I would consider an old fashioned simple, formal look that starts with widening the sidewalk by adding a soldier course of brick along each side. The hedge looks like it's on the slope and in bad shape. Redoing it and placing it at the top of the slope would give a more stable look. Using a slow growing plant that doesn't get big and learning how to shape it correctly will make the hedge look better and last longer. Or a plant that never grows larger than 3' ht. and width would be low maintenance. A groundcover on the slope instead would look better. Pushing the ends of the hedge back away from the walk would help a lot to open up the entry experience and the view to the house. I'm showing the house flanked with two small trees. Plants that top out at about 12' to 15' would eliminate worry of them getting too large. Many woody, flowering plants would qualify, depending on the specific characteristics that appeal to you. A couple of 3' ht. dome-shaped shrubs, just off the corners of the foundation, would help to tie the house visually to the ground. Annual color at both sides of the porch would look welcoming. If the lily of the valley grows good, though not evergreen it would make a fine groundcover in the front porch area. At the front of the house there are no ugly features so no need for shrubs that cover the foundation, though you might consider adding some quality window boxes at some point. I'm copying here your instructions from the other thread as it's inconvenient trying to toggle back and forth..... Front of house landscape help needed Posted by gilld 6 (My Page) on Mon, Apr 16, 12 at 19:23 Hi all, Thanks for reading. I just discovered this great forum in my attempt to look for inspiration for landscaping for the front of our house. I have never done any design nor landscaping and am at a complete loss and appreciate any suggestions! We are looking to just clean things up on a low budget and, of course, to look as nice as possible, knowing that we are not green thumbs and will need to take care of on our own. The house faces south and gets sun all day. Here is what we know is growing, and what we are thinking of doing so far: -For lack of a better solution and funds, replace missing privet bush on at sidewalk. -Pull up the weeds-turned-bushes directly in front of the house (2-3 on each side in front of windows). -Leave some of the hostas to the right and left of front stairs, but thin them out -Edge beds on both sides in front of house, to either side of stairs -Clean out most of the beds, with exception of some hostas, mentioned above -Question pulling out all of the lily of the valley -Other half says to pull it all out and add back some bushes and mulch--- I say we need texture, variety in height, texture, color, etc. but no idea where to start! -We plan to work around the house on it's right side (pictured), to the basement window (for now) as it is more exposed to view and gets more sun. The house's other side is shady because of two trees in neighbor's yard. We think the large trees/roots and shade, in part, the reason why the front privet is dead (in addition to not having been cared for for years).

Thanks for all the help. I had time today to get most of the work done. I went a bit nuts (for me) and removed the deck so I could really clean the underside really well. Took a little longer than I planned, but generally went well. The grease part was pretty easy (thanks to all of your help.) I did not changes the fuel line (didn't really need to -- I read somewhere it was a good idea to change those after 5 years, but I have not had any real problems with it .. so I left it as-is.) One problem I did have -- I could not get the old oil filter off. Not sure if it just was tightened to hard last time, or not lubed enough around the gasket. I just went ahead and put the new oil in and moved on with the old filter (Kohler actually only recommends changing it every other oil change.) I have one of the band/clamp oil removal tools, but it's really hard to get any leverage with the tight area. I was going to spray some WD40 around it to see if would loosen it, but thought I would ask around if that was a good idea or not. Any thoughts? Are there any tools that are better for tight spaces? Thanks again for all the help!

For more help here it will help to know where you are located and type of grass (if you know), or a photo of the grass will help also (close up). A healthy thick lawn will eliminate some weeds and prevent further weed infestestions. However likely you will want to pickup a few different weed killers to help take them out first. A 2gallon sprayer with a general broadleaf all in one killer is a good thing for walking the yard with. Green actively growing weeds are easier to kill - winter dormant weeds are difficult to kill. With an overseed i don't think you would need to put anything over it for top dressing - but if you have especially thin/dead areas - a light dusting of peat moss is helpful for evening out moisture. If you have a spreading type grass (non-fescue pretty much) frequent light fertilizing in the coming year along with good water practices ("infrequent deep watering", 1" once a week) will make a night and day difference. In the future mulch those leaves and clippings to help naturally feed the lawn (and provide organic material)

Thank you so much, junco! Yes, those are hostas - now that I googled the name. :-) I wish I knew that much. They too look a bit scorched so perhaps they are all showing the effects of a hot summer when nobody bothered to water them. Hopefully they will come back OK next spring. It is really helpful to know that it is fine to wait and see what happens next Spring. If the plants come back fine in the Spring, do you have any tips for maximizing bloom? I don't think they bloomed at all last year either. Unfortunately, I don't have an irrigation system in that area but i do have a hose on the deck so I will just have to pay attention to the weather and water as needed, which should be a major improvement from "never". Trouble is if we are gone again to stay with family overseas, I will have to entrust someone with watering the garden at least once in a while. Will also do the weed pulling by hand - myself. I can certainly take 2 hours. That small fern that shows up in the picture...I am pretty sure it was not designed to be there. :-) I love big hydrangea bushes and have always wondered how some get so big, These two plants we have never grew beyond their initial size - which is not very large. Thank you so much!