I just want to say that's very nice of you, Leslie! The world needs more people as thoughtful! From one gardener to another, I'm also going to say that whatever your reason(s) for giving away the containers, I hope they are reasons that find you doing it with gladness, and not sadness. Take care. Al

I think that anything that obscures the front door is going to have the opposite effect from what you want, so I'm not sure about the pergola. The courtyard sounds better, would open it up. Something like the photos at the end of the thread linked below might work. And making an extensive foundation bed off to the left would also make the eye go to the front door more directly be default. I don't think I would plant anything that would obscure the walkway, though. I see you've posted a similar question before (I thought the house looked familiar), and so others who are going to answer might like to review the answers there so we don't have to repeat ourselves. http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/design/msg030835209957.html It's a really nice-looking house and I think it could look really welcoming with some strategic landscaping. KarinL Here is a link that might be useful: scroll to end of this thread

Thanks for the additional compliments! Oh yes, DH could tell I was very happy with the cute idea. Ended up with a 2nd by the end of the season last year. The Callisia is definitely dead if anyone was curious about that. We just moved last week, so IDK if we'll get around to details like this for this summer or not. Definitely have the porch posts for it, just so many things that *need* to be done - and no beds here for ground plants. Gotta fix that ASAP! Minky, I love quilt patterns though my Mom is the one who actually makes quilts. Some of the ones she made were from patterns I made. I'm more inclined to cross stitch. The two areas share the same geometrical art. So some quilts have a matching cross-stitch. If you're making decorations that don't need to go in laundry, furniture fabric samples might be useful/appealing. If you have a furniture store nearby that takes orders (usually Mom'n'Pops do this,) they should have fabric samples that are updated twice a year. The discontinued ones usually get trashed. They can be anywhere in size from a few square inches to almost a couple sq feet. Some upholstery fabric is washable, some not. Assuming it's not is the safest way to use these. (Washing first to test can lead to interesting consequences, like a washing machine full of strings where fabric used to be. If you do that, cut off any sewn edges AFTER. LOL!!)

Craftsman style house goes with my cottage style of gardening. One of the two blue spruce in the pictures, the one on the right, came down in a big rain and windstorm early this spring. So there is a lot more light in the front. That side is now in full sun. As to lots of land, I don't have it. I have a typical suburban size lot. What makes it all work here as far as everything I have planted is that the yard is all multilevel. Harder to deal with but more things can be squeeezed in. It would never all work if it was just level. The parking lot you can see across the street is to a 16 acre park and beach so its really very nice here in the summer. Its for our City residents but never crowded just afew people arounhd weekdays and not that much more on weekends. Next to it immediately adjoining so you can walk from one into the other is a large county nature preserve, this time all wooded. Also with shoreline accress. I remember going fishing there with my dad when I was a young child. Well, I went with him. He fished, I played around.