Yes, I think you are beginning to understand - groupings/staggered look instead of layered look says it perfectly. That being said, I think your sketch still has more of a layered look. The sketch really helps, I think. I would: take out the far right hydrangea. take out the far right pyramidal boxwood. move the far right rose back to replace the spot of the far right hydrangea. move the two geraniums to replace the spot of the boxwood. add three or four more of the mums to go in the spots of the rose and geraniums. add four? speedwells to go from the mums toward the witch hazel to draw your eye to the witch hazel. This gives you more of a fluid bed where the entire bed is the focus, not just the bay window. Reread that: The entire bed should be the focus, not just the bay window. Having larger plants (witch hazel, boxwood) on the left, and small plants (geraniums) closer to the house will 'draw' your eye to the front door. Take a picture of the front of your house and with a piece of plastic and dry erase pen, 'draw' in the plans. Just need to draw shapes. Make sure they are approx. mature height. See if you like more of the 'round the bay' plan better or the 'descending toward the front door' plan the best. That will help you decide which plants you want where.

I think chickens know what not to eat but nightshade is very toxic to people. When this weed pops up in my yard, I send it and all it's berries right to the garbage. Min

I saw that black berried form at the arb the other day and was wondering if that was freeze damage or normal coloring. I did see plenty of wild beautyberry on my big drive out west last month - even found a patch of gold leaved ones in Arkansas. Dana - if Annie hasn't sent you any berries I brought some back from my parents place. They have to go through two winters to sprout. I'm gonna try nicking some of the seed coat off to try and speed things up. The hybrid Snowberries that are for sale this season do have a better look overall than the wild form. And once established the wild form is hard to weed out - very tough roots and stems, even though the plant looks delicate.

1st plant: you look to be right on with Rosa multiflora in full fruit. Please destroy at your earliest convenience. 2nd plant: again, good ID of Cornus racemosa with the white fruit and fine reddish pedicels, though there are so many shrubby dogwoods with very fine gradations of differences in the hairiness of their various leaf surfaces. I think gray dogwood is close enough. 3rd plant: yet another pest plant. I think you've got a buckthorn (Rhamnus sp.) there, esp. the fruit shot with the stiff sharp twigs. I can't make out much from the pic of the full plant, except for the bark at the base of the trunk looks very "cherry" like, which is typical for the invasive Rhamnus species like R. cathartica and R. frangula. This is another plant to eliminate at every opportunity in favor of quality native plants. Your love for native birds will be amply rewarded by providing them more of what they "grew up with".