This year I had leaf out in February; that has never happened before. Oakleaf hydrangeas bloomed in late March to early April. Never happened that early either. Followed by mopheads and lacecaps, including Shirley's cuttings. Early blooming paniculatas have been in the broccoli phase for a week or so. There is one tiny open sepal so it Little Quickfire got to say it bloomed in May but it almost did not make it in May; it also bloomed way too early. The strong El Nino is the culprit for the mild winter down here. In January, about half of my roses were blooming, my azaleas were also blooming; quince and camellias were blooming too but these sometimes bloom from Jan-March depending on the winter we are having. Just enjoy the show. Not much we can do to control it although I am sure it would make me follow the weatherman closely if I lived in the northern half of the country and had chances of late frosts that might zap the leaf out or blooms or even the old wood itself.

Mina, for in front of the windows, I'd consider Osmanthus.....'Goshiki' or O. delavayi or x burkwoodii.....or Pieris 'White Cascade'. For something lower growing and with lots of sun, Hebe 'Caledonia' (has that purple coloration you favor) or Hebe anomola 'Purpurea Nana'. I might do clusters of heuchera for some of the edging plants - they do exceptionally well in our climate, are evergreen, and come in a wide range of colors to compliment any of the other plantings. One of my favorites is 'Green Spice', which has marbled green foliage with darker veining that turns an intense burgundy color in winter. Or any of the dark colored ones if you wish to add more purple foliage. Many of these are Great Plant Picks selections so should be available at any of our better retail nurseries.

"As a gardener I am worried that I will just plant things and not have them create the finished look I'm hoping for." This is exactly what will happen if work proceeds without a comprehensive plan! The drawing is a good start for something to add measurements to in order that you can plot it out accurately on graph paper. As Gardengal mentioned, it needs to be to scale, so someone preparing to figure out what will fit ... will know if it will fit. One can also see all the bed shapes at a glance and know that they are compatible with one another and use good geometry for their lines. There is a tendency for drawings drawn by those who don't do it regularly to become very cluttered and hard to read, so I'd suggest you leave out everything extraneous and draw only the necessary: buildings, fences, curbs, landscape walls, walks, drive, tree trunks, AC, etc. Label plants at the edge of the drawing and use a thin line to connect it's name to the plant. The initial plan is a base plan. It shows only permanent existing features. Proposed features will come later on a copy. I was trying to reconcile one of your photos (left side of house) with the plan. The curb should be drawn in so we can see where the yard ends and know that there's a street over there. I see a birch tree in the pic but not on the plan. Is it being removed? The triangular raised bed does not look good. If you plan to get rid of it, don't show it on the plan. If you don't plan to get rid of it ... why? Dimensional lumber raised beds are typically for back yard and growing vegetables. For front yard and landscaping why would you want one? Not using one will generally look and work better. If you're going to create a high dollar raised bed out of brick or stone it would be different. Otherwise, I'd leave it out. The plan calls out roses, peonies, irises, etc. but is not showing any on the plan. Do these things exist, or are they simply desired? If the former, their beds should be shown. If the latter, they should not be shown or labeled on the base plan. Draw the fence and call it out only as "fence" without using any additional arrows. If the picket fence will be in a different location, leave the fence out for now. The stepping stones seems like their path would be subject to changing in a new plan. I would leave them out for now. If there was foundation planting at the house and any planting along fence (which looks like their direction you're leaning) then the stepping stone path would probably only fit somewhere near the center line of the space between house and garage. It's a fairly skinny area and plants take up room. Right now the path is headed square into a patch of grapevines so that doesn't seem like a good walking experience. For the time being, I wouldn't think of plants. Just think of the hardscape portions of the project: walks, fences, drive, beds, etc.

I am thinking Im going to go somewhat symmetrical for ease of a newbie like myself. The only two I might not have match are the outer corners because they have drastically different sun light (left corner-full sun, right corner-partial/full shade). Unless I can find a variety that can take full sun and full shade. I did a little a quick mockup with colors to represent varieties. I looked up the varieties you mentioned gardengal as well as started looking at the site you mentioned. My favorites are the Pieris white Cascade but I worry that it is posionous (small kids) and the Osmanthus Burkwoodii. I do also love the gracefulness of the Loncicera Lemon Beauty and my neighbor has one I often admire BUT I worry it tends to lean more Japanese-PNW garden where I would really love more of an English garden with PNW suitable plants. I do like the Mahonias but I think it would work better in my back garden where I plan to have Hostas and ferns and think it would mix in quite nicely there. A came across Viburnum Tinus which I like as well. And as mentioned I think the Osmanthus Burkwoodii would be quite beautiful and I like it is fragranced. would these be better than a Mexican orange blossom or rhodi? Would they mix well with hydrangeas? sorry for my incredibly long post.