what you asked for at all, but have you considered black (or dark) shutters on the windows? I think it would add some nice colonial NH depth.

Is your septic leach field out front? It looks like it may be, so you need to be cautious about tree/shrub plantings away from the house.

I would create a large sweeping bump-out along the right (looking at the house) side that connects to the side deck stairs. At least 15'-20' away from the house at the corner and a tree goes at the outer end of that diagonal to the house corner. I picture a birch tree (possibly Heritage, but there's also a recent purple-leafed one whose name escapes me). It's upright habit will not interfere with the house and the shade it creates is dappled enough that allows for a lot of interesting understory plantings.

A tree on the other side would be useful as well to shade out hot west sun from the house, but you don't want to block the view of the porch too much. The porch adds nice architectural interest.

I have a similar color house as yours and I like dark green traditional plantings (holly, yews, boxwood) with splashes of colorful foliage here and there. I have Weigela Physocarpus 'Shining Sensation', Daphne 'Carol Mackie', picea pungens glauca globosa (Montgomery is another good one). A few roses and perennials round things out. I have 2 to 3 layers of plantings. Leave plenty of room for lots of annuals too if you are into that type of planting. That's where the best color comes from.

If you're going for classic architectural curb appeal, keep the plantings as is and skip the shutter idea (it'll be too busy) on your Georgian Colonial.
You'll probably improve the overall visual appeal the most with a more substantial Georgian entryway and Georgian influenced lintels above the windows. Trim & siding color needs more contrast too but that's harder given the construction materials.

Thanks everyone for the excellent advice. You are all right - I'm focusing on the wrong thing. We do have a couple of obstacles to deal with, including the septic field (lower border of first photo), septic tank right in front of porch door area (you can barely see the burnt grass on top of it), and the fact that this area also serves as the football/soccer/baseball field for my family, as we have no backyard to speak of.

Last night I went out and tramped outlines in the snow - what's left of it - based on your recommendations. I think I can expand the foundation beds a bit without interfering too much with the natural walkway around the house, and establish new, larger beds on the opposite site of the walk area. If I keep them fairly close to the house we still have ample play room. My DH won't let me put a tree off the house corner as he imagines children running smack into it, but I think I can place one farther off toward our property line. On the porch side of the yard, we do have a small stand of birches and a perennial bed we put in two years ago (along our driveway.) And we have a row of limelight hydrangeas near the road (also new). I'd like to put larger mixed beds in front of them (toward the house), per NHBab's comment. Wendyb, I've heard that Weigelas are really slow-growing. Maybe our zone has to do with it? According to the new map, the Upper Valley is now Zone 5 (we are outside of Lebanon NH), but it's close. I'd probably still stick to Zone 4 hardiness for investment purchases like trees and shrubs. I think the Birch you spoke of is "Royal Frost"? That would look very nice, actually, and would tie in to the birches on the opposite side.

Anyway, you've given me a lot of food for thought. Thanks!

My weigelas have grown well, I'd say as fast as hydrangeas. I currently have Wine and Roses and in a previous garden had a pink-flowered, green-leaved one. I don't know what your current hydrangea bed looks like, but consider incorporating it into your mixed bed rather than having two separate areas.

My DH won't let me put a tree off the house corner as he imagines children running smack into it

===>>> kids really arent that stupid.. they usually only run into once.. especially if there is a 6 foot iron rod next to it.. lol ... i mean seriously.. look DH in the eye.. and ask him to tell you how many times he ran into trees as a kid.. i mean really ... is there something genetic in his thoughts??? does he have a permanent crease in his forehead???? .. crimminey ... lol

trees shouldnt be closer than 15 feet anyway .... i see too many nightmares around the neighborhood where peeps plant it perfectly for the size it was at purchase.. and then spend the next few decades torturing it to kingdom come.. trying to keep it that size ... whats that all about ... trees get really big.. plan ahead ....

good luck

ken