You'll need to take and to post a photo of the entire front of your house.

{{gwi:42401}}

You'll need to take and to post a photo of the entire front of your house.

Yes, it would help to be able to see the entire house and garden from property line to property line (the photo would probably be taken from across the street).

Well, it depends. As Laag once said, the way that people take pictures tells you what scale they're thinking about, and I get the impression, therefore, that HunterGPT just wants plant suggestions, not overall design advice. Having typed my fingers raw a few times giving design advice to people who just want plant suggestions for the "design" they've already done, I can say to Hunter: don't take the big picture photos if you aren't interested in any advice regarding the big picture. It's your house, you can "design" the garden or not to your preferences. Sometimes people have trouble achieving or even developing their vision, and that's where a forum can be helpful.

If you want plant suggestions, as I've also written times without number, your best bet is usually your local nursery. Because even if people across the continent exert themselves to suggest the perfect plant, either here or on the shrubs forum, all good ideas are wasted if the plants named are not in stock locally. If you want to use a forum for advice, then your regional forum may be best as those people may have a better idea what you can find locally.

And I might also add that it happens that people ask for big picture photos, and then appear to never visit the thread again. So if you do it, be prepared to not get any response beyond the initial. Sometimes that may be because there are actually no design issues, just plant selection, suggesting again that this forum isn't your best place for plant suggestions.

Finally, your shrubs will grow. I am just reading a book on landscape design by Joe Eck, and just finished a section he calls "Time." In this he talks about how the maturing garden (in this I substitute the words "yard" or "landscape") becomes shadier, for one thing, and for another, can accommodate fewer plants due to root competition and growth. So do not panic, time is on your side, especially with a Vitex in the picture! I love my Vitex, but the thing can put on major mass every year.

KarinL

Thank you all for your inputs and reassurance. I'll post another pictures of the whole front yard in a new thread soon. I am very new to gardening so all the ideas and visions are fuzzy and unclear. Thank you for clarifying the need for "designs" vs the need for "plants suggestion." Sincerely.