There are a couple of big differences between your hedge/house and the one in your picture (which I agree - it looks dynamite there). First, the house in the pic has very different proportions from your house. It's more squared off, whereas yours is much wider than it is tall (from these pics). The windows in the inspiration house are tall and narrow, whereas yours are low and wide. The inspiration house has some fairly "busy" woodwork, while yours has a simple, clean style. The structured hedge for the inspiration house is off-setting some of that elaborate woodwork, and the length of the hedge is providing some balance to the tall, narrow look of the house. The same hedge on your house is reinforcing the low, wide structure of the house. You have a pretty structured, clean look to the house, and the structured, clean look to the hedge is making an overwhelming sense of "structure". It makes it look boxy and plain, and takes a lot of the potential character away from your (very nice) house. Also, the others who commented that the hedge is cutting your lower windows in half horizontally are right, and that's just reinforcing this impression even more. There are a lot of things you could put in there that will complement your house's style and still give you privacy in those windows. If this were mine, I'd want to balance the structured look of the house with a much less structured look in the lawn. You can do that if you replace the hedge (is that boxwood?) with another evergreen hedge that has a rounder, more mounded character. You can also provide balance by making a nice, deep, curving bed in the front. I would suggest rhododendrons, or azaleas, but planted with some space in between them, not as a wall of greenery. You'd get your privacy in the windows, they'd break up the horizontal effect, they're pretty low-maintenance (as long as you get ones that are appropriately sized, and I'd suggest ones that aren't likely to get above 4 or 5 feet tall, max), and you get flowers. In front of those, I would put some nice summer-flowering perennials in. Daylilies would be nice - you don't get much lower-maintenance than a bed full of daylilies. You'd want to have several different types and plant them in drifts so that you get nice irregularly-shaped blocks of color throughout the season. Hostas would also work for you - if you want something a little "formal" looking you can front your bed with a nice edging of small-ish hostas - this can give a very finished look to a perennial bed. I also agree about putting something in that rock wall. Creeping thyme is lovely and low-maintenance. Campanulas would soften the look really nicely too.

Thanks Karen & BorS! Rouge, you're very welcome & I'd like to share some of these ideas with you. Did you see the post where flowerfan/Karen grows the clem up a fence in the sun, then guides it onto a large tree? She says the clem would die from lack of sun & lack of moisture if planted near the tree's root. Leslie197 plants the clem 3 ft away and wires small trellises together to form a "ramp" to the shrub or tree. Then she simultaneously hides the rigging & shades the roots with hostas & the like. Rouge, if you have any interest, click on "Clematis in tree" link above & see flowerfan2 on Mon, Jun 18, 07 at 0:30 & leslie197 on Wed, Jun 20, 07 at 23:36. I'm thinking of where to plant my baby clems someday & I'm fascinated by all this. Best wishes.

It is an interestin idea but I imagine that it might be difficult to maintain the hedge, without damaging the climber. I have a traditional hedge at a constant 1.5M height and have grown several single stemed shrubs to 2.5M intermitantly through the centreline of the hedge. above 2.5M they branch out and flower. I have used philadelphus, white lilac, yellow buddleia, mimmosa and a few fruit trees. It seems to work.

1. is a variagated eunoymous which you can prune to a bush shape or make is a vine to grow up the fence if you prefer. you have to tie it in place though 2. cedars - can't tell exactly what but yes it can be trimmed at the top. It would grow bushy once you start doing that. 3.globe yew - you can prune it to keep it a nice round shape 4. probably Hick's yew - which you can prune to columnar shape if you wish.. nip out the top so it keeps bushy. Yews will grow new foliage but its rather slow. 5. that spirea is normally small and other than the dead branch, its healthy. You can transplant it to another location if you wish but wait til fall to do so. 6. cedar cones - not much to do there. These tend to grow tall if given enough ground space. If you really want to neaten it up or to shape it, it will be okay for as long as you dont cut into the wooden area. 7. boxwoods would be fine with any method you wish to use to trim in. I like to shape plants with my pruning scissors as it gives me more control Again, a preference thing. Its a spreading juniper and it does not recover from heavy pruning. I suggest using methods in bonsai pruning.. something I do frequently to hide the trimings. Cut in the underside of the branches (not from the top). I don;'t know if its a burning bush but if it starts getting red and yellow in the fall, it probably is. Prune it in the same way as the Juniper.