Help! I give up. Pictures posted are of my fairly new house. So far, had it painted, waiting for the new shutters and had the old box hedges and climbing something or other ripped out. I am significantly design challenged but after having 2 landscape designers not follow thru decided it was time to do this myself. However, I am just stuck. I do know that the bed in front of the house needs to be deeper and not "straight" so will be taking care of that and will be removing all grass in front of the porch to expand that as well. So, thought I would turn to you guys for help. Details - house is in WI in zone 5 and faces east. Also, a few things I should confess to... I hate any type of evergreen bush (yes I know...that amuses most people). I also desperately want something "different" than the typical hostas, day lillies, and spirea. Seems like every house in this area has either the original hedges that came with the houses 40 years ago or some variation of the aforementioned plants. Also, need something very low maintenance.. Should I put a tree in front of the porch or on opposite side (have heard both) or.... So...any ideas? Image link:

By 'under the sage' I mean between and around the bases of the sage plants.. When the bulbs start blooming they will be under where the top growth of the sage is (or was, before you cut it back...) The early crocuses may be mostly finished blooming by the time you cut the sage back, but the anemones bloom a bit later so they are visible after the sage is cut back. When you buy the bulbs in the fall, look for crocuses that say 'mid season' or 'late' if you can find them, so they will still be in bloom after the sage is cut back. Crocuses and Anemone Blanda are easy to find in bulk bags in 'big box' stores in the fall so they are relatively inexpensive. You could buy a wide variety of small bulbs. Check the recommended planting depth and buy ones with the same planting depth required. Then you can mix them all together in a bucket and choose a bulb at random when you plant them. That way you get a nice natural mix of colors and shapes. The small bulbs only need to go a couple of inches deep so are easier to plant than tulips and daffodils that need to go at least 6" deep! Plant lots of the little bulbs for a good display. You could use any (bigger) rocks you dig up as a low ornamental wall at the base of the slope. Thyme looks good spilling over rocks. When you plant, I'd be inclined to place things like daylilies and other perennials, and potentilla shrubs (if you're planting them) first. Then plant thyme on the lower 1/3-1/4 of the slope. Then fill in at the top and around the shrubs and perennials with the sage. Thyme looks good spilling out from under the sage. If it is planted in between the sage plants, the sage might shade it a bit too much. If the thyme is happy, it will move into vacant spaces on its own. Garlic and/or onion chives are nice ornamental and edible additions that can be tucked into a few places. Beware though of more aggressive spreading herbs like mints and oregano (a mint relative) because they will spread from the roots as well as seed a round. Beware of Lemon Balm for the same reason. Do you have kids? Kids tend to like the herb scents. You might want to add a plant or two of lemon thyme and orange-scented thyme. They are less vigorous than ordinary thyme so it's best to limit them to just a couple of fun specimens and let the ordinary thyme be the groundcover.

Landscaping is about how a house fits into a setting. In this picture nothing at all can be told about the setting. You need a picture that is square on from the street. Pan the camera from left to right capturing the scene in slightly overlapping shots ... all from the same, central point of view. Post the individual pictures that make up the scene, not a computer generated panorama.

Yes those V shaped things at the top of your post should be removed. It shouldn't be difficult. Your hanging baskets need to hang lower. Go to your big box store and have them cut you some heavy chain in about 1 to 1 1/2 ft length to lower the baskets. Most baskets need to be watered at least every 2 days, some times every day depending on the weather. Also once a week submerge the whole basket in a bucket of water and let it sit for a half an hour to an hour to re-dehydrate the soil. I like the idea of a yellow front door and yellow flowers. It is only paint. Tell the hubby if he doesn't like it, it can be repainted. Take him with you when you go pick out the paint and have him pick out 3 yellows he likes and then you choose between them. That way he has a stake in the color. If you don't like any that he picked out just buy the color you like and wait a few week to paint. Then when he says it doesn't look the same just tell him it is hard to visualize a color from a little paint chip. Lucky me my husband lets all the decorating up to me. If it was up to him he would buy a 5 gallon bucket of white paint and paint everything in and out the same.