Absolutely no idea on gardening but I just wanted to tell you what a great improvement on the house with the railing. It looks great! It makes it welcoming and makes you want to sit on the porch.

thank you so much!!

does anyone have a suggestion for what kind of flowers to use??

You know, you might do better with a plant-specific question in one of the gardening fora, over on the other side (i.e. Gardenweb). We do have some gardeners here, but even for them to help you, you'd need to say more: what zone you're in, what plants you like, what sort of possibilities you've been thinking about on your own, that sort of thing.

Photoshopping is a LOT of work, and we usually try to provide the photoshop mavens on the board with as much information and pictures as possible, so they don't have to reinvent the wheel. Seems like you might want to get a baseline idea about plants first, then come back once you have some notions about what you'd want, and ask to see that.

thanks!! I guess I'll retire this post until I know exactly what I want. I'm clueless in the garden, so I'll go research some websites, or maybe just visit a garden store. I'm in Queens NYC btw. have a good night!

Wow, looks awesome. So did the patio part already exist or is that new with the stairs? I wish I knew how to photoshop but I dont. Can I make a few suggestions. One is shutters. I would put shutters on all the windows, even the one up top. I would paint them and the door a dark charcoal gray....I tell everyone about my favorite color and it looks great with brick...its called SW Wrought Iron Gate. Here is our previous home with the front door this color. Its not black, just a hair lighter.

I grew up in NJ so I think the plants I would choose for you would be something that stays ever green all year, like an azelea or rhododendrons. There is another evergreen that produces a white flower (cant remember the name). I would layer your plants so that you get additional color....plant tulips along the very front, daylilies second back, then the shrubs.

wow gk!!!! thank you soooo much for your helpful response!! I know I'm a little lost as to what ideas I have, but even hearing some names of flowers I can look up is great, some I might know by sight, but not name. and wow!! your previous home is amazing!!! such gorgeous landscaping!!

oh and the patio did not exist before, we used to have big bushes where the patio is now (you can see it in the before pic from the link). we had the patio added on and the bricks redone only 2 weeks before our wedding last year!! I was having such anxiety that I wouldn't even have stairs to walk out of my house on the big day!! lol

thanks again!!

Ziggy, your house is darling.

I'm no garden smartie either. What I think works best for us mere mortals is to get in the car, drive around, and see what you like. If you go on a weekend you can see lots of folks out in their yards and you can ask, "What kind of bush is that?" Also, I think when you go into a local nursery they can offer you a lot of help. Try taking a pic of your house with you. They're terribly sharp on all that stuff.

Enjoy and I hope you end up with a very pretty yard!

Over here on the decorating board usually what we do is help folks design outside paint colors or maybe where to put a trellis, or if or not to have shutters, or what color to paint the front door... but the "what kind of plant" stuff happens on other boards over on the gardening side. Mostly we do interior stuff on this board, like "do you like these pillows with my couch?" :)

I have a lot of daffodils, and I feel your pain.

They are gorgeous while they last, but then there's that long, slow, ugly decline.

We solved our problem with hosta. We planted hosta around the daffodils, and daffodils around the hosta. The hosta come up just as the daffys are dying off, and you can hide the browning daffodil leaves under the hosta leaves.

The only problem is winter... neither hosta nor daffodils provide any winter interest. So you might think about interspersing some lirope, which is evergreen all winter.

Love your house!

Oh and I should mention, hosta come in a huge variety of sizes, shapes and colors.

And they're not expensive, as long as you don't develop a taste for the exotic varieties, LOL.

thanks ogoopogo! what flowers/plants did you end up using? what part of the country are you in? thanks for your advice and the link!

thanks Mclarke!!! your information is so helpful!! I'm going to check out some hostas!

Please note that hostas prefer shade to part-shade, and die back completely after a hard frost, and only leaf out again fully in mid-spring, so for a long stretch you would be left with a completely bare bed out front.

I think you should look at plants that are "evergreen" (that have foliage throughout the year, do not die back or lose their leaves) to create a structural backbone to that garden. That way you have attractive greenery out there year around. I'd look at some dwarf holly bushes (they are hardy, adapt well to different soil, and like the sun). You can underplant these with some bulbs (those daffodils!) and annuals for color, and other perennials as you become more knowledgeable about plants and gardening. You could consider some contrasting bushes/perennials (think of foliage as a decoration--shape, color, size, texture, etc.) for contrast as well. That bed could be a real asset to your lovely house.

Remember that for the first 2 years after planting shrubs or bushes, you should water deeply and regularly until the plants are established. Once they are established they will only need help during droughts.

Karen

What a pretty house! I have no suggestions on what to plant either, but if you do search online there are several sites that have free gardens plans. That is how my clueless behind chose the landscaping for the front of our home!

Hi zig, great house.

I would plant something tall in the corner of the front bed beside the stair. Because it is retaining wall made bed, I'm guessing you can't plant a real tree or the roots would probably destroy the wall. I'd suggest a shrub with arching branches. I think bridal wreath spirea would be lovely. In the spring its long branches are covered in white blooms and after that it is just nice green backdrop. Make sure you buy a variety that will grow tall (at least 7' for that corner I'd think). Another nice shrub for that spot might be a tall variety of hydrangea. I just bought one that is suppose to grow to 6' and has lime coloured leaves.

Next to the taller shrub in the corner you could do two other smaller shrubs - maybe a purple leaf sand cherry or european cranberry (red leaves) and a goldmound spirea.

In the front of the bed, depending on your level of gardening and how much work you want to do, you could either plant colourful annuals every year or do some low maintenance perenials that will come back every year. A row of yellow stella d'oro daylilies across the front of the bed would look lovely and be almost maintenance free. A few hosta stuck in among the daylilies would add interest. If it was me, I'd probably do 3 or 4 large clumps of plants in the front of the bed - one clump of the stella d'oro's another of hostas, etc. Then you could do a couple of trailing vines in between.

Another option for the back of the bed would be to still do the tall spirea in the corner, but then do a row of controlled hedge all the same height along the rest the wall. Two or three alpine current could be trimmed to have a very clean profile. Or two or three hydrangeas for a more flowing free form hedge.

Just some ideas. No matter what you do, it's already gorgeous. Enjoy.

A series of books I've found really helpful are by Lois Hole. You could look for the one on trees and shrubs and another on perennials.