Hello! Thanks for the additional comments -- it's nice to get some feedback. Over the weekend I had an opportunity to view several front yards that don't have grass, rather more of a xeriscape like I've been aiming for. They do have quite a few perennials, something I do not have down on the slope. The perennials are mainly in the foreground, and in nice groupings. I have a better idea of how I should use them in the fall, which is when I plan to do the rest of the planting/transplanting. Karin -- I agree, I want to keep the feel of the front, from the perspective of being in the yard, pretty close to how it is now. But I think I can improve the street views w/o affecting MY view too much :-) We can't really see what's down the slope from the house/yard, nor can we see the front of the birch tree area. But from the street I can see that the birch tree area is overgrown and weedy, and the slope is haphazard/incomplete. Taking photos has been the biggest help, when I saw them I though "Oh wow, that really DOES look bad". bahia -- yes I started that thread b/c I was curious how many people go ahead and put their plants in, even in dry hot summer, and who holds back. I'm definitely planning to hold back. If I find some plants to buy (which I have not, yet...) I will maybe put them into larger pots but keep them in an area of our yard that has afternoon shade (the rear side yard next to our garage/dryer vent/waste cans). We don't have drip irrigation on that slope, what I have is a soaker hose that is covered by mulch. It runs around the top area and works out really well (when I remember to connect the hose to it). Our front yard sprinkler system doesn't work, but maybe that is something my DH will look into. Here is an updated photo of that area in the very front of our house, where I was considering planting the mandarin and lime trees. I have taken out all the plants I wanted to keep; for now, I decided to make it VERY low maintenance since it was growing a bunch of weeds. ;-) We will make a decision in fall/winter. Hopefully it will be a relatively clean slate by then. The artemesia and the yarrow in the foreground will probably get new homes on the sloped side of our front yard. I've started waffling about whether or not we should make a patio w/interlocking pavers, or if I should go for a nice evergreen groundcover. I'm thinking a groundcover will be nicer in the hot sunny afternoon. I want to keep the path that goes around the right side, leading to the fence gate, so we may use interlocking pavers there, instead. It's been very helpful to chat about the yard and what to do with it. Thank you :-)

Pam - along the side of the house there is a 5-8 foot wide flat walkway of old bark, and next to it, covering the slope are some junipers that have been well-trimmed through the years. Since they are doing their job of erosion control, and I really don't have to look at or maintain them short of an annual trim, I will leave the ones along the side of the house (and throw in a couple arborvitae or similar to screen off the dead wood on the end) but as soon as we get into the actual yard, the bushy scary eating the yard ones will come out. Thanks for your input karinl. I am becoming more keen on including conifers in the landscape. That has been something that I'm getting more and more used to. When I first moved it, I was so against anything non-broadleaf evergreen it was ridiculous. We were going to go with an alaskan weeping cedar (and still may) but at Flower World, we ran into something called a dwarf sequoia, which was SO interesting, and we will almost certainly be using it in the landscape. I've been unable to find anything online about them. It had a similar growth pattern in that it kind of looked Dr. Seuss-y, the branches hung almost straight down, but it was gorgeous. We have 5 HUGE fir trees, one on each corner of our yard, and they ALL belong to neighbors. The people across the street from us are hoping to open up their view a bit and have spoken about wanting to go in on taking down the one uphill of us, but the people that just bought that house are like the Seattle suburb wannabes of Jersey Shore so I do not expect that they will have any interest in spending any money on landscaping. I caught them thinning out a photinia that provided privacy screening between our back yards with a sawzall (.25" thick branches). The people downhill from us are renters and based on the state of various "wear items" around their house, like the fence, I have a feeling the landlord is uninterested in investing any money in the property that they don't have to. Cliffs: It's unlikely either of those huge fir trees are going anywhere. Thanks for the kind words on the back yard. I've spend the last 2.5 years trying to whip it into shape. We have put a huge deck between the 2 decks on either side, the raised veggie beds, defined garden beds around the decks and elsewhere have gone in, I've taken out about 1/2 of the lawn, we put in a fire pit and gravel "patio" in front of the other deck to address the ongoing lawn moss and crappiness issues, and torn out about 1000 sq feet of vinca minor and 3 overgrown rhododendrons. It has been quite a project, and I feel that I've gotten far enough with it that I'm ready to start tackling the front so it doesn't look like meth addicts live here. I'm not particularly tied to nandinas, and after spending $50 today on ONE dwarf variety for vignette #1, I have been seriously rethinking my position. I have a couple more plants to move from the back yard to the front tomorrow morning, but I will post photos tomorrow once I get everything "completed." It looks FANTASTIC.

The main flaw in your plan is having the azaleas in the back, west-facing yard. Azaleas need all-day dappled shade, or morning-sun-only in hot climates. They will fry against the west wall of your home. The dwarf nandina is a better choice for your backyard as, once established, it is drought resistant as well as heat tolerant. Here is a modified version of your plan showing which areas are subject to the most heat. The north (lt. blue) is the obviously cool, shady side of the house. The east (green) area gets morning sun, but is shaded by the house in the afternoon when the air temp is highest. The yellow-beige area gets sun all day unless there is shade not shown in your layout. The red area gets late day sun, and plants that are in the shade until then are suddenly hit with both direct radiation and high air temp. It's very harsh. The area near your entrance is a combination in that it's shaded during the afternoon, but also exposed to reflected heat from the driveway during much of the day. Loropetalum is not a small shrub with the pink flowered form growing to 5 ft. tall and 6 ft. wide. It should stay in the front yard with plants that prefer a moist, well drained soil, like the azaleas. In general, be wary of the term dwarf. It just means smaller than normal. If the normal plant is 15 ft. tall the dwarf form can still get 6 ft, so always refer to the mature size when spacing plants. Whatever you do take the time to dig in compost and other organic matter to all planting areas. The azaleas will benefit from adding peat or aluminum sulfate to the turned soil, or even just a fertilizer for acid-loving plants. Here is a LINK to lowering soil pH.

gle - one of the difficulties I am having is that without variety names, I have no clue of height, so that makes it difficult to arrange. For instance I have rhodies that stop at less than 3', but there are others that can get to something like 20' in your zone. Similarly, Weigelas can range from about a foot to over 6'. Gardening is an art as much as a science, and being given such a specific plant pallet also makes it difficult for me. I am more likely to look at function and growing conditions and then decide on plants. It's less a lack of wanting to help than just not knowing enough. I like the suggestions of adding a short span of picket fence to make this look intentional, and also to have a small tree or two, otherwise this will end up being too sunny for several of the plants such as the hydrangea to really thrive. You have some suggestions of what to put in front and what to put in back and generally where. I'd probably at this point sketch up a plan and just go for it. Doing the actual transplanting on a damp day will give you some time to move plants around a bit to get an arrangement you like. Leave more room between the plants than you think is needed since having them too crowded will lead to issues in the long run - they need room to grow. Since you have enough for several layers of plants, you will get better blocking of the view than with just a single row of plants, especially if you look from the deck and assure that plants are staggered to fill visual gaps. Install the fence and a small tree or two (you could use the sand cherry as one if it's healthy), move the shrubs, and then mulch and edge. I am not a fan of Dwarf Alberta spruce in this type of mixed shrub border so I would find another spot for them or advertise them on Craigslist for free to see if you can get rid of them. If the bed doesn't work out in the long run, or you decide you don't like it, you will have had a few years of your shrub border and can then move or remove plants, but you won't have been out any money in the meanwhile.