IMO grass mostly doesn't need fertilizing if you care for it properly. Set your mower blades high and mulch your clipping back into the lawn. The spraying and fertilizing adds soluble nutrients and pesticides and herbicides that end up in groundwater and lakes and streams, contributing to decreased water quality. If you see issues with your lawn, get a soil sample and send it to be tested to find out what your lawn needs, and then supply just that.

How long have you been in this house? If it's only been a short time, I'd suggest not redoing the landscape for at least a year. See what comes up, when it blooms, and what you do or don't like. You may decide you want to keep some of what you have, or reuse it elsewhere, and it would take several years for new plants to reach the size of your current plants. My preference aesthetically is usually for a mix of shrubs and perennials, with several of the shrubs being evergreen to provide winter interest and also some with interesting winter bark or branches.

It look like this isn't due north since there is some light falling on the plants in this photo. Watch to see how much light this area is getting between now and the summer solstice as the sun angle changes. With this information, you will get better suggestions as to what will do well for you here.

This post was edited by nhbabs on Thu, Apr 11, 13 at 14:58

As for the lawn, you don't need some 4 step program or a commercial rip off company to get a green lawn. Fertilizing once a year (usually in the Fall) is enough. I use an organic fert like Soybean Meal (7-1-0 available at feed stores) or Milorganite (5-2-2 available at HD). Both are high in nitrogen. You should also send soil sample for testing to get an accurate read on pH and the amount of organic matter in your soil. I use the University of Connecticut test lab. If your pH is around 5 or 5.5 then add lime. The soil test will tell you how much. It takes a few months for lime to change the pH so be patient.

As for shrubs, if you have morning sun in that northern exposure you can plant most shrubs. If it's mostly shade consider Hydrangeas or a very large Hosta like Blue Angel (about 3 feet tall and 6 feet wide at maturity). Full sized Rhododendrons will grow too big and block those windows in very short order. I see one had already started to do that. You don't want shrubs that you have to prune regularly to keep in check. A full sized shrub is 12 feet tall. The newer Hydrangeas like Twist and Shout or Blushing Bride will grow 4 x 4 feet. Another good choice for shade is a small Mountain Laurell like Elf.

Just keep track of the amount of hours of sun on that exposure and then go to a good nursery where people are actually knowledgeable. Are those Oak Leaves or Maple?

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Soil Testing at UConn

I forgot to say before, nice house! I agree with Steve that the tall rhododendron in front of the window needs moving, but since they tend to have shallow roots you can probably dig it up, slide it onto a tarp and slide it to a new spot, either along a part-sun edge of the woods or at a corner of the house where it won't block a window but the height and width of the plant will help ground the house. There are bunch of shorter rhododendrons, so if your current rhodies are blooming, they probably will do fine in front of the windows. I have Checkmate which is a short form of PJM with smallish mahogany winter leaves and magenta spring flowers. I also have Yaku Prince, with pink buds that open to white flowers. Neither variety has gotten over 3' after more than 5 years in the ground here. Both the rhodies and hydrangeas need some sun to bloom really well. Leucathoe is another Heath family evergreen shrub that will do well even in almost all shade. It has creamy white spring flowers or in some cases pink flowers. Siberian cypress AKA Microbiota decussata looks a lot like a groundcover juniper but thrives in shade, one of the few conifers that likes shade.

Another thing to consider is to make your beds deeper so that you can have more than one row of shrubs, adding more layers of plants. Some shade tolerant perennials include hosta, Cimicifuga aka bugbane aka Actea,hellebores, coral bells aka Heuchera. In my garden, Veronica Georgia Blue blooms well with only a few hours of sun.

Nice house, Congratulations!
This house has a formal look to it, and you might find some formality to the plantings would go well with that style. Also consider at least some of the shrubs being evergreen, so that in the winter, it will not look bare. You also have no visible foundation and a front stoop that is level with the ground, so there is not a lot of vertical space to work with, so you want to keep your plantings low and slow growing.

IâÂÂve used Boxwood sempervirens âÂÂSuffruticosaâ in an East facing location and it is nice and slow growing, stays evergreen in the winter and doesnâÂÂt need the amount of pruning that other boxwood might. You can add them to other plantings. IâÂÂve used Hydrangea behind the boxwood which helps disguise the bare branches of the hydrangea in winter. Then in summer you have gorgeous flowers. You might ask if either of these shrubs will do well facing North. They are both supposed to tolerate shade. There are a few dwarf hydrangeas that would stay low for you.

I have Ilex crenate âÂÂSky Pencilâ on the North side of my house, but it does get a little bit of morning sun and then a little bit of afternoon sun. So the suggestion to actually observe the sunlight that falls on the front of your house and time it to see how many hours of sun it might receive will really help you evaluate what will grow there. Especially if you are trying to have any flowering. âÂÂSky Pencilâ is taller and narrow. I believe there are other Ilex shrubs that will grow in shade that would not be as tall as the 'Sky Pencil'. Maybe the Sky Pencil that is narrow can be used on the corner of the house away from the window. A similar shaped evergreen shrub that would tolerate shade, is a Boxwood 'Graham Blandy'.

Adding perennials, like a Hosta, would work if you include those in front of some evergreen shrubs. But they will die back in the winter, so keep that in mind.

Some camellias can grow and bloom in the shade. You haven't said what zone you are in, but that would be important. Bill_ri_z6b who is a regular on this forum, has been experimenting with Hardy camellias recently, so if you are interested, I'm sure he could give you more information.

You havenâÂÂt said, what you like? What is it that will make you happy to look at every day?

I don't think the shrubs in front of your house are too tall at all; it would look very skimpy to have plants that were all below the window ledge height, more so because your house has such a tall facade.

I DO agree that deeper beds would look good. If you have a chance to check out some of Gordon Hayward's books, especially The Welcoming Garden, you'll get some really useful ideas about proportion in gardens.

It's a beautiful house, by the way! And, welcome to the forum!

- DtT

Thanks so much for the wonderful suggestions. We do get some sunlight throughout the day - I'm guessing a few hours, so it's not 100% shade. I don't know for sure since it's been raining the past few days. We've been in the house 3 years. We're grading the front lawn this spring so now is the time to do the plantings.

Does anyone know of an online too (free) to map out gardens or landscaping?

I haven't used an on-line tool; I use big sheets of 8-squares-to-the-inch paper, a mechanical pencil, and a good steel straight edge. Once you have a base map, you can xerox copies and then go to town with sketching out different plants on copies of the plan, in colored pencils or markers.

When I'm re-doing a bed, my plans have the map, a list of candidate plants and their needs (amount of sun, mainly), seasons of bloom, notes on foliage texture, and ultimate heights/widths.

I take the plan to the nursery, along with a stack of Taylor's Guides (shrubs, trees, perennials) and then I make substitutions, based on what's available vs what's on the plan.

What I like about this method is that it's fun to make the plan (if you like drawing) and it gives you the feeling that you know what you're doing when you're at the nursery.

And maybe best of all you can look back years later, when you have a mature planting, and check to see if there's one single thing in the garden that matches what's on the plan. LOL, there usually isn't, but I don't think that takes away from the value of having made the plan.