There was a recent post about this subject, how to transition a symmetrical house into an informal landscape. A search on foundation plantings should turn it up.

I don't like columnar or pyramidal shrubs in the foundation planting unless there is a good reason to put them there, ie. you need something tall to hide an ugly meter or you want to emphasize something vertical in the architecture, etc.

Your list includes plants for both sun and shade, which do you have in this area?

Thanks for the tip -- I'll look for that post.

I am tempted to emphasize the vertical lines of the columns.

I have partial sun in the area. It faces east, and is protected from the stronger winter winds. Oddly enough, one of the mahonia is in full sun, and it's doing much better than the two in partial shade. The knock out rose would probably do fine on the southern side of the porch, but I don't know how I feel about looking at bare, thorny canes all winter. My husband doesn't think the mohonia looks attractive enough to be planted by the front door. I'm reluctant to put the yews there, are having ripped out 40-year-old yews at my old house. I swear, I have had four different shrubs in this location in the past seven years!

Without knowing your sun exposure, I will assume that you get at least 4-6 hours of sun per day. I have used Feather Reed Grass var. 'Stricta' in situations like this. Another thought to dress up the columns would be to plant a clematis at the base of either one. If you want a more substantial vine, you can interplant the clematis with climbing hydrangea, this makes for a great combination.

Without actually seeing the layout, these are some combo's that I've used and had much success with.

One final note, no matter what you plant here, I highly recommend using a good quality compost to mix into the soil before you plant.

Can you post one or two pictures of the front, including one of the whole front yard? The Boxwood might be a good choice. I tend to agree on the roses, unless you have one that has colorful hips in winter and locate it off to the edge of the more "ordered" area near the entry. A grouping of these might be nice.

Yews generally want to be trees, so not the best candidates for the foundation unless you go with one of the low and wide ones like Taxus baccata 'Repandens'. Check out Microbiota decussata too, which has a nice winter color.

If you want to see what's possible with a mix of evergreens and deciduous plants, see if your library has Adrian Bloom's book "Gardening with Conifers" for inspiration.