Nice house!

I honestly would find a way to get the stone removed if it were mine. If you can't do it, one strategy is to hire it out or to post it as free for the taking on something like Craigslist. IME it most likely has weed cloth under it, which makes growing plants successfully difficult as it interferes with water and nutrient movement, and when weeds do sprout it is difficult to remove them without resorting to herbicides, which also makes growing plants difficult. With it being south facing and having masonry walls, stone and the concrete walkway, it will most likely get fairly hot in the summer which will limit the plant palette on top of the other issues.

We feel the very same way about the stone. We actually put it on Craig's list but people just want "some" and the labor of taking it out is beyond us. We were quoted $2,500 to remove it just from the front. Ugh!

I like your house, too! It's just my type.

Definitely agree on the stone. It needs to be gone. Could you hire some local young teenagers to remove it? Just buy some 5-gallon buckets and pay them by the bucketful. The stone was probably placed there because, as the above poster said, the sun will roast a lot of things you might plant there. You need something that will withstand heat and not get too big. The area is very small. I see daylilies, I think. They are a good choice. Or how about some ornamental grass that won't grow higher than 24" or so?

If your concrete porch extended all the way across the house - under the windows - that would make the area much more suited for a couple of chairs and a BIG flowerpot or two.

The tree is large enough to have its low-hanging limbs/branches removed in order not to shroud any of the house below the eaves. The large shrub at right of garage looks like you could grow it into a multi-trunk small tree which would make sense for helping to frame the house and simultaneously clean up the space consuming bushiness at the ground floor level

Thank you for that visual. I like the idea of trimming up the bush. We had already trimmed up the tree in front but could go higher. What about the corner opposite the garage? I'd like to soften and add interest. That's the view coming up to the house. I was thinking of a Canadian hemlock or a bloodgood maple. Two very different looks to be sure.

"What about the corner opposite the garage?" By this do you mean the bed between the front door and the garage or the left corner of the house behind the existing tree? Regardless, unless you get a dwarf or small weeping variety, neither spot has enough room for a Canadian hemlock; they are large, fast-growing trees. Depending on where you are in zone 5, they often have issues with a small non-native insect (wooly adelgid) that weekens and may kill the tree.

What is the shrub that you'll turn into a multi-trunk tree? ... a burning bush? (They make excellent small trees, BTW.) At left corner of house, I would not put anything humongous like hemlock nor in the shrub form (with foliage to ground.) Either match up what is at the garage corner or something in a similar size & form. A bloodgood grown as a multi-trunk tree would work, but my preference would be for something that looked more similar to what's at the garage.

If you think the shade tree in the lawn is too far forward for incorporation into the foundation bed, separate it with its own bed. I will bet that in years hence it will seem fine for combining the two beds. BTW, every year or two you'll need to lift the bottom of the canopy. Limbs and branches grow longer, become heavier and hang lower. Eventually this tree will be a sheltering structure for much of your front yard and half of the house.

Do be good to your body. It doesn't have to all be done today. Choose one area, such as the spot between the garage and the door and clear that today and call it good. Do some stretching and relax. Let your body recover and then tackle the next piece.

Also, I don't necessarily agree with Yardvaark on the degree of limbing up. As far as I can tell, he always likes the limbs above the eaves of the house. I look at a tree's natural form and where it is growing and how it relates to the structure and then decide how I want it to look. If there is lawn under it, I do like the limbs at the very least above head height for convenience and safety. I think we have agreed to disagree on this, and so I am just presenting another perspective.

I think as far as a front yard seating area, I would most likely get some chairs that will spend most of their life stored or in another area and move them to the front as desired onto the grass under the tree. If you do a masonry or stone area on the south-facing side of your home, it will be quite warm for much of the year. My west-facing patio gets used spring and fall, but is unusable in the summer months.

We would probably set trex chairs on mulch and not stone. Just a small stone path to them. I'm thinking I might like the chairs as a welcoming look more than funtional. Although today was pretty and we would have loved it. I may just try it and if it's not working I'll plant more plants instead.

"Also, I don't necessarily agree with Yardvaark on the degree of limbing up."

We have agreed to disagree, NHBabs, and I'm fine with that. If you were scheduled to speak about it at Berkeley, you would never see me in the line of protestors opposing your speech as I only care that I get to make my point, without interest in seeing that others don't. I look at the tree as a solid object, the bottom of the canopy most closely representing a ceiling. What height would one place a ceiling that is in front of another piece of architecture, if there is interest in presenting the architecture in its best light? I submit that it would be at the same level as the architecture's ceiling, or higher, so as not to screen the portion of architecture most likely to have interesting features, thinking that those should be featured.

Congrats on the stone removal!

My rock is in bags. I'll be interested to hear if you end up with any takers. So far I've not had luck getting rid of mine!

"Now we are making trips to get very large rocks for a low retaining wall." For this bed? If so, save yourself labor now and later.

If what you're calling a "low retaining wall" is a raised edging fronting the bed, I would advise you against this, and urge you to create instead, a flush laid mowing strip. If you're talking about building an actual low retaining wall in order to level out the grade at left end of house you'll need to build it in a professional way if it is to look good. I would not build such a thing without first thinking it through and drawing a plan which shows the important elements ... a big one of which is layout.

Yes, my spring is rocky. I am taking out a rock mulched island (with landscape plastic under it) so I can grow a shade garden at my new house. I try to just do a little at a time since I have many other projects in the works at home. Plus, I don't want to ruin the shocks on my truck hauling it around or ruin the wheels on my wheelbarrow. You definitely have kudos from me for your tenacity! Will love to see the finished photos!

About half my rocks I am going to use at work, so first I have to haul them out of my place, then haul them over to the spot at work where we will be using them. They will cover the liner around a pond and waterfall along the edges. Then kids throw them into the pond and I can pull them out! When I was a kid I loved rocks. Little did I know what my future held . . .

So funny pink mountain! The pile of rocks in our driveway have been catnip to the kids in the neighborhood.

Of course they are! Been there, done that. Never again will I have decorative rock on my property.