"we are ... trying to at least get the front of the house looking good." If that's true, then those things that make the house not look good must be changed. Making the lilac and weigela part of the permanent plan seem to be a contradiction to the overall goal. If the quality of "being inviting" is part of the goal of "looking good" one must extend a visual invitation to those who are at the street. Impeding this are many visual and physical obstructions to the house entrance area. Even if visual enticements were present, they could not be well seen. Tree limbs that shroud the entrance area should be removed. Shrubs that serve much as barricades should be removed. Shrubs that are too large for their positions will not serve well as visual enticements and should be removed. Plants that create disharmony should be removed. All of these things must be dealt with before attempting to rebuild.

trying to delete This post was edited by Reneec83 on Mon, May 26, 14 at 16:58

Hi Lynne, I am very new to gardening. I lived in Massachusetts so everything pretty much had its season. Not that I was very knowledgeable there but this is more challenging, I think. We think the tall, short, tall thing might look nice from the street, as well as the porch. The porch is one and one-half steps up from the sidewalk since th city re-did the sidewalk. Friday they planted sod in the rectangle planting space. They were maybe concerned someone would fall into the area. I love all the tropical, no maintenance around here. Anything from palms to flowering plants, it doesn't matter. I might add the whole driveway/side of the property was cemented when we bought the house. We had the city cut a 14" x 15' swath in the cement along the prop3erty of the neighbor's concrete fence. It's southwest. We want to put something to hide the fence and be no maintenance. What about palms there? What ones? Thank you for any suggestions. I really appreciate it. Nancita

The walk is something you'd lay out in PLAN view (bird's eye view) on a measured plan, to scale. This is important if you expect to have built, the same thing that you envision. Without a specific plan people many times end up disappointed with what the contractor installed. It is not difficult to create a plan for such a small area. If you create a base plan, I will help you. (At least I will try!) Look at comments in this thread (scroll to Sept. 20 - 25) about plan creation (for a walk.) Also, see comments in this thread. Scroll to Sept. 25 to 29. It's about creating a front walk. Since the walk is imminent, focus on it above all else as no plantings can be designed until the walk is planned. Please, everyone, try not to use out of date photographs. They often mislead, making discussion about some things pointless. Fresh photos are free and too easy to take now that everyone is walking around with a camera in their pocket.