Your house is very balanced from center and you have windows that you will want to keep shrubs below. I would stick with boxwood, as it is easy to maintain, provides a nice background for the roses and irises, whose blooms will read better from the street with a dark background. Viburnum would be nice to provide some additional texture within the same dark color range, as well as some blooms. I would stay away from the barberry and japanese maple, their orange to red color won't read well against your pinkish brick.

Nice looking house. One photo that shows the whole front and includes some of the surroundings would be helpful, as the setting may affect your choices.

If you want to plant a small tree on the streetside of the walk, you may want to consider making the bed on the left deeper to balance it. You can then layer some shrubs and perennials to add some variety and interest at different times of year.

Dogwood gets fairly large, so check mature sizes and choose and/or locate your tree so that you won't have to prune constantly or remove it just as it's reaching a mature size. Chinese Redbud, Amelanchier or Styrax might be nice choices, or maybe Star Magnolia.

For a less formal look, a mix of deciduous and evergreen shrubs will add texture and variety. Consider Abelia, Itea virginica, Deutzia gracilis 'Nikko', or one of the smaller Aronia melanocarpa cultivars (Black Chokeberry) for fall color, or Cornus alba or Cornus sericea for winter color along with some low evergreens.

A couple of large masses of perennials for a splash of color, but choose something that either blooms late in the season or looks good when it's done blooming. Peonies, Asters (headed back a couple of times in spring and early summer), Sedum, in colors that work with your brick color, maybe Montauk Daisies. Daylilies are fairly trouble free but find one that's not orange-y.

Thanks for the ideas-I will be looking up some of these ideas. I haven't been online in a while to post. We have since removed the middle island bed and seeded.And have the bed in front of the walk to remove/seed. Still researching the beds against the house. I discussed with a landscaper who recommended:
-a pyramidal/columnar evergreen to each side of the door
-groupings of boxwood type shrubs (some sort of small leaf holly with minimal pruning)
-perenials to fill in
-juniper to border and some liropia
-tree between our house and neighbor to the left
-ideally a new curved walkway (not in our budget right now)
-leaving the boxwood behind the hyrdrant , remove large burning bush. Not sure about this one???
We also are replacing the mailbox/post this weekend. Flowers are looking wilted as they were just transplanted (sedum, black-eyed susuan, fountain grass).
We are not sure if we are going forward with the detailed landscape planning or just doing it ourselves.

My questions now is more focused...
I have been looking at taller evergreens for the side of the door. My neighbor planted Arborvitae on each side of her door so I want something different. Looked at a few junipers (skyrocket?) but not sure if I want the prickly stems to clean up. Not sure if I want a dwarf alberta spruce. Any other thoughts? Need minimal pruning.
For the rest of the beds I like the boxwoods simplicity. Driving around I have noticed a lot of Otto Laurel so may consider that. And liked the fall color that of the Nandina I saw at the nursery today.
Here are the photos of the surroundings of our house that was suggested: we are in a court with a house to the left and a line of Pine trees to the right.

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I think that tall vertical shrubs/trees flanking the door are overused and take attention away from the entrance. In my landscape design classes, we got points off for putting that sort of plant on each side of the door, and extra points off if they were dwarf Alberta spruce.

You don't have enough space for boxwoods or hollies and junipers, judging only from the photos, between the walk and the house. The walk is narrow enough without having junipers spilling out onto it.

The tree to the left sounds OK, just don't choose a giant or one that grows quickly and has weak wood. Also, check for the location of underground utilities before putting a tree there.

I'd skip the mailbox planting in favor of a minimal ring of mulch to make mowing near it easier. Plantings around the mailbox only call attention to it, unless they are large enough to take attention away from the mailbox itself. A large mass of perennials and a couple of shrubs, enough to create an actual planting bed would be better than a tiny planting like the one that is there now.

Start saving your quarters for a new sidewalk. In the meantime, consider planting on the street side of the walk. Then you can bring the left side out, perhaps a double/staggered row of evergreens with a single row on the right. On the street side of the walk, place your lower/facing plants, which can match facing plants on the left.

There was a spell of discusion about bed depth a while back. I think your two story house needs deeper beds. Your builder did not leave adequate space for plants between the walk and the house. I also think a larger paved space at the foot of the stairs would be appropriate for the style of your home, when you get to improving the walk.

I am embarrassed to say the beds look the same , but the grass has improved and the bed in the middle of the lawn is now all grass.
I am still left with the beds to the left and right of the front door and have 2 rough/initial consultation type plans that I am still not 100% ready to go with. Here is the recommendation. (We face South east, full sun except by the cypress-partial sun)

Plan 1) Left bed-Tall cypress stays. 3 otto cherry luken line the back of the bed beneath the windows. 3 skimmia japonica are in front of the the otto luken. 1 Ilex chesapeake to left of door (remove holly in front of it). Rest of bed filled in with liriope and perennials.
Right bed -exactly symmetrical
Plan 2) Left bed-Cypress stays. 3 boxwoods or helleri holly spaced across bed (2 in back /1 in front). 1 nandina or pieris japonica to left of door (remove holly).Fill in with juniper or liriope and perrenials.
Right bed-same.
Both suggested curving the left bed out more.Maybe ornamental grass in front of cypress.

I was looking for mosty evergreen shrubs given the small bed size (17'long x6.5' wide each)and would like some color-either by leaf or flowering shrubs)

Here are my questions:
1) I do not want exactly symmetrical. So do I use 1/2 of Plan 1 and 1/2 of Plan2???
2)Can I put something on the end of the right bed to balance out the cypress? Can't be too big due to walkway/driveway.
3)Could I use dwarf nandina as the small shrub on one side and the skimmia japonica on the other? or should that be balanced? And vary the shrubs against the window instead?
I am struggling with what should go to the left and right of the door since many suggested don't use a tall column/pryamidal type. Would the Pieris Japonica work or is too big? Or Va. Sweetspire?

I do like the Pieris japonica, Indian hawthorn, camelia,japanese spirea , mtn. laurel (minuet??). I like the otto luken but think 6 between the 2 beds is overkill as recommended in plan1.

Sorry for all the questions . We are trying to take the 2 plans and do it ourself and it is decision time!
And in general ... are we going in the right direction at all??? Eventually we will redo the walkway/hardscaping but want to tackle the beds for now.

Otto lukens get so tall....I would much prefer the Indian Hawthorne "beneath the windows"

I thought Otto luken gets more wide than tall. I had in my notes 3-4' high /4-6' wide) but seems like many people around me prune them pretty nicely under windows.

I do really like the look of the indian hawthorn and will see if I can incorporate that-maybe on the right side. I am struggling with getting away from a mirror image on each side of the door as the designer proposed as I don't think I like the symmetry.

Did the designers who came out charge you for the consultations? Did you tell them you did not want a symmetrical arrangement?

If they came out for free and you picked their brains, and now plan to use their ideas and do it yourself, then you should either do it yourself, or hire one of them to spend more time on a more in-depth plan that takes into account your desire for a balanced but not mirror-image plan.

If you paid a nominal fee for their time, you got what you paid for, an off-the-cuff design that is not ready to go. If you need to tweak the plant selection, you'll need to pay them extra, or use the free advice you get here, which may or may not be worth more than you're paying for it.

The alternative is to study and learn on your own for a while, and then choose the plants when you know enough about them and about the principles of good design to pull it off.

I'll give you a hint: you can balance the plantings from one side to the other by choosing a plant or group of plants with a similar visual weight to the ones opposite. However, the fact that some of the plants you mention will lose their foliage in winter, some won't, some will flower at certain times and others won't, will also affect the design differently at different times of the year.

I did initial consultions for nominal fees with a landsape company and I am trying to gather as much info as possible and improve on the plans ourselves.
It was interesting that both people suggested a totally symmetrical plan but guess this is the easy/first step to propose.
I am trying to come up with similar height evergreen shrubs on each side now (otto luken,boxwood,or indian hawthorne) but vary them from on one side vs the other). Hopefully this is in the right direction.

Your house has a formal, symmetrical facade. The designers should have asked you if you wanted a formal or informal planting, and what your goals were in changing what's there.

It's not just the height you want to consider. Leaf texture affects "visual weight". Fine textures like boxwood look solid and substantial. Large leaves look more coarse, and depending on whether a plant has an open, airy form, or a more compact form, can look "lighter" even if they are a similar size.

Think about a seesaw: if you have an adult on one end, you can either put another adult on the other end, or two kids. Or three if they're small kids.

You also want to consider form. Four different plants, all with rounded shapes, may be uninteresting. Varying the texture, leaf color, or overall shape adds interest. Form refers to whether the overall appearance of a plant is rounded, horizontal, vertical, pyramidal, weeping, etc.

Avoid the "one of each" look. The area is not that large, so determine what the mature size of the plants will be, and leave some space between the plants and the siding. You may find that if you want to repeat plants in groups to avoid a spotty look, you'll only have a few different plants in the beds.

I am sorry this is so off topic, but we are looking to build a portico/covered entry this summer ourselves (well, really my husband-lol!). I want it to look almost identical to yours- we have a colonial style house too. Was there a kit that you bought to build that portico, or was it made from scratch? Thanks, and sorry again for being off topic...

I am not sure where you live in MD, but here in my neighborhood I could take a stroll and see dozens of houses with your same basic layout. If you have not done so walk around and take pictures and/or notes of what you like.

How far off is a potential redo of the walkway? A different style walk could completely change the design for the plantings.

- Brent

Brent-I have driven around endlessly. Many of the colonials were in older neighborhoods, shaded or something that made in asymmetrical. The drives did give me the ideas for the otto luken against the windows .
Re. the walkway, I had 2 people come out that said don't even bother with the beds, focus on the walkway first-a curved bluestone going across the lawn directed towards the bottome of the driveay. It would be bordered with brick to match the bluestone at the back of the house. But trying to save $$ for a kitchen remodel so depending on how much they quote... we'll see. It seemed like from the advice I received here, that we really should address the walkway. One guy said I could use wiegela in the front part of the bed as I get full sun.
Thanks for the continued advice. I think I'll have to convince my husband that the walkay is the way to go.

Juliann-I don't mind the question at all.
We got the idea from all our drives around the older neighborhoods. My husband and brother did it from scratch. It was NOT an easy task, in particular the getting the curve/arch geometrically correct was really difficult. I remember one day we were on the internet and got advice re. using a pencil around a string to draw the arch on plywood etc. I can certainly have him write a little note of some of the tricks they used to put it all together. I think everything they got was from Lowe's except the columns he ordered from a website company. Let me know if you would like more info. Thanks.

Thanks ravmd. I really like the curved or "half barrell" look, but my husband thinks it would be too hard for him to do himself. If your husband wants to send along a few tips on what he and your brother-in-law did, I am sure it would be a big help! Our email is jkangelone@verizon.net. Thanks again!

If you are serious about nonsymetrical beds, I would suggest getting rid of the cement side walk, extend and add curves to the beds with different height and textured plants that are hardy for your zone and soil conditions. Have your soil tested, and it looks like you receive a lot of sun and those are factors you need to know before choosing plants. If you bring the beds out and give them some depth, you will be able to soften the hard edges of the house and get away from the straight lines and formal feel.