Maybe try asking some specific questions and making it clear which particular areas in pictures shown you are asking about. Like "what might grow here under this rhododendron that has pink flowers in summer?"

Yardvaark-I agree I need a master plan. As a gardener I am worried that I will just plant things and not have them create the finished look I'm hoping for. We have an idea of different zones around the yard and for most of the big stuff we will be hiring professional help. I'll draw up a current configuration of the yard and then a "proposed" idea of the zones we are planning on creating. Hopefully that will give a better idea of how the whole yard will work and then give more direction for this side of the yard. The previous tenants were city farmers so there is a lot going on and the weeds are out of control.

Here is a rough drafts of what we currently have going on in our lot. I tried to write in a lot of the larger plants, I hope it's legible.

The lot is about 8,000 sq ft. I'll draw up what we are planning to do. We have already talked to an arborist about coming out and removing the Holly tree in the SW corner and pruning back some of the other overgrown trees.

And here is what we are planning on doing:

We do plan on replacing the fencing and adding the driveway this summer/fall. We will also be adding a lower patio off the back deck to use as an outdoor dining area. We will be hiring professional help to all of the above.

We also hope to add grass in the NW part of the yard. We have 3 young children (newborn to 3yrs) so we want this yard to fun and enjoyable for them as well.

Lastly, we have several boxwoods we will be getting for free end of this summer and our idea was to line the retractable gate as a safety measure (small kids) but are open to other ideas.

Box blight is in the P.N.W. now so you might want to take a pass on those free box.

Unfortunately, for a master plan to be at all useful, it needs to be drawn to scale. And your "full sun" looks pretty heavily shaded to me (and I live in the woods!), although some tree removal and serious pruning could alter that.

I realize many visit this forum looking for specific landscape design help but in many cases the best design help is design advice :-) And my advice is to find a local garden designer you can work with to help you develop a (to-scale) layout of how the garden should function and flow based on your needs. You can escalate that process to include plant selection and placement as well if you like. Working with a qualified designer (and there are LOTS in the area) is well worth the modest investment to obtain a functional master plan you can move froward with as your time, effort and budget allow.

There is just not enough information provided here for any specific suggestions offered here to be very helpful.

"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.

Thanks. I will get some graph paper and graph it out. The area of the yard does get full sun, I took the picture in the morning and the Birch tree adds AM shade but from aprox 11am-sunset, it is full sun. I do need to add the Birch tree back in to the grapth drawing (spaced on that one). And I will add the streets and curb cut (along with trees on curb cut).

The triangle raised bed was there when we purchased the house. We plan on removing it since it's such an odd location and shape (I took it out of the 2nd drawing). The plants written down (roses, honeysuckle, Iris, etc) are all plants that have been there for quite some time (10 + years) but I can take them out of the graph drawing.

Focus on layout and flow first - ignore any plantings other than those that are permanent or will not be removed. As noted by Yard above, that would be how you intend to use the garden (vegetables?, kids' play area?, outdoor living/entertaining/) and how those relate to each other. And then egress/access, bed lines, lawn areas.

Plant selection is really an incidental consideration or one that is addressed after a suitable layout is developed. Especially in the PNW. as there are an endless number of plants that can be used in an endless number of situations and combinations. And when you do come to that point in the design process, give some serious thought to the amount of maintenance necessary to keep them looking good and the garden tidy. With three small kids, you will not have a lot of time to devote to garden maintenance!!

As a reminder, for the initial base plan, it is primarily going to be a drawing of those permanent architectural and hardscape features of the yard and the trunks of those trees that are to remain. If in doubt that something will remain, or not, probably leave it out, as it can be added back in at any time later. The objective is an easy-to-read, clean drawing that explains the limits (curbs, lot lines) and where the permanent features are located in relationship to the other permanent features. We (and you) can see what you're working with.