Search for Mr. Morton's pictures in the gallery on this forum (little link at the top of the page...). He has a fabu cottage garden and the front is all small plants. I think you could do it, and your place would look smashing. You aren't really going to get the full cottage garden effect with low plants, however you'll get a lovely mix. And you are always welcome here: short plants or tall plants.

Since you look like you are in a subdivision that is planned, do you need to follow any rules? Making a very low raised bed from stones of some sort maybe even just 2 courses tall would help your low plantings "drip" over the edge and look lush without interfering with your mown area. It would make your life easier!!

girlgroupgirl

Looks like it would be great to me. Your front yard would be a good size and shape to replace the grass with flowers and ornamental edibles if you wanted to. You could put pots and hanging baskets on the porch and garage door areas to integrate the house to the garden. You could soften the straight line of the sidewalk and driveway with iceplant if it's hardy in your zone (creeps over the pavement edge just a little) or some other trailer that doesn't run too far out onto the pavement. The new dwarf echinacea, nepeta Walker's Low or Dropmore, limerock ruby coreopsis, dianthus, bluebonnets and poppies, shasta snow lady, some of the reseeding salvias (snow lady and lady in red pretty reliable) should stay low and bloom a pretty long time. Border dahlias (google dahlia stargazer - are great and can be seeded as annuals every year very easily if you don't like lifting them). Ornamental hot peppers, purple leaf lettuce, herbs can be mixed in with flowers too.

If you have a long winter season you might want to include dwarf evergreen shrubs and hellebores so the yard would not go bare.

I would call your house a modern prairie style. You have the horizontal bands of upper color, lower roof and garage windows. I would continue that horizontal look out at the curb with split rail fence, wrapping around the corners at least a little. Wouldnt a bed of roses look great behind that fence?
I would probably put a porch rail across the front too. You know how the song goes: "love the one your with"? Well, love the house you have. Emphasize the best of its lines. Its a big handsome house with sturdy posts and strong horizontal lines. Keep that line going with the same color across a broad expanse. Dont junk it up with a hodge-podge of color mixes. That deep red across the front would look great picked up at the ground level.
Strong bold lines are always a standout. This is just my opinion. Pondy

Maybe you could put a decorative bird house on top of the irrigation box.

Thanks for the reference Triple G(you could be a rapper with that name!)
Beth, While your home is quite different than mine, the front yard is small like mine is. Of course you can cottagize it! You just need to develop the "bones" before going crazy with planting. I like 3Gs idea of a small garden wall, if only to add perceived elevation(and replace the EVIL that is black plastic edging). If you choose to eliminate all the turf(triple dog dare ya!)you'll have to add some kind of pathway going through it. Think about seating areas/focal points. After you have all this stuff figured out, then have fun with the planting. Good luck.

You know what would look fabulous?

If you tiled or put some sort of flagstone on your driveway and entry way. Have you considered that?

I agree with Roses! (do they do well in your area?) Or how about a small weeping tree about 3 feet out from the house on the right corner?

...and you could paint a faux flagstone in the driveway or have a contractor do it. Much less expensive. HomeDepot has a template that I'm going to use to paint my small landing off my porch. It costs about $15.

Thank you all for the great advice. I certainly am encouraged!

Thankfully our subdivision has no rules about our landscaping. We had to maintain what the builder planted for a year, but that has since passed so it's free game.

I love the idea of a weeping tree in the front. I hadn't even thought of adding another tree.

I will definitly need some evergreens since our winter is VERY long.

I like the idea of a low wall, also. I may have to sneak over to the construction site across the street and snag some rocks. My husband will be so sad to see his black plastic edging go!

I guess I'm in for a winter's worth of research. thanks again for all the advice!

Yes! I once had a "lawn" that size and turned it into a cottage garden that everyone loved to visit. Put a garden bench out there and neighbors loved to come...

I'd slap some shutters and flower boxes on those second floor windows too!

How do you paint concrete to look like flagstone. Pictures or links please.

How about some roses that grow from either side of the garage and have a shallow trellis above the garage. Oh my that would be lovely.

Use that irrigation box as a platform. A nice piece of slate will hide it and still keep it accessible. Then put a fun piece of garden art on the slate. As you plant around the slate, it will disappear, but your 'art' will remain.

It is a great house. You are going to have a bunch of fun.

Here is a link that might be useful: Creative Soul

Hey Beth I'm also in CentralOregon but not as lucky as you being a zone 5 I'm a zone 3... If you are interested in a weeping tree there is a artic willow that weeps and it does wonderful in our colder climate. Do you have deer come into your area? If so I would get plants that are resistant to their likes. The typical rocks that abound in Bend would match in color to your home and would be beautiful. Different thymes would be very nice creeping around through your other plants. I use them and mints in my containers, nice green filler and come back every year. Less cost to have stuff in containers.

Have fun and keep showing pictures. Nice to see someone here who's from my area.

Beth, Strongly urge you to look at the post called Blackeyed susans...gotta love 'em. You havent lived until you click onto Mollydogs album and see her yard. It is absolutely astonishing!! I cant imagine how she ever gets into those lovely, lush beds to deadhead or weed. But just ignore those thoughts and enjoy the beauty of one of the best gardens I've ever seen. She has some neat stone walls too. Pondy

That thing you're calling the Irrigation box,Is that where they read your water meter?? That's what ours looks like,only ours are outside our yards on the sidewalk and the meter man/woman comes to read it every month.It's also where we can shut off all the water to the hose if we need to.Never seen one up in someones yard before.
Kathi