I like your house and I think that wall will really add to it. I would think you don't want heavy "foundation" plants as much as lighter, airy things. Small shrubs mixed in with perennials for structure would be ideal. How deep will the planting area be? Six feet plus would be ideal for putting in shrubs that can stretch out and possibly fronting them with perennials. Absolutely, I am in favor of wood mulch over stone. I think it looks better and is better for the plants. Your cool planting zone and the eastern exposure will limit some of your choices, consider some combination of these shrubs: dwarf ninebark, azaleas, amelanchier, juniper, heath or heather, along with maybe some of these perennials: dianthus, daylillies, peonies, lamb's ears, coral bells, russian sage, perennial salvia. Go to nurseries, check out the neighbor's garden, and have fun.

I'm sure your neighbors were happy to see veggies, even bolting crops, over the weedy yard, Spaghetina. Here's a couple of suggestions I have from my time growing organically up in SF and Marin. 1) Most of those flowers of the bolted veggies are edible and tasty. While the leaf flavor has turned bitter through the winter and the taste change that comes with bolting, the blossoms often gain a very interesting taste that is great topping salads or lightly fried in certain dishes. 2) If like germinating your own crops from seed, remember which of your crops are heirloom (their seeds will usually produce true) and which are F1 or other hybrids -- it's seed is typically still viable, but may have very different characteristics than the parent. The GW seed exchange forum is a great way to get those exotic seeds you mentioned w/o having to pay catalog prices or drive all over the Bay area, but you need your own seeds to reciprocate. Some of the best plants & veggies in my yard are from trades I've made with other GW members. 3) To my way of thinking, your soil mix seems too heavily focused on decomposed organic matter and doesn't take advantage of the alkaline SF clay topsoil and it's associated soil flora. The compost/purchased soil is great for nitrogen and drainage and you can artificially pump up the P/K/Fe to grow good veggies & plants in it, but organic amendments like blood & bone meal, fish emulsion, seaweed and others need bacteria & fungi to free the nutrients for your crop's roots. That's generally not true for soluble inorganic amendments, which is why they are popular. There's definitely a risk of adding weed seeds by using your yard's topsoil in the garden beds, but that soil food web is necessary for growing good organic crops, IMO. For plants that need lots of N and like great drainage, I go 2/3 purchased soil/fully composted organic matter and 1/3 native topsoil. For tomatoes, peppers and others that suffer in N-rich soils, I use 2/3 native, 1/3 organic matter.

I've been mulling this over for a few days and here are some more random thoughts: - First, with regard to what is there now, it seems like you need to leave some area along the road (maybe the first 4-6 feet from the street?) for plowed snow and parking: either leave it in grass or mulch it or use flat stones with spaces between them for planting groundcovers like thyme. If you really don't want to give up the space, I'd use a fence or low rocks along the road to discourage parking on your garden. Otherwise, I'd use a low fence or dry-stacked low rock wall to create a divide that doesn't block the house, but gives the garden a bit of a frame and makes it clear where the garden begins and the parking space/lawn ends. - The twin pointed conifers by the house look too close together to me. One may need to be replanted elsewhere, probably the one on the left which will eventually block the window. You will have to evaluate this suggestion based on the plants' ultimate size and nearness to the house. Evergreens planted close together tend to have uneven foliage, so if you remove one later, it will tend to be unattractive as one side may be rather bare. - The angle of your driveway takes up a large chunk of the right front of the house. Could you add a large pot at the right corner of the house at the end of the drive if you have only one vehicle? or even remove left side triangle of paving if you don't use it? (though obviously not if you have two vehicles) The pot could have a clematis growing up an obelisk or trellis, or contain some large and statueque annuals with some of your smaller pots around its feet and maybe a few on the other side of the entry path as well to tie it together. When you start planning, first decide on practical things like paths, any accomodations for watering or lighting, power outlets, walls or fencing, seating areas, etc. It's lots easier to do all that first than retrofit. In particular, if you think you may want wiring (since lighting for your main entrance may be a safety issue), investigate what type of conduit and the depth it needs to be buried, even if you won't do the actual wiring and fixtures now. Use strong string through the conduit instead that you can use to pull wires later. Then I'd move on to the great advice from KT and Ideabean/Marie about needing it to be a four-season garden that is attractive every day since you will be walking through it and driving by it every day. I'd start with some thoughts about winter interest: - hardscape (paths, rocks, birdbaths, obelisks,etc) - plants: evergreens - shrubs, perennials and groundcovers deciduous plants with interesting form, long-season berries, bark that is colorful or has interesting textures season-extending plants that either have early flowers like bulbs, hellebores, or some of the winter heaths; or late flowers and fall color (low bush blueberries, Fothergilla, colchicum bulbs, etc) Then you can start thinking about where to place your current plants: I'd say you can fit all of your perennials and small shrubs in the front yard, but you have lots of large stuff left, too much to all fit in the front yard reasonably without causing a jungle look or at the least hiding much of your attractive house. Evaluate your plants for interest in all seasons to help you decide placement; many of those large plants are really nice for a shorter period of time, so I'd plant to put some in the back yard or your side yards. For instance, put your tall hydrangea or rose of sharon at the back of the left side cottage garden where the birdbath is now and then move the BB to the front garden since it will provide year round interest as it can be kept heated for winter birds. Or put that large hydrangea at the top of the steps to your back yard to grab seasonal attention; it is tall enough so it will show when blooming, but fade from attention when it is not as attractive. Just be sure that where you place it near the end of the driveway it leaves the oil fill pipe accessible. If you want, you could replace some of your forsythia with the bridal veil spirea to extend the season of interest on that side of the drive and put the forsythia you removed in the back yard or give it to a friend. As others have said, you want something to create balance to the right of your house (just to left of the drive) midway between house and street. This would be a perfect place for a smaller tree with four seaon interest such as a pagoda dogwood/Cornus alternifolia, Stewartia, Japanese maple, Kousa dogwood, or Hetacodium miconioides/Seven-Son flower. Or a medium height, relatively narrow evergreen. Then put in a combination of low shrubs and perennials to fill in the area around and beneath it and continue the planting across the rest of the front yard from there. Be sure that you take the ultimate width of the plant into consideration when deciding on its position so that it doesn't block the drive. Be aware that sometimes lily-of-the-valley expands beyond where folks want it and it is difficult to remove later. If there is any chance of this, you might want to plant it with a barrier such as a buried large plastic pot with the bottom cut out. Have fun with the planning and the planting! Push comes to shove, if you don't like where things are you can always move them. Heavens knows that my front entry garden is ready for a bit of reworking!! Let us know how it's going and be sure to post some photos when you are done.

@CA Kate, I have to respond making the presumption that applicators of herbicide use proper techniques and follow manufacturers instructions. If an applicator doesn't, there's no telling the possibilities that can occur. There are methods to control drift, including waiting for a less windy day if that's what is needed. If a neighbor doesn't control their herbicide application, there will be evidence and one must get after them about it ... like any other neighbor dispute. But to presume that drift will happen, when it may never happen, is to short-circuit all manner of possibilities. I never said drift is impossible. But one can't presume it is guaranteed or a unavoidable. Nicole, there's nothing particularly difficult about preparing a simple base plan that shows the walk, drive, curb, house footprint and maybe a few tree trunks, which would have everyone understanding the space. More than likely you have a plan you can trace in your home closing documents. Some people enlarge a google earth drawing to use for making a base plan. If you rely on some locals and think that just by throwing some money at them, you'll end up with something wonderful .... well, that's a crap shoot. Be sure to investigate samples of their DESIGN work to see if it is what you like.