What a lovely house, one of my favorite styles!! My comments will be general since I know little about plants in CA (though if I lived in a warm enough area, I would plant a lemon for ornamental value and cooking.) I agree with others that books, websites with photos, and even just driving around to look at others' gardens for inspiration will help you decide what you like. Below I have linked a site with lots of photos. You can just rummage through the landscape and exterior categories or you could add search terms. I didn't get much for 'norman' or 'norman revival,' but 'half-timbered' got some that were similar to your house in style and 'tudor' or the decade your house was built might be other possibilities. I would rethink having a foundation planting here. I think the house is stunning and doesn't seem to have a foundation that needs covering, so I would plant away from the house instead of right along the house. If you are married to the idea of a foundation planting or if you have a front walkway from the drive to the front door that defines a planting bed, I'd make the planting relatively low so it isn't blocking/distracting from/interfering with enjoyment of your house from a distance, but could be enjoyed close up. Many houses which aren't so nice, need a foundation planting to cover up an unattractive foundation or distract from unappealing architecture, but I'd show off your home. I find the current planting distracting. I would put your gardens out farther from the house, perhaps a wide band (8-10' pehaps) along the drive and then another under your tree of part shade plants. I'm concerned about the boxwoods' placement along the walkway. Different types of boxwoods reach differing sizes, but yours are close enough to the sidewalk that with a bit of growth they will be brushing folks' ankles as they walk up the front walk. I'd move them so that at there permanent size they will be a foot or more from the edge of the sidewalk so those walking up the front walk won't feel crowded, and you might need to plant them a bit closer to each other if you want them to grow together. Then cut or bury an edging an equal distance from the boxwoods on the side away from the walk and remove all the grass under and around them, mulch to prevent weeds and plant a low-growing plant to fill in between the boxwoods while they grow, such as thyme which won't bother the boxwoods. One of the hardest things for me as a gardener is to plant shrubs with their ultimate size in mind. It will feel a bit silly for now moving the boxwood back from the walk, but you will be glad you did in a few years unless they are a very very dwarf type. Also, I would plan on keeping them low so the front walk doesn't end up feeling like an alley in a few years. One more suggestion on the boxwoods; plant another couple of the same type of boxwood somewhere else on your property so the if something happens to one of your plants you will have a plant to transplant to fill in the gap rather than having to find the same variety a few years down the line and then plant a young plant that will take time to fill in. Or alternatively, rethink the boxwoods entirely in planning your garden. I have seen them used as a frame around or a backing to a cottage type planting. Deborah Silver, a Detroit area designer, frequently uses them, and often they are either framing or backing flowering plants. Here's a page with some examples, but you can search her blogs for 'boxwood' to get some other ideas. http://www.deborahsilver.com/blog/celebrating-the-long-view/ About allergies,which I have lived with and gardened with for many years . . . There are a couple of types of allergies: skin contact and pollen or other airborn particles. The types of plants that put a lot of pollen into the air are wind pollinated rather than bird/insect pollinated. Plants with attractively colored and shaped or scented flowers are insect/bird pollinated, and their pollen is too heavy to be blown around, so if you stick to plants with attractive flowers, your gardens shouldn't be a problem with pollen allergies. However, wind-blown pollen can travel for miles, so you can't avoid it from outside your yard. There are a few plants the cause contact dermatitis somewhat commonly and some that cause rashes only for specific people. Examples of the first type: Euphorbias and gas plant (Dictamnus alba) many folks find cause rashes if they brush against or get sap on their skin. Some plants that cause problems for me though not for most people include tomato plants (which are fuzzy, though I don't know if that is the root of the problem) and grass. I don't know if you know what plants in particular to which you are allergic, but for me, I avoid direct contact with known triggers (DH mows the lawn when I am away and he closes up the house before starting, and he turns the compost since I know I'm allergic to all grasses and the molds that live in my compost) but I have no problem with having a grass lawn or compost spread on the beds as long as they aren't getting stirred up. I wear long sleeves to tie up tomato plants and don't plant ornamental grass in my planting beds to avoid skin contact, but I really can't avoid tree pollen from maples, pines, oaks, etc, so on bad pollen days I don't spend much time outside. I remove ragweed, plantain and other weeds that I know have high pollen output and create problems for me before they bloom. I don't know what your budget is, but often contacting a landscape designer to give you some general ideas which you then can actually plant may be helpful. Here is a link that might be useful: [houzz home design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/exterior-home-ideas-phbr0-bp~t_736)

I have a success story for y'all. I closed on my 1956 house on 12.30.2009. Part of what attracted me to it was almost 1/2 acre lot. It's the standard mostly square older home - nothing at all fancy about the house. But the yard... I've always wanted to become a gardener. I wanted to grow my own food, plants beautiful plants, and have a place of serenity and beauty by way of landscaping. The prior owner was a very old woman who passed away last year. All my neighbors tell me she was all the time working in her yard and had one of those magazine perfect yards all year round. Before she passed away of course. I'm told the yard - front and back, was immaculate. There are several HUGE oak trees in the back yard. There are azaleas, hydrangeas, dogwoods, magnolias, weeping cherry tree, wisteria, hollies, ferns, TONS of hostas, solomon's seals - and so much more! Since I moved in during winter, the back was just sticks and leaves. Years and years worth of leaves. It looked really bad, being neglected for so long. I'm told too that the previous owner had suffered in health her last few years and during that time could no longer take care of her yard. Now, I'm the owner. When I first moved in I must admit - in my extreme ingorance, I was the typical non-gardening type. I looked at the yard and only saw what I wanted to remove so I could plant what I wanted. Terribly selfish I know, and all I could see was my own limited view of beauty. But I believe the gardening Gods were smiling on me. I read a few books prior to me doing anything in the yard, which saved both the yard from disaster and myself from ignorance. After reading these books - my view or gardening was changed forever. I hired a landscaper to identify what he could, and continued to educate myself. Once I realized what I truly had I choose to only clean up this spring and I'm not doing anything else really so I can see what's actually back there. I want to see what grows and blooms throughout the year so I don't accidentally remove something that I should leave. Spring came and my yard came alive! I had no idea how beautiful it would become. And after reading several books on ecological gardening and permaculture, I decided that this yard was mostly fine as it is. To honor the woman who created this masterpiece, I decided that I'd maintain what is back there and the only things I want to do now is replace some of the non-natives plants with native plants, and just keep the yard picked up. I know this will take years as I'm only one person and as you can see, the yard is huge for just one person. I believe this is a very big success story. While the prior owners are no longer here to do the drive by, I believe that my education in gardening and the respect I'm showing for their hard work and beauty is somehow felt by them. At least, that's how I sometimes feel. Or, what I want to believe. http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=100333308934400577480&target=ALBUM&id=5479246416174947185&authkey=Gv1sRgCPHA8eW40a3S9wE&feat=email KJ

Asters were popular in the late 19th and early 20th century in New England. They declined in popularity because they don't show well in flats (impulse buyers want flowers on the plants). We moved in last spring and I didn't have time to plant much. Started some asters from seed in jiffy pots and tossed them along the path to the porch in late May. Weeded them once. The soil here, I have since discovered, is sub-standard. When I planted these, the pH was 5.7 and potassium and phosophorus deficient. But they did great. You are supposed to cut them back no latter than mid-July to make them bushier but I didn't. Had people stopping to look at them (the garden clubs on the coast east of New Haven are very competitive) because, I think, no one nearby had bright splashes of purple and blue flowers in August and Sept. btw...this winter when I pulled the plants out, I was astounded at the roots. They were still in the little jiffy pot nets--no more than two inches wide! Here is a link that might be useful:

I enjoy the "Kitchen of the Month" feature in House Beautiful. The kitchens are often lovely and I enjoy reading about the details, even when I don't care for the kitchen. I wouldn't subscribe just for that feature, but, if you can find some old copies or get them at a local library, they have a varied and sometimes instructive content. I do enjoy that magazine, BTW, because the editors include many details about sources. Also, many of the featured projects use one of my favorite vendors: Chateau Domingue in Houston, Texas. A day spent there is the next best thing to wandering around in European ruins. I have stopped subscribing to publications that use mostly non-U.S. sources because, even though they're interesting reads, they usually have items that I cannot access readily or economically. World of Interiors is wonderful, though, if you want just one such mag.