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Here is a link that might be useful: share ideas

I'm not sure the style of your house matters in this case. If it were a modern and you were planning a cottage garden that would be something else.

Is there a light fixture on the ceiling near the front door? If yes I'd change it to a hanging fixture and I'd paint the door red. Plus You could add a bench and some potted plants to the porch area.

I can't tell how far from the foundation bed that smaller tree is but I would extend that bed to incorporate it. Just standing there all alone the tree looks like an afterthought. I'm not bothered by that lighter green shrub, but if it bothers you there are plenty of other shrubs to choose from.
Is that big tree a live oak? It looks like it could use a little work (dead branches) You should also keep the grass off the root flair.

I don't know if this is helpful - I can't recommend specific plants for you, but there are botanic gardens you could visit for ideas on that.

Thank you both for the reply.

To ilikemud: I've been wanting to paint the door red since we moved in & love the idea of the hanging light. At one point I had a ton of red paint sample cards but could never decide on the right color....I didn't realize it would be as hard as it was for me. I've also wanted to add a seating area, but haven't found one I like yet either. The builder added the small tree, & I agree that it does look like an afterthought. I was thinking about adding some flowers around the bottom, but have no idea how I'd extend the bed because it's kind of far. The tree is an oak tree, but I'm not sure what type....live oak sounds right. I didn't realize that the tree had those dead branches until I took the pics! When you say to keep the grass off the root flair, are you talking about the green leaves on the trunk? I wasn't sure if I should leave it there or not, but was thinking that maybe I should trim it. My neighbors tree has it so I thought that maybe I wasn't supposed to trim it off. Your comments are definitely helpful! I just don't have an eye for landscaping - & I find it so hard to make a decision which is why I posted this message for help. Thank you again!!

I believe ilikemud meant the part of the tree where it contacts the ground. You should be able to see the tops of some of the roots, it looks like there is grass mounded up around it. What I'd probably do is increase the size of the planting bed so it encompasses both trees and bring it all the way to the driveway, tapering off as you get closer to the street. It will give you a larger buffer when you decide on seating, allow you to plant more fragrant shrubs to enjoy if you decide to sit out there, and give the whole area more depth. I don't know if you're a vine fan, but the column on the far right (near the shrub that you don't like) could be planted with a flowering jasmine vine, clematis, or honeysuckle which would smell tasty. Depending on how much sun that area gets, you could plant some very pretty flowering groundcovers like Alyssum and build your way up in height as you get closer to the trees.

When I look at the bed near the porch, it seems all the plants have the same texture. Can you introduce something spiky, or something with big round leaves, or with a feather shape, or weeping form? You have low, medium, high, and "small red" all the same texture.

The shrub you don't like is the best of the bunch, at least it has a little mass to it.

I agree with ilikemud, put something, anything, on the porch. At present, the impression is no one lives there. Allow your personality to spill out onto the porch. What colors do you use in the interior? Maybe pick a color from there for the door? French blue? Black? Aubergine? Mustard? Pimiento? Then match a great big pot with your door color, maybe a trio. Don't be shy.

Hello again,

Yum, I love the idea of Aubergine on the door! You could find some deep colored shrubs to highlight it.
Yes Laurell has it right the root flair is there the roots flair away from the trunk of a tree. they should not be covered up except for a light layer of mulch. I wouldn't recommend planting anything right at the base of trees.

It would be very nice if you could eliminate some of the grass to make it a more interesting and inviting garden. I don't know how much experience you have or what your budget might be but, even with limited planting doing what's been suggested here might go a long way to improve your "curb appeal".

You all have great ideas - thank you! I couldn't really visualize what was meant by connecting the beds to the trees, but saw a house today that did exactly that - it was very nicely done. Thank you for letting me know about the root flair - that's something I can fix right now. We're going to work this weekend & I'll post the pics. SO - what color patio furniture would you suggest? I think we need to change the light fixtures from the brushed silver to black.

Hi there,

Fellow Austinite here, I was doing the same thing last year. I can wholeheartedly suggest Autumn sage (salvia greggii) -- drought and deer resistant, evergreen, blooms on and off all year, even in part shade, hummingbirds love it.
Red yucca is the spiky plant with long red bloom spikes you see in the medians everywhere, hummers love it too, and it would give you the texture contrast the others were talking about.

I suggest going to the LBJ Wildflower Center Sale this weekend and buying 5 small red salvia greggii(they will be much bigger in a year, and will bloom in the meantime) and one red yucca. Then make your bed bigger and more curvy, and move your current plants so they are in clumps not lines.

Oh, and some advice on picking paint -- go get a bunch of paint cards and take them to Bed Bath Beyond. Pick your favorite red curtain (they are about the size of a door) and then find the paint chip that's closest.

THANK YOU Timeandmoney! I've been wondering what the name of the Red Yucca was. I see it everywhere. I looked up both the plants that you suggested & they are both very pretty. I'm writing them both down to get. I was out of town this past weekend, but hope the Wildflower Center has another sale....I live really close to it. The advice for picking paint colors is great! Thank you so much.

It's hard to judge distances, but I think pulling the beds all the way out to the trees will make them too large. I do think there is too much grass, so my suggestion is to take the small tree and make it part of an island bed that moves slightly curved and diagonal across your lawn about 10-12 ft. Anchor a large shrub at the other side of the bed and fill in with a small shrub grouping.

The existing shrub bed looks too crowded and everything's lined up. The back row looks like holly which needs more room to grow. I would remove at least one of those shrubs and stagger what's left. They can be closer together if they are staggered and it looks more interesting. This means that you need to make the bed larger and move the other shrubs forward. Again, they just look too close together with no room to grow. It's better to move them now than later. I would leave the shrub on the end. I think it looks good.

Again distances are hard to judge, but I would try to wrap the existing shrub bed around the sidewalk and include the large tree in that bed to pull it out further from the house. A big rock would look great somewhere between the sidewalk and tree.

I have a drawing that I did in Microsoft Word of what I would do, but I don't know how to put it in the posting. If you'd like I could email it to you.

Did anyone notice the "eye" peeking out the upper left hand window? LOL

Cute house.

This is probably going to sound beyond what you are asking, but here goes...

I like the idea about painting the front door and making this your focal point. I am going to be repainting my garage this year, so I did some research because I've seen garage doors that are sometimes painted the same color as the trim, and other times the garage door is painted the color of the body of the house, so I wasn't sure which to do. What I came across was an article that suggested painting your garage door the same color of the body of your house, in effect making it blend rather than stand out, because who wants their garage door to be the focal point, right? I think by doing this, you will definitely bring more attention to your front door. I'd match the garage door to a color found in your bricks, but leave the trim white.

In addition to painting the front door, and if this is practical, I'd also paint the adjoining window (transomes I think they're called?) - in other words, the entire frame around the door. A nice blue would work too, that would be a nice contrast to all the red in your bricks, but then that might be too much red white and blue...maybe a nice yellow?

I love the symmetry of the planting bed in front of your overhang/porch area. Adding a bistro set behind that, or patio rocking chairs with a center table would look adorable and very quaint.

On the side of your house, you could plant a row of hydrangeas. Small urns flanking the garage door would look nice. An urn or container plant to the right of the doorway. A bench on the empty wall to the left of the door would look cute too, and you could totally play this up for Halloween or other holidays with pumpkins, gourds, cornstalks, marigolds and kale around that bench. Adorable.

The grassy area straight out from the front door - I'd probably plant something low growing in this corner 'nook', something evergreen maybe a small rhododendron, or an azalea if that area gets more sun than not. Or, maybe three rounded boxwood planted in a triangular pattern with a curved border from the driveway to the sidewalk, and mock the same pattern at the end of the driveway next to the sidewalk.

On the west corner of the garage, I'd plant a shrub or a small tree for effect.

Landscape lighting does wonders for curb appeal, but I wouldn't recommend solar lighting. Subtle lighting is best... uplight features you want to accentuate, like that small accent tree and your front door, and then use pathway lighting to lowlight from the end of the driweway to your front door.

I would add a bordered planting bed underneath that small tree so it doesn't look like it's in limbo - you could underplant with hostas, pulmonaria, pachysandra, or any groundcover, but make the bed the same width as the breadth of the tree, minimum. I'd definitely use uplighting on that tree, it will look fantastic.

The paint forum is a great place to start for color suggestions.

Try this interactive tool for changing house colors:

http://www.bhg.com/home-improvement/exteriors/siding/welcome-to-color-a-home/

Good luck! We'd love to see the finished product.

I was so excited after reading the lastest advice that I ran out & snapped some pics of what we did today. I took them in the dark, but the light & flash really helped. We aren't finished yet, but I wanted to give an update. We bought 2 rocking chairs & a table today. The table was broken out of the box, so the chairs look lonely right now. We plan on putting the table between the chairs with a pretty flowering plant on top. Lowes has a 50% off sale on all plants, trees, & flowers this weekend so we bought 3 trees for the back yeard (2 Semi-Dwarf Crape Myrtles & a Bradford pear), & 2 Rose Creek Abelia flowering shrubs. Does anyone have experience with Abelia? So, let me know what you think of what we've done to the front so far.
vmcenroe - Yes! I would LOVE to see your drawing! My e-mail is christagayle@gmail.com I really appreciate you doing that & can't wait to see it. Thank you for the advice too.

kimcoco - When I read your comment about the eye, I thought you meant that someone was peeking out which freaked me out because no one was home! Then I saw the giant eye....how funny!! So, I love everything you said. I've been thinking about the garage color too. There's a house in my neighborhood that has the garage painted brown, which is slightly darker than the stone & it looks amazing! They also have a dark wooden door which is nice. I love the wooden doors that have the black rod iron & glass centers. I want that door! We've been looking at lighting, & have seen a lot of solar lighting in stores. We like the idea of not having to wire, but also like the look of uplighting the trees. I definitely want it to be subtle, & will look into pathway lighting....is it easy to wire? Thank you so much for everything you said! I love hydrangeas & want to use them!

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The wiring really isn't bad or as much work as you'd think. You could run it through conduit and bury it a few inches, though it's low voltage so that's not necessary, just a personal choice, or you can do what we did, and just bury the wire under mulch close to my foundation and weave it in and out where we need it for uplighting. I don't have any lighting that cuts out into any part of my lawn, but if I did, I'd probably run it through a buried piece of conduit a few inches deep, but that's easy enough to do.

Just remember not to do any digging until you've located and moved the wiring, and make sure to get the appropriate length of wiring so you have a little play.

Those rocking chairs are adorable, and I love the urns and your planting selections. Very welcoming.