Well, let me start by saying that I don't have a mailbox like that, so my opinions are exactly that - opinions - and no more. I think you have a point when you say they don't look great growing out of the grass. But they don't make really convincing flowers either :-) What a mailbox garden in an otherwise plain yard says to me is "I couldn't think of anywhere else to put a flowerbed." That said, if having a mailbox garden is important to your wife, it doesn't seem worth having a war over. They can be cute, and they are actually a bit of an American cultural icon :-) An image search brings up lots of ideas for them by the way, including a charming row of mailboxes springing up out of the grass - but it seems to me that mailboxes have a function. I would think that function is best served if you have a brick pad around/beside it to stand on, which would also make mowing around it easier. Maybe a brick or paver pad, or even a 24" x 24" slab, with the flowers adjacent and good edging in a nicely shaped bed would be the best of all worlds. For my taste, a bed without hardscape always looks a bit accidental (unless it has really crisp edges). I always say that landscape design is for people, and so what constitutes good design in each place depends on who lives there. We, and the renegade gardener, can only give some objective guidelines, which if followed slavishly in all cases would create their own kind of undesirable outcome. So your landscape should definitely reflect your preferences. I'm also not a foundation planting guru - I prefer no foundation planting in the vast majority of cases - but let me take a stab at the problem with yours. I remember in an old thread, our guru Laag saying that a dark-foliaged plant reads in the landscape as a dark hole, or something to that effect, and gave as a solution something about backing it with something green. So one possibility is that the purple foliage is itself the problem. Only in this case, maybe if you put something bright green in front of it, using the barberries as a background, they might look better - deepening the bed to accommodate another layer of planting. You could also consider extending the foundation planting as far to the left as an antidote. Maybe move a barberry beyond the house corner. It looks on the aerial view as if you have some space there. But if you do that I would actually shift the planting weight away from the front door. The other general idea I was hoping you might pick up from those threads I linked earlier was about creating space in front of a recessed doorway instead of shutting it in. You have a fair bit going on there - I don't like what's in the middle either. But somehow what really bugs me here is that you have two uneven sections of your house, the garage one and the one to the left of the door. The one to the left of the door is smaller already, and your planting is hiding more of it; your tree will later do more of the same. That's why I would rather be able to see (or at least discern) the foundation of that section. And in contrast, the plantings on the garage side do such an inadequate job of hiding any of its mass that they look a bit... incongruous. They have no hope. They do not begin to address the blank mass over the garage door, which I think is what needs... screening, disguising, balancing... things that plants may not be able to do here (your tree on the right will maybe do it later). I don't know all the things that a person can do with that wall. Perhaps a little rooflet to match the one over the window on the right? A section of grey siding? Out of my realm there, but you get the idea. But in pursuit of having plants help with it, I would draw the bed on the right up toward the house instead of down to the driveway entrance. That will also maintain better sightlines for driveway egress. KarinL

" That leaves fescue and your only grass possibility unless you want to take down the trees." that sounds simple. ill look into getting fescue seed. "Now is a bad time to plant new grass but a lot of people do it. Those are the people who complain in July that they have a full crabgrass lawn. That's what happens if you seed new grass in the spring. You get all the summer weeds. If you want to nurse this lawn through the summer, then late August is the best time to seed the fescue." okay. ill nurse this lawn through the summer and seed fescue in august. so nursing means trying to keep on top of the weeds (really, the lawn isnt that large, so i think this is doable) and watering whatever i have that is green deeply and infrequently. correct? ill plan on that. ill pull out those weeds in the strip as well and try to keep it bare over the summer till august. im not in any rush. i just want to do my best to try to have the yard looking better than what it looks like now.

I would not call her. I realize your frustration and all the kid's stories with the he said/ they said...but seriously, do you need all this neighborhood uproar? You know your son and neighborhood personally along with the other mother/s and what is best, all I can say is what I would do if this were me and in my neighborhood. I'd pick up my ss myself. Older siblings as they get into JR high and HS have 'important' kid social stuff...having to hurry and run get ss would be a drag quickly. I understand your kids are family responsiblity sensed, but let 'em but kids. Gossip with BFFs, snail pace walking and just hanging yakking over their 'social life'. Pick up the youngest As far as the 'new' kid. I'd likely invite his parents over for a BBQ to get to know them...or at the least, take a platter of goodies over, knock on the door and introduce myself ('hey, I'm so and so's mom and our sons have been hanging a bit, thought I'd just swing by and say welcome to the neighbor') hoping to get a sense of what their homelife/style is and if it jives with yours as to the kids being social or good/bad influences on each other. Stop fighting, even though so far politely, with the ladies next of the neighborhood. The 'but did you know what YOUR kid did/does' is going to just add fuel to the fires. I don't see anything good coming from calling each other at this point. Both of you are getting two stories from two different kids. Enough. Your kid does not go over there anymore and her's no longer comes to your place...if that is not reasonable, than both mommies stay out of it and let the kids work it out. Kids toss basketballs, they make noise, the hang out of windows hoping to see their friends...pretty much sounds like just being kids. Only thing I would really be concerned with is that the 'new' kid does not pass on bad ideas and habits to the current kids. What are the age differences of all the boys? Asking because say a 12 yr old may be too young to socialize with a 16 yr old...different intrests, time killing enjoyments ect and all that.

Lord knows I love Hicks yew, but it grows 3-4 ft. spread and 8-12 feet high. I would not put one of those next to my house. You can prune them into a hedge, but pruning is not everyone's forte. Looks like Novice has some kind of yews already up against the house. That's why it is very difficult to advise someone on plant choices, because everyone is different in terms of taste, desire to do maintenance, family, pets, time, etc. Your landscaping really isn't that bad. It just needs to be maintained and pruned for the most part. I'd focus on the area around the front steps, and just edit the edge islands, there seems to be weedy plants in those areas and the mature trees and shrubs could be pruned a bit to make them look more aesthetic.