What about catmint?

Lol Skibby, i ordered a pack of seeds to ws, and i was thinking about that! I have a row in the back of the bed i planted where the shrubs were. I think it would look nice with the pink primrose.

What about lavender, if it works in your zone, so that as visitors walk up the sidewalk they can rub against it and enjoy the fragrance?

What about a clematis up your lamp post?

If you widened the path along the sidewalk that would allow you to plant a series of plants of various heights with the taller ones out against the lawn areas with shorter ones down the insides of the beds.

Since your house is assymetrical with the porch on the right side, I would plant a big bush or tree on the left side of the house out from the corner to give the house a more balanced appearance. The plant would also help screen at least part of the view of the car (I am assuming that is your driveway on that side).

For a more cottagey feel, can you put sections of fence at the front edge of the lawn (can't tell if there is a sidewalk or not). Alternately, you could offset the fence back into the yard on either side and put a bed of perennials in front of the fence sections (thereby cutting down on the lawn area to mow and fertilize).

Just a few suggestions off the top of my head but I see lots of possibilities there that could give the yard more curb appeal.

Forgot to point out that you might want to get a professional to try and powerwash your white paint on the red brick. They may have a special chemical that would do the job--not sure if you just used water or anything special. Another thought to consider is to whitewash the whole house to cover up the white stains. If you can't beat, work with it! :)

Lilyfinch- Great pics! Your dogs are adorable :)

I think your front yard has so much potential. It's a great size and seems fairly level in the picture. Have you ever thought of a potager? It could be very pretty with roses and other flowers everywhere. Maybe include some purple raspberries, some blueberries, a few fruit trees, a few obelisks for beans or tomatoes...it would be beautiful. Since I've been researching potagers (for my much smaller garden space) I've seen roses along one side of a bed, with asparagus and tomato plants on the other. Peas and lettuces mixed with violas and hollyhocks. I've also seen metal arches in potagers covered with climbing roses, clematis, cherry tomatoes, purple climbing beans, even melons.

I also really like the idea of lavender along the walkway and maybe putting some fencing towards the front for perennials...and roses? This may be much more than you are asking for, but I couldn't resist. Gotta get to class but I'll check back when I can. Have a great day! :)

Yes, I agree that you should widen your path - any number of ways you could do it - I would get tumbled red brick to complement the house colour. RE: the spilled paint - make sure to get someone who guarantees their work, cause you want to make sure they don't ruin the seal on the brick. I agree also with the tree to balance things - I would go with something like a flowering crab, that can be trained low and wide. An arbour at the road would be fabulous - anything with a long bloom period and/or scent would be perfect. That and the tree would give you privacy from the road, too.

Nancy.

Wow thanks for all the help!
Ive only grown 2 lavender plants. I have to read more about it because they got very woody. I adore the scent though so ill read about it and maybe choose between that and catmint, or i remembered i really like caryopteris as well.
I used my own pressure washer, which caused pieces of the stone around the front door to chip awway, but wont take away the white wash! I bought window boxes and plan on using trailing petunias to cover it up. I thought about professional but am not sure if then the whole entire front of house would need done? I think the shutters were painted white, and then as time went on the paint kinda ran down onto the brick. Almost every house in my neighborhood has this issue.
On the left near the car there is a very pretty limelight hydrangea, should get 6 to 8 ft tall. I added that this fall. Next to that, bishops castle rosebush. Under the window there is an iceberg rose which i love, then next to the chimney a pinky winky hydrangea. I totally get what you mean by balancing it with the porch. Also i painted the porch white, including the siding you see. I love it!

I would love an arbor at the road, but the neighbors across the street park their car right there, so i feel like it would be ruined by their giant suv. They have 5 cars, for 4 people.(mom dad and 2 kids) I planted knockouts at the end close to the road so theyd maybe stop parking there. i think once they grow and scratch the car the problem will be solved!
LL- i love the potager idea for everyone else, and i know im going to seem nuts, but i dont really eat veggies! I like carrots, corn and potatoes. I wish i liked them! I will be adding herbs though, somewhere. Maybe berries for the birds would be nice!
Im going to go hide now, that you all know i dont eat my veggies. :)

LOL!

Lilyfinch, you are so funny :)

Lilyfinch, you remind me of my dad with the veggies. Those are the only 3 he will eat. When my folks had moved my dad really wanted to experiment with a veggie garden. My mom told him if he grew it, he had to eat it. When I visited that summer and saw him eating a salad I almost choked!! He had held up his end of the bargain, but only had a veggie garden for that one year!! LOL!!

Your front yard is great. I agree with widening the paths. How wide are the paths now? Could you widen them enough to incorporate the lamp post into the path? You could also have them undulate a little, but still symmetrical if you want it to be a little less formal. I would even consider at the end of the path at the house flaring the path on each side out to incorporate the area in front of your house and porch. How long is the walkway? It looks long enough that you can repeat groups of perennials.

There are some great single-blooming peonies that would be pretty (and no staking), especially if planted with some May-Night Salvia and Iberis. That makes a nice little spring combo. Sedums like Autumn Joy or Matrona would give some interest down the path well into fall and even winter if you don't cut them back. Also some grasses might be nice too, like Hakonechloa. I have also fallen in love with Solidago 'Golden Fleece' planted with low purple asters. Mix in a Fairy Rose and it's magical!

Have you thought about shrubs at all? If you are able to widen the path and you don't think an arbor will work for you at the end, what about a dwarf alberta spruce at the entry on each side? Also there are some small spirea like Little Princess that work in a narrow border. Hypericum Hidcote may be a nice yellow that has quite a long bloom period. Mine seemed to never want to stop and hasn't gotten to be taller than about 2'. Crimson Pygmy Barberry is a great smaller shrub with a nice color.

What a great area you have to play around with. Have fun!!!

Your path is going to look so pretty when you're finished! I agree that you could widen the bed a lot and add some shrubs also. I would go ahead with the arbor. I think it would be pretty, at least from your side, and perhaps it would make the neighbors think twice about parking right there!

I am attaching a link that will take you to a website with some pictures of paths and the plantings adjacent to them. Just a jumping off point-hope it works. Scroll down the page before clicking on any links b/c some of the links are just ad pages, but there are lots of pics on that first page I sent. There are a couple really lovely ones and several straight paths like yours. The lavender lined path is pretty, but I'm not sure how well it would do in Pa.

Can't wait to see your finished project in a few months!

Here is a link that might be useful: garden path ideas

Lavender does fine in PA (at least in my zone 6), but you do need to add a lot of sand to the soil it grows in, and/or give it a raised bed. I have several raised beds with lavender that have been there for 5 years. Also, lavender gets woody and leggy after a while and you might need to replace individual plants with younger plants every few years. It's still one of my fav garden plants.

Lois in PA

hey lilyflower..when I tried to look at your pics a warning and a block came up from my virus program and said it removed and trojan virus from your pic file......

keesha, im sorry, i dont know why that happened to you, when i clicked on it nothing happened, just took me to photobucket? My computer is fine, we have norton, wonder what happened?

This bed is three feet wide and has a little bit of everything in it. Some of the colors are brighter than you want but it could be fixed with a little tweaking.
{{gwi:631971}}From 2006_07_20
{{gwi:631975}}From 2006_07_07

mao

It is ok..just wanted to let you know...hey, look at the garden spread in this months, actually I think it is Feb edition, I just got it this week anyway...the "recent" issue of Better Homes and Garden...there is a garden project in there that invites you to the front door....soon as I saw your pic of your house it made me think of that spread....