Jackie, your photos and suggestions are wonderful, however I fear that I have neither the space or the funds for a fence anywhere close to as lovely as yours. I have about a 13 ft. deep space between the sidewalk and a non-paved walking path that runs parallel to my house & the sidewalk, which I use daily to get from the driveway to the front door & to go from my front to the back yard. Also, my house is on a corner lot, and so if I added fencing to this area I would have to do the whole front and side as well, which is just too much of an expense for me to take on. A yard and fence like yours is one I dream of having at some point in my life, but right now it seems I'll have to get creative with my 13 ft deep yard and my non-fence. I have a little more space in the back yard, so I will be planting further back from the sidewalk there, and I'm thinking I might have to save my bigger teas for that space and find something a little easier to control for this area, maybe some of the Kordes roses I joust ordered would do nicely there.. ( I'm awful, I order roses not when I know where they will go, but when I find nice healthy types I like, so not what I should do!) Here is a photo from another angle, excuse the mess, I'm currently in the middle of adding a river rock boarder to my flower beds, and the bed in the is photo is in desperate need of weeding as well..

We have old brick (paving brick from old streets) on our terrace in back. We laid them over gravel, in sand due to cost and fear of cracking/heaving. They have heaved some due to tree roots, but they're pretty easy to put back in place - a bit of root pruning and back they go. Downside? It's on the west side of the house so sun is only in the late afternoon due to a large oak tree at the edge of the terrace (the source of those roots). All the shade, plus the humidity of a KY summer, cause algae/moss to form on the bricks. Over the years, we've tried innumerable ways to get rid of it, but the only thing that works is for us (in the past) and now my yardman to get down on his hands and knees, with many gallons of bleach and a hose, and a good scrub brush and scrub them clean. It lasts about a year, but is hard work. We could probably use a powerful chemical, but we feared for the landscaping and DH was not comfortable using it - I absolutely would never allow my yard man to do so. I don't know how bluestone or flagstone is where algae/moss is concerned. But a poured concrete aggregate would probably not have that problem.

Thanks for posting the plan as it shows the proportions of the house. Don't mistake my drawing as explicit scale as I'm freehanding over the plan. Exactness is something you'd work out on your own "to scale" drawing, incorporating specific measurements that satisfy your requirements. What I'm showing here is a SCHEME that resolves a route, taking into account a few particulars. The plants shown are simply "likelihoods," given the location of house corners, windows, stoop, etc. It is not intended to be a complete planting resolution. A few things under consideration are ... 1. trying to keep the walk far enough away from the house that there is adequate room for foundation planting. At the beginning, it might seem that the walk is too far away from the house, but that's because the planting bed space is empty. As soon as plants develop, the placement makes sense. 2. Connect walk to drive near BACK of where a car parked outside of the garage would be, not the front. It's an easier way to approach entering the car and still have space for planting. 3. While allowing planting bed to "wrap" the right porch corner post, don't plant directly in front of the stoop. This should be a spacious landing. Extra walkway space is needed at each end of the walk, where it meets the stoop and the drive. 4. Align shrubs with windows (as one would align steps with a doorway) and coordinate trees with house corners. Fill the remainder of the bed with groundcover, reserving space for annual color (near entrances and walk connection points) and some placement of perennials for periodic color and interest. This is a scheme that does not end up smothering the house with shrubbery (which you'll rip out in 15 years) and is easy to maintain.

Either could work. But what would fit best depends on surroundings. It's best if you show a picture of the area.