If you feel you must do something, I think I'd opt for installing larger trees. These would need to come from a real nursery, not a garden center (who has only small material.) You'd need to personally select them to obtain trees with shape and fullness. I could see trees at both sides of the drive and a grouping @ ea. side of house. Since you already have trees in the drive vicinity, you could add one @ each side to make passageways. Trees would need to match species and be pretty close in size. Trees @ the house would need to match species to one another (but not to those at drive.) You could eliminate the farthest back tree in each triangular grouping, if needed, to keep in budget. If we were doing this from scratch, it would have been nicer to have the drive trees positioned closer to the street. Given the risks and cost, don't think you'd want to transplant them now. As I recall, the existing trees needed limbing up. Hopefully, it's been done. Don't let them give the impression that they will eventually be obstructing the view to the front of the house. Another thing you could do (don't know if it's been mentioned) but great looking, green grass makes a huge difference in the overall picture. Hopefully, you have irrigation, but if not, set up a temporary system. Find a way to get it uniformly green ... maximum fertilizer and water that it can tolerate until achieved. Don't allow any bare earth areas. Makes it look like a construction site. The plantings by the culverts look weedy and junky. It would be better to have only mowed lawn. The freestanding landscape wall looks good in your picture, but there are many variables in getting something like that to come together. And it's more than just the wall itself. If you made any errors, it would be better not to have started on such a project. I would advise against it unless you're going to get some qualified professional help, but I question if that would be worth it at this point. There would be a tendency to economize if building it just to help sell the property, so you'd need to be an expert at making no mistakes under those circumstances.

Deeje, yes. its my property. i bought the house this way and i have no idea why that was done. I am sure I want to have those hedges moved (is that possible?) or get new ones up against the neighbors driveway. I dont plan on doing too much gardening. i want a nice green lawn with hedges around it where my kids can run around... Deeje, yes. its my property. I bought the house this way and I have no idea why that was done. I am sure I want to have those hedges moved (is that possible?) or get new ones up against the neighbors driveway. I don't plan on doing too much gardening. I want a nice green lawn with hedges around it where my kids can run around... I guess I don't know the pros/cons of having a separate walkway vs. one next to my parking pad in a I shape to the stairs aside from the later giving me a larger contagious green yard... I guess I dont know the pros/cons of having a seperate walkway vs one next to my parking pad in a L shape to the stairs aside from the later giving me a larger contigious green yard...

I remember how difficult it is to get started when you have a bare, flat yard. I kept staring out the windows, trying to imagine what I could plant where. It helps if you have someone stand outside while you look out the windows. Have your helper walk around from place to place, waving his/her arms, and maybe even holding a broom up overhead. Try to imagine your helper is a bush or a tree. When your helper gets to a spot that looks good from the inside, make a note of the position, or have your helper plant a garden stake (much easier to move than a tree!) Then go stand outside, or across the street, and see if that really is a good place for a tree. Use pots of annuals which you can move around until you find a space placement that suits you. THEN dig a bed. You can always set out empty boxes, or laundry baskets or even chairs to find spots for a shrub. Anything of a similar size that's easily movable will do. Here are some general principals I've found helpful. If the front is your main entrance, plant things that you will be happy to see when you come home. Start planting close to the walk and steps. This will encourage you to expand. Take it slow. I read once that you should live in a house though one set of seasons before you do any major changes. I translated that into planting annuals at first...which will have to be redone anyway. Fall is really the best time to plant trees and shrubs, as then they will get lots of rain. And, they will be cheaper at the 'year end' sales. Plant evergreens and long season perennials in the front as you and the neighbors will be looking at this area every day. Don't be afraid to take out something you don't like. Try to transplant it, or give it away. If it lives, fine, but you don't have to put up with something you don't like. Bare ground will make you feel better than a plant that irriates you. Don't plant acid loving plants close to the foundation of the house or near the cement path or sidewalk. They won't thrive. I figured this out after losing a row of azaleas, one by one. You can buy spray paint that is specially made to be sprayed holding the can upside down, so you can mark the edges of the beds. Just make sure that it isn't 'clear' paint. (Yes, it does come that way - a friend did this!) Or take a container of flour out and use that to mark plant placement or bed edges if you want a very temporary marking. The front yard is your house's public face and a place to show off your gardening skills. Rather than screening off the street, plant so that people driving or walking by will have something pleasant to look at and your visitors will find inviting. And for safety reasons, you don't want to 'hide' your house. Burglars go for entrances that are screened off from the view of the neighbors. Re paths: Make sure you leave good access to the utility boxes. Make sure you can get a lawnmower and wheelbarrow everywhere they'll need to go. You won't want low branching trees too near paths, either. If you don't have a pleasant view out the windows, one small patch of bright color will draw your eye away from the eyesore. Try a few pots of color, just set out on the ground, and see how they draw your attention. You do want to 'hide' the foundation of the house with taller, more solid shrubs. This will help transition the house into the lot, and help it look 'planted' rather than just 'plopped' onto the lot. Place lower plants further away from the house, along the path and sidewalk. You don't have to have ANY lawn in the front, but you don't have to take it all out at once, either. Have fun! Daphne in Tacoma

I don't know what your zone is, but having large evergreen shrubs against the house around my way (zone 5, 4 seasons), creates problems by holding moisture and debris against the house which harbors insects and causes dust and mold to collect, which some people (like me) are sensitive to. If you want to replace those with a flowery, cottage garden, go for it! But only if you love to fiddle and fuss with the garden. I have a flowering border against a rock wall just like you describe. There are many beautiful dwarf flowering shrubs to choose from, but make sure they are dwarf. A flowery cottage garden doesn't lend itself to big shrubs and evergreens. We have large, hardy clumping perennials as our backdrop, and also trellises, which have a conical shape. Remember, repetition is your friend. You can have a few surprise single elements but too many and it just looks like a hodge podge. Also, perennial gardens looks kinda stark until late summer so plant for some spring interest. If you like to sit on the front porch, you have a great spot for a fountain there too, if you really want to go all out. They are a pain though, particularly in the sun due to algae growth, but if some of that area gets shaded by the house, it could work. Here's a photo, the blue stuff is Russian sage. There are coneflowers in there and rudbeckias and blanket flower and yarrow, and some small knock out roses in other places. No lilies but they would look great there, but where this garden is the deer would have them as their nightly salad. The trees in the background are redbuds but we have crab apples in the front yard in front of this garden. There is a big decorative bird bath off to the right which you can't see in this photo.