Oh, and we're having our driveway and sidewalk replaced next week. We're adding a small curve to the sidewalk because people tend to cut the corner and kick over the landscape lighting.

Here's a few more photos that may help.

Front yard project · More Info

Front yard project · More Info

Front yard project · More Info

Your next-to-last picture is the best, except for the dark shadows. You need to return to that camera position and take slightly overlapping photos that show the entire house front. Also include space at the ends of the house so we can see house the landscape ties into or reacts to the surroundings.

Hi Yardaark! Can you work with these?

Google made me a panorama. Out of the blue...a little odd since I didn't ask for it. So here's another pic

The problem I see is that the bulk of the planting on the left is made of low blobs. I don't know if it was pruned that way or naturally growing, but there is little variety in height or shape.

The right side has more texture, shape and height changes and it's more appealing.

Thanks Yardvaark!

I do like the removal of the barricade and those globes. It's one of my husbands favorite parts of the yard but he now sees how disconnected they make the rest of the yard feel. He's still not sold on it, though. I think it has to do with having to tear out nice, healthy plants. It'll be a discussion.

Daylillies have been on my radar for a while and I'm glad you mentioned them. I really like the look of them but remember the varieties I liked were fairly invasive. Any varieties you would recommend?

I'm off to research annuals to flank the steps, daylillies and blooming groundcover.

Jennifer

Hi lazy gardens,

Yes, I agree the globes seem to be the odd man out. They give off a formal vibe while the right side is more free-flowing. I couldn't really pinpoint what I didn't like about the front but now I'm pretty sure the globes are the culprit.

If I can't get my husband to remove the globes, maybe we can compromise and move the globes to the left bed in front of the porch (picture #3), trim them heavily and put daylillies in front of them.

Not the wild orange daylilies, but there are gazillions of modern hybrids, ranging in height. It could be a mix or a single long blooming variety such as Stella d'oro.

There would be no point by moving globes, trimming them heavily and placing something in front of them.

I"m headed to the day lily forum for some ideas. Someone mentioned planting them in pots so they don't spread and are easy to divide. Another item to research!

And, yeah, I agree about the globes. I was trying to get a few alternative ideas before I get too deep into a discussion about them with my husband. I've thought about it and really, they just need to go. Now how to convince him....

Other than the old orange "ditch lillies" you see growing by the road, I don't know of any invasive daylilly varieties. They do tend to increase in size and vigor over the years. Every 5 years or so they may become overly dense. When that happens, you just dig them up, divide them in half, and replant one of the halves. The other half becomes an "extra" plant. You can move it to another spot in your yard or give it away. Many perennials are similar in that regard. A single long blooming or reblooming variety would add a lot of color in that space.

In my experience, you will get a better and longer display if you select several cultivars with different bloom times. They come in early, mid-season and late. If you want uniform color, you could select them from the same color family. Others are correct that they won't be "invasive" but just slowly enlarging clumps.

For a ground cover for the right side bed you might look at Veronica "Georgia Blue". Has pretty blue flowers in spring and stays evergreen. It also spreads and would look pretty hanging over the edge of your wall.

Modern hybrid daylilies are no problem at all to keep confined to a reasonable territory. Just like whitewater said. They increase fast enough to become something to look at but not so much you'd call them weedy. They generally are not reproducing at all by seed, like the orange ditch ones would do.

There are many people that grow daylilies as a specialty. You might consult craigslist or locals knowledge about horticulture, or a Daylily society and see if anyone in your area is growing them. If they are, you can go when they're in bloom and pick them out, knowing exactly what you are getting. It's a very fun way to develop a collection. There will not be much variety, if any, at most garden stores.

If you post on a garden sharing site or Freecycle or something like that you could probably find a new home for those shrubs.

Good suggestion, pinkmountain. My better half may be more willing to remove them if he think's they'll live out the rest of their lives at a good home...maybe somewhere in the country :)

Actually, re-landscaping the beds has been put on hold for a bit.

Unfortunately, our focus has turned to the yard. When our driveway was replaced earlier this week the crew damaged it. They were cleaning their saw blade by plunging it into the yard...our irrigated yard, that is. We believe the saw was leaking gas and killed the grass. We've yet to turn on the irrigation so we don't know if it's been damaged.