I was responding to "I was looking at putting a bigger plant/bush in the back and keep it about 3 ft tall" I think a three foot tall shrub back there would close in the porch. My instinct would be to carpet the area with low plants. Annuals, perennials, or subshrubs like cistus might work. Actually irises would work well, because they tend to spread so annoyingly that this confined area would be perfect for them. But be warned that most flowering plants have an all-too fleeting appeal and a very long off-season for something that you're going to look at every day close-up. It really depends on what you want this area to do for YOU. Then I would put some sort of a vignette on the porch - maybe a wicker chair and a big vase or planter, or a bench to put your bags down while you open the door... But I also think I would be tempted to put a small tree in this bed. It's a shame it's such a small bed, I'm not sure you can get far enough from the house, but something columnar or very upright might work and you can get a lot of kinds hat will grow well in full sun. A tree would eventually shade your entry a little, and you can get one that flowers if you want. You have a lot of room to put taller plants and/or flowers outside the curve of the sidewalk where they wouldn't render the porch claustrophobic, and also where the meatballs now are. KarinL

I'm not clear how large the bed with the rhodi, azalea, sedem, daylilies, salvias, pinks, and gladiola is, but the problem sounds more like too many types of plants rather than too many plants. Some of us do that on purpose--like me--but it does have a tendency to look messy. So, first of all, follow your instinct and remove the salvia (and possibly the azalea). Put them in a holding place, if you think there might be somewhere "wilder" they would work. Now, try to get this bed working well, keeping in mind that one or more of these plants will also be repeated in the area you have not yet tackled. You might try the rhodie, daylily, and sedem. What I'd be suggesting is that you purchase an additional 'Autumn Joy' and daylily. Something like 3 daylily, 3 to 5 sedem, and the rhodie? Note: If this is really a partial shade bed, then the daylily and even the sedem will do okay. Too shady might explain why your salvia tipped over. If we're talking shade, then you may want to adjust your choices over time. The real point here isn't which plants you choose, but that you play with reducing how many types you have. Since you already have some sedems and daylilies, see if repeating them helps. To add to the game, note that while these three plants have quite different foliage, they all have what is called a mounded form. What would change, for better or worse, if you used some sort of prostrate or spilling form instead of either the daylily or the sedem? So, you've come up with a composition of 3 or 4 plants that work well in this first bed. Tell yourself that one or two of these plants will be repeated in the first section of the bed on the other side. Wherever I came across this technique, the designer suggested working on longer beds in sections. I'm sure that's not what the pros do, but I find it makes the task less overwhelming. So just deal with the first 8 feet. As that begins to work, you'll get clearer about how it will all pull together. So I'm going to say that in your original bed you kept your rhodie, increased the sedem, and found a prostrate evergreen or perennial form that you like. In the first section on the other side repeat the rhodie, the prostrate form, and add back in the daylilies, increasing the number of daylilies as needed, using a minimum of three. Tweak what you have done so far, and then work on the next 8 feet or so. Again, I find this hard to do not really knowing your conditions, but I hope that gives you some idea how to go about planning these beds. Wellspring

I really like the smaller pink blooming ones, I think they are Japanese magnolias and deciduous. When a late freeze doesn't get them, which it often does, they are really pretty especially as understory trees. That site Dawn provided has some nice smaller ones. However, unless you have a really really big yard that will give you the ability to view it properly, the huge evergreen ones look downright oppressive to me personally because they are often out of scale visually with the home and the branches are so low growing. They look especially bad planted too close to the house and I see that situation all the time. We had one next door when I was growing up and the magnolia pretty much dominated the whole front yard and the house too like a huge out of place giant dark "thing". They couldn't plant anything else by the house. The same is true for weeping willows. You need a big yard to get the visual effect and correct scale to avoid being visually overwhelmed.

If you are within a reasonable drive of Madison (the only part of WI I know well) there are two resources that might help you find small trees that appeal to you, the UW Madison Arboretum and Olbrich Gardens. If that is too far, there may well be other resources to visit such as in the Twin Cities or any other larger cities in the state. If you give your nearest large city, you may well get better suggestions for places to visit. I've found many plants that I love by visiting a large garden or arboretum to see them in person. Many such places will have a calendar of approximate bloom times on the web. Late May into early June may be a good time in your area to visit to see spring blooming trees, though Maackia should be more help with that than I am. The link that Maackia provided to the MO Botanical Garden is a great resource that I use often. If you go to the Plant Finder link near the top on the left side, it will give you an opportunity to fill in your wishes/requirements (lines left blank are fine, but be sure to include hardiness since they are quite a bit warmer than you) and it will offer a list of suggested plants. One of the things I really like about their pages on particular plants is that they give info on problems such as diseases or frost injury along with the good points. You want to choose species and selections that are less likely to have problems in your area such as the crab that Maackia linked to. IME you also want to check their hardiness with other sources from colder zones since they can be a bit optimistic. (Examples include redbuds and Kousa dogwoods, both of which need careful choice as to the selection to escape cold damage here, a bit warmer than you.) How far from the house you plant will depend on the tree's ultimate approximate size, remembering that size is often given at 10 years by nurseries so you will want to use a resource like MO Bot Garden which gives a longer term size. Once you have a list of specific ideas, planting location can be determined. As someone else suggested, look at larger shrubs as well since they may end up filling the role as well as small trees. Some large shrubs like Hydrangea paniculata can be pruned into tree form if the form is important to you. A few that I like in addition to healthier selections of crabs: Cornus alternifolia AKA pagoda dogwood has panicles of creamy spring flowers (not like most dogwood trees) followed by berries that ripen through red to deep purple that birds love, and nice but not spectacular fall color. Lovely winter branches, and may grow as a multi-stemmed tree. Magnolia - choose a type that blooms later to avoid late spring frosts. Not all are hardy to z 4, but many are. Slow growing, and the fuzzy silver winter buds are gorgeous against a dark background. Some of the larger Viburnums (all shrubs) have lovely spring flowers as well as fall berries if you have another selection of the same species (or closely related.) They aren't usually very self-fertile, so you would want another kind somewhere in the yard to get berries. Chionanthus virginicus AKA fringe tree (though first check to see if emerald ash border is anywhere near your area since they are an imported pest that like this tree) Males have larger flowers, but females have berries if there's a male nearby Crataegus AKA hawthorn. some are fairly disease prone but others are thornless and seem more disease resistant. Spring flowers followed by berries. Sorbus AKA mountain ash. Another with spring flowers and berries. There are some that are native to northern WI. One design comment. Consider making a bed with some lower shrubs to accompany the tree and the bench.