For starters, though it's a little hard to tell from the picture, the bed seems very narrow and mostly under the large overhang. Make the bed much deeper, plant shrubs at least 4 feet from the house, and use groupings of smaller shrubs, with perhaps a larger one towards the right where there is no window. Make sure that as these little shrubs grow, they are not going to be big enough to "bury" your little home in foliage.

You can use a non aggressive ground cover around the shrubs.

That's an interesting way to request assistance on solving a problem ... by saying right off the bat that you won't make the changes that are necessary. A hodgepodge collection of plants will remain that way so long as all the plants remain.

A mature dwarf Burford is going to be a small tree or giant shrub. While people sometimes use them as foundation shrubs below windows (where they need 3' height) it's a lot of trimming to keep it there, especially because the plant creates hard, thick wood in a short period of time. Since you have a small yard, I'd move it to where it could be used as a small tree. The Camellia will also get large.

It generally does not look welcoming to obscure the entrance area with shrubbery, so I'd relocate the 3 Hibiscus from that area. What would look welcoming is something colorful like a solid patch of low growing annuals. Also, it looks like you have a crape myrtle directly in line with the front door and not too far from it. Another location for it would be better.

It does not look like an actual bed has been created but that the plants are just in the lawn. It would be better to make a bed, and as laceyvail mentions, move the plants farther from the house wall, and possibly link them with groundcover. (The redesigned bed would determine how to configure it.) Simplifying the scheme would help a lot.

It might be helpful to read the discussion from the Shrubs forum, where this post first originated.......and where the responses pretty much echo the above sentiments :-)

So the back and forth discussion seems to revolve around the issue of do you really want the question answered and accept the advice provided or do you just want confirmation that what you have now - and apparently plant to keep in place - is fine????

I MIGHT moved the camellia to the backyard. The holly is just too big for me to be able to move, honestly.

Ok, what if i removed the rose, blueberry and camellia and put 3 hinodegiri azaleas in thier place and then place the gardenia at the end?

Does that sound good?

Then i would move the camellia to the front of the yard.

Though I really hate to admit it, I struggle with this same thing. I buy one (or sometimes three) of a species, plant it with different species, and then wonder why it doesn't look good. I have read many times that cohesiveness comes from planting the SAME THING in drifts and I'm finally beginning to apply that to my own plantings.

I think I currently have 5 different species in front of my house (OK - seven), which is probably twice as long as your house, but that's still too many. I need to add a bunch more of some of them and remove some of the others. And tie it all together with a low planting of annuals in front. I'm working on that.

Since your original question asked how to make things more cohesive, my opinion is that you first and foremost need a nicely designed garden bed as a start to linking the plantings together. Without a bed, you have a bunch of individual plants stuck in the grass which makes it more difficult to look cohesive. Moreover, the grass will start working itself into the plantings and eventually cause the plants themselves to look less desirable than they otherwise would. Once you have a garden bed, then you can start to look into arranging the plants within the bed in an attractive way, and/or getting appropriately sized plants for the bed.

If you don't want a garden bed, and you like the arrangement of plants that you have now, and if you don't want to remove anything and would rather not move things, then I would just go with what you have. Don't worry about whether people don't like it. One thing you could do is to spend the winter months just looking around at pictures on Houzz or the web of front yard gardens to get an idea of what types of gardens you like and dislike. Maybe that would give you a bit of direction for next spring.

Woops, I should add to my previous post, that if you decide to go with your current garden layout, you should at least consider the mature size of the plants that you've already chosen. If any of the plants will grow to be too large for the spot that you have them in, then now is the time to move them, as it will become impossible to move them once the plant has matured.

Yardvaark - that is lovely (as all your landscape drawings are). This would really make the OP's home a standout in the neighbourhood for sure.

It is beautiful but what are all those plants? Is the hedge boxwood and the tree my crape myrtle?

Thanks, Daylily!

tlbean, I sometimes have an inkling of an idea, but often don't know what the plants in the drawing are or should be. In selecting plants, much depends on what grows and performs well in a given area. Let's speculate on some possibilities for here. The hedge below the window could be low-growing azaleas, dwarf yaupon holly, or any shrub that looks good and could be kept at a 3' height without too much trouble, including boxwood. The groundcover surrounding it could be a Liriope, lily of the valley, heuchera, Pachysandra, etc. The tree could be crape myrtle, Japanese maple, beauty bush, burning bush, etc. The surround below the tree could be daylilies, ferns, hostas, cast iron plant, etc. One could look around their town and see what plants people are keeping at these heights and that has appeal. Or search Google Images for the general type and see what appeals in the photos that are returned. Research the plants that one finds interesting to see if they have possibilities. Vett them with people who have knowledge of the local climate. Each plant has it's own personality which should be taken into account during the selection process. If you were to use my drawing as foundation for selecting plants, you have great latitude in tweaking what it looks like, depending on the plants you choose. For annuals, pick something that can tolerate the conditions (light, moisture, soil, etc.) It will boil down to what will tolerate the conditions and happens to be available and looks good when you go to buy.

tlbean - your question Yardvaark shows that you are still thinking in terms of plant selection before general design. That's fine but it can, and often does, lead to the blobby effect. If you first decide on a general impression you want to create and then look for plants which fit the bill in appearance and requirements you will still be able to select those you find attractive or interesting but they will look more coherent. As Yardvaark rightly explains a multitude of plants can fill the same role.