another pic

other side

install a strip of white stone with a retaining edge, it will be hard to maintain flowers right by the street.

Here's a pin board of wonderful ideas from Pinterest -- about gardens installed around mailboxes ..... might be some ideas here .....

Here is a link that might be useful: Pinterest -- gardens around mailboxes

I would add some impact to the bed, but probably would not expand it. I might even make it smaller and taller. What I would expand are the beds across the front of the house -- soften the lines by giving them some curves and bringing them at least part way down the walk closer to the street. The color and flow will bring your eye toward the house and the door -- be more welcoming. The color at the mailbox can match or compliment the rest of the plantings.

I agree with lascatx, but I also want to move the mailbox to about 2-3 ft to the right of the driveway and paint the box white.

It is so funny to see the different styles of landscaping done in various parts of the country. In SoCal, where land is at a premium, we use whatever lot we get fully. Front yards often get hardscape, raised beds, patios etc. with landscaping throughout.

In colder areas, in other parts of the country, where large lots are common, I usually see shrubs huddled up next to the building (as if they are cold, to my eye lol...well, maybe they are!) with large areas of grass, and maybe a few small beds of perennials. The only depth is maybe a lonely tree or two. All of that land just sitting there doing nothing! sigh

For full disclosure, I have been involved with my husband doing design and renovations throughout the country. [NV, OR, FL, MA, mainly, but occasional things and prospects in SC, GA, TN and others ] But this is commercial work for resorts, where they put in a lot of focal point beds, plants and trees--more along the full landscape style that is done here.

I'm just musing and dreaming, but oh, what I would do if I lived in your house, with that huge yard! :)

This post was edited by Gyr_Falcon on Sun, May 4, 14 at 2:51

Thanks all.i will also be working on the foundation beds but was starting with the mailbox as you can see the mess to the left of the mailbox planting. Just figured expanding the bed would be a good fix for that area. Mailbox is staying put as its cemented in and I'm not digging that out. I'll start another post with closer pics of the foundation as there are some stepping stones that might impact how I expand them.

Do you like gardening? If you do, I could picture a curved bed at the front with borders on both sides of your walk, then an expanded kidney shaped bed around your tree with lots of tough perennials - looks sunny so depending on your zone, echinacea, lavander, catmint, ornamental grasses, shrubs....

I would also do beds on both sides of the walkway. You could curve them out toward the street and incorporate the mailbox on the one side. For ease you could just do rows of hostas on both sides of the walk and then more plantings on the small beds on either side by the street.

I wouldn't plant straight across that curb on only the one side. It will only accentuate the imbalance. I'd dig out a half circle around the mailbox, not going to the sidewalk, and plant something about 8-12" tall, all the same, like an ornamental grass. I'd grow a vine up the lamp post.

Since the garage and driveway dominate the left side, you need something to balance out the "tall side". I'd make a larger bed around the tree, perhaps parallel to the sidewalk, and oblong/kidney shape. A mounded bed would have been really nice to give some relief to the flat lawn. Google mounded bed gardening. If you like this idea, you might consider doing this in the fall so you can replant the tree and shrubs. It's best to do this before the tree gets any bigger and the plants have to compete with its roots to get established. Center the tree as the focal point or move it to the back of the bed, closer to the house. I think the advantage to this plan is it concentrates your planting to just one bed as it sounds like you really don't want to maintain a lot of garden by planting both sides. It just switches the focus from the left side to the right, where the expanse of lawn needs to be broken up.

Add a few small evergreen shrubs and color for spring, summer, and fall. You might take some of the shrubs from your foundation and use them in that bed. I'd definitely move the gold shrub--it isn't a good color with the dark gray house. I think you need larger and fewer shrubs along the foundation as it looks a bit busy and not cohesive.

I'd remove the dwarf conifer near the garage and the one on the corner of the house. You need something large and with a less clipped structure to anchor that corner.

Fertilize your lawn and done!

How about a walkway from the driveway (basic peagravel-over-sand-damp-and-tamp with gray paver stones) to the lamp -- and then add pretty gray gravel (with a garden border strip) across the front on both sides with "pockets" of plantings and larger stones or rocks .....

Ideas from Pinterest for mounded flower beds .....

Here is a link that might be useful: Pinterest -- mounded flower beds

Agree with lascatx that the beds near the house are more important than the ones by the driveway or street.

Most important rule: don't buy any shrubbery that wants to grow taller than you want it to be.

I would put in a walkway between the driveway near the garage and the house, with low beds on either side - maybe even a low picket fence about four feet from the walkway on the street side.

The bed on the right side of the house would be better more filled in, less "dotty."

Most large nurseries have a landscape design person that will help (for free or minimal fee) if you buy the plants from them. Might be worth looking into.

thanks all. Ill be bringing some pics to the local nursery and see if they have suggestions too. I like gardening but dont have a lot of time. Not sure I can afford to expand the beds a ton right now and plant all new big evergreen shrubs. I was originally thinking on a smaller scale but am open to work I can do over a few seasons...

Yeah--I agree with stolen identity. A garden bed that size won't have any impact and is kind of out of scale with the rest of the property. If you do decide to plant that close to the curb, though, those big orange daylillies can withstand road salt. I don't know where you live, but the snow plow and road salt can wreak havoc on a garden in that location.

5 years old post

Oh, whoops.