The major part of the problem is that the plantings are too close to the house, as near as I can tell, pretty much all underneath the overhang. The shade and northern exposure limits the plants you can use, but I would try on the slope Microbiota decussata, a deer resistant and shade tolerant evergreen that spreads widely and doesn't get very tall.

To the left of the door as you look at it, you should enlarge the bed at least as far as the end of the steps. The yews you presently have are hugely attractive to deer; I'm surprised they haven't eaten them to nubbins. My tendancy would be to replace them with Hellebores and in front of them put in a planting of Epimediums. The former are an evegreen perennial and the latter are semi-evergreen groundcover. Both bloom in late winter/early spring and are highly deer resistant. The leaf textures would compliment each other as well and they'd be low maintenance and attractive all season.

Thanks for the response, laceyvail. I ended up checked the dimentions of the beds and I was way off. The beds are 5x5.5, so quite a bit bigger than I first though. As far as I can tell, the bushes that are currently there aren't all that close to the house. I don't know how far 'too close' is, though.

I'm not sure what you mean by enlarge the bed at least as far as the end of the steps. The beds currently end at the steps.

I haven't had a chance to take a look at any of your plant suggestions, but I will in the next day or so and post again.

Looking at the picture that shows the area to the left of the door, bring out the bed to where the first landing begins. That looks like it will give you a bed at least 6-7 feet deep. In general, foundation plantings should be put in several feet--at least 3-5--from the foundation.

Hmmm . . . the first thing I would do is to make the beds a whole lot bigger. My personal guideline is to imagine the front facade of the house falling forward onto the ground and make the beds at least that deep.

I would make the beds gently curving to soften the angular lines of the house.

I would structure the enlarged beds with the tallest items in the middle, and smaller things on the outside, almost as if it was an island. I suggest this to mirror the assymetrical house design, yet softening it at the same time.

The good thing is that making a bed is a lot of work, but relatively cheap, and it brings quick satisfaction.

I'd also suggest painting the door, shutters, and garage door a contrasting color (one that ties into the color of the flowers in the bed). That would add excitement, charm, and tie the garden and the house together.

(That's also relatively cheap.)

Finally, I would make great use of the stairway. Since people are usually looking down when they walk up stairs, let's give them something pretty or cool to look at. Depending on your "funkiness quotient", you could paint funny pictures on the steps or a different word on each step. Maybe the words could spell out your family motto (such as "live well, laugh much, love strong") or create a mood (such as "relax, peace, calm, serene").

I hope this helps!

The hill next to the steps does look like it is a pain to mow and try and get grass to grow under those silver maples which have agressive roots. I'd try a groundcover like ivy or vinca. You can plant spring bulbs among it for some punch.

I think your house looks nice, very restful and shady. One thing I would do is hack out that juniper on the left, the one you said doesn't look that bad. To me it looks like a juniper that has been pruned all wonky and isn't going to recover. They're hard to get out of the ground because the roots are tough, but it can be done. I had one in the foundation of my house just about where yours is, it went away after two years. Now if you really love that thing, by all means ignore my .02. But if you want to punch things up a bit, this is an easy spot for you to add some lovely color. Might I suggest a small, red japanese maple, or something that blooms pretty in the spring, like dogwood. Since you have shade, you could plant the gorgeous pagoda dogwood, if you can find it in a nursery. Other options are redbud and Amelanchier, or even some of the larger gorgeous rhododendrons which I cannot grow in my tiny sunbaked yard. (envy, envy) There are some pretty vibirnums that would look good there too.

Ah, I understand what you are saying now, laceyvail! I was thinking that you were talking about the beds directly next to the steps and not the ones underneath the set of windows.

My tentative idea was to do as you and Gigiwigi have suggested, regarding expanding that bed to be close to the end of the landing. I was thinking that it might look nice to use the the stones (pavers?) that are in the fence picture, to help tie that all in.

I had no idea that the plants that are currently there are yews. We would like to keep them and I just recently realized why. I had forgotten to mention this in my original post, but we'd like to keep them because they disquise a basement window and its cover. Those bushes were pretty 'structured' when we bought the house, but we have allowed them to pretty much just grow, because we didn't like the hedge-like way that they were trimmed.

Anyway, if I expanded that bed, I'd like to put something with color in front of the bushes. Gigiwigi, I do like your idea of putting something taller in the middle of the beds and smaller things on the sides. That's definitely an idea if we do decide to take out the bushes.

Lpinkmountain, I like the suggestion of the rhododendrons. I've had a hard time trying to get many ideas of plants that love shade and also have some color.

i would remove all the little wood post going down the steps and replace it with mortarless blocks and add blocks around the beds it would give your house a lot better look

An unfortunate truth is that you will have trouble growing much under those trees. They are getting to the size where you may be able to pull off a decent foundation planting, but not much else; to the size where it is basically trees OR other landscaping. If it were mine I might consider removing one (the one that gets the most sun) and planting a replacement tree, and planning to replace the other 5 or 10 years later.

In other landscaping, I would begin by making a bed around the outside of the steps, and maybe doing something out closer to the public sidewalk. So often people think of only foundation planting when they talk about landscaping their front yards. There is so much more room! Something simple like Microbiota or Vinca to disguise the outside of the steps might work, or you could make it showier if you put a lot of time into plant selection.

I agree with Rhodos for the foundation planting to the right of the stairs, with a ground cover to limit splashing up from the eaves. I have to admit those wood stakes look kind of cool, though a bit raggedy. You could clean them up a little and straighten them. I sure wouldn't replace them with manufactured block in any case. At least these have some character.

KarinL