For an easy overview of the unfamiliar garden plants you're seeing, you might go to the local public library and look for books about garden plants for your region. And if you're looking for a particular book your library doesn't own, their Interlibrary Loan service can obtain it for you (sometimes charging a small fee). === "Plants for a Livable Delaware" talks about invasive plants which should be avoided, and those which might be substituted for particular invasives. http://www.dnlaonline.org/information/plants_for_delaware.php === The University of Delaware Botanic Garden has -- besides the garden itself -- plant info, events, plant sales, etc.: http://ag.udel.edu/udbg/ === NCSU has wonderful lists of garden plants in various categories (bulbs to trees, and everything in between). I've seen this information in the same format for other states, so I assume there's a USDA database which the states adapted for their particular climates. Unfortunately I could not locate such a database for Delaware (though that doesn't mean there isn't one). Anyway, NC's zones include DE's zones, so the NC database would be useful for you: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/index.html First, click on the category you're interested in. Then choose whichever arrangement of data presentation is most useful. Don't ignore the "By Scientific Name" and "By Common Name" at the top of each category.

You patio area looks lovely. Now it's time for the fun stuff - the plants! You will get the most benefit from adding some structural shrubs. Just adding perennials won't give you any winter interest since they dieback in the winter and can be insignificant. Some low maintenance shrubs like Viburnums, Lilacs, Hydrangeas will work just fine and have a nice bloom in the spring/summer. Planting in odd numbers always works well and also planting in masses. I agree with Yaardvark by adding a nice ornamental tree to the right of the patio and tying the planting bed to the patio so it all connects. Once you pick all your main structural plantings (don't forget to include some evergreens to guarentee some greenery in the winter), you can add some perennials for a nice accent. For shade you can go with hosta, astilbe, ferns and japanese forest grass, to name a few! Also, when looking at the area from the secondary backdoor (not leading directly out to the patio) and your patio connection, you can easily just add a nice curving path of steppers to make that connection. That can be more cost effective and still give the same feel. Good luck!

Frankly your home is gorgeous and fits into the landscape nicely already, so no need to "guild the lily" and right now what you have is relatively low maintenance. The low fence is a little primitive, but could be replaced by something similar only nicer. I imagine that is to guide cars into the driveway? Otherwise not really needed. And I will add my voice to "no" on the white stones. Why call attention to gravel with such a high contrast color? If you want white, a gorgeous white flowering dogwood that you put a deer fence around until it is grown up enough to take it, or spray religiously with "Deer Off" as Marymd suggested.

Please look into Permaculture / food forests or forest gardening. Plants and trees can provide beauty and function, and the idea is that you plant things that are perennial and will give you food. You could plant some evergreens that will give you pine nuts, some paw paw trees, persimmon trees and understory ones like Asian pears, serviceberries, figs and hazelnuts; bushes could be Cornelian cherries or bush cherries, blueberries or honey berries, currants; the list is endless. Even asparagus can be used, and it will resemble tall grasses. You could have rhubarb for their amazing color and leaf size, and strawberries as a ground cover...you could have a large pergola or arbor with kiwi or grapes...all of these plants are beautiful, many provide seasonal color and fragrance along with delicious fruit. I started a food forest last year, and along with what I had planted, I have well over 30 kinds of fruit that I'm growing and I plan to add more. I will have fresh fruit from May through November / December. I live in a zone 4-5 climate in Vermont. Watch a few videos by "Canadian Permaculture Legacy" to get the idea. It does not have to look like an orchard or vegetable garden, but instead, an integrated and verdant oasis of interesting plant shapes, heights and colors intermingled . Personally, I love raspberries, but I won't grow them because I don't want to deal with the canes which get unruly and are kind of labor intensive. All of my choices are tidy and low-maintenance. Right next to the sidewalk, for example, I have planted a 120' hedge of Regent serviceberries which will serve a number of purposes: all of the leaves from the neighborhood won't end up in my front yard, it will offer privacy in the summer but still be of a friendly height, it will feed the birds, act as a sound buffer for the constant traffic and will help with the dirt and dust that gets in the house from the highway. The hedge will explode in blossom in the spring; it will offer tons of food for me and it will offer fall color. Plants should provide more than a single purpose! With your upstairs windows, I was wondering if you could replace the existing ones with somewhat bigger/taller windows and add a second and third one on the left and right windows to help align with the downstairs and to let in more light.