Nice work on bed preparation, lucky plants! But which plants...? Obviously many different opinions here, and it sounds like we've succeeded in confusing you! I guess you will have picked up on the fact that a start-from-scratch landscape design would probably not put a bed right in that spot; some would put a strip of plantings out at the sidewalk, or specimen shrubs spaced in the lawn. Others would garden up the whole area. But you have good reasons for wanting to plant there, at least for this year. I actually pretty much agree that you should put annuals in for this year. It will give you something to look at, to think about, to react to, and will give you some experience with taking care of plants if you don't have much of that. For longer term planning, the variables that should factor into your decision are (a) the look you want: whether you want colour or just green, tidy or exuberant, or a mixture, (b) how much you're willing to spend, (c) what you want to see in winter, and (d) what kind of maintenance do you want to be doing? ALL planting installations require some work at some time. Annuals require annual replacement, and a little in-season snipping and weeding, and then fall clean-up. Perennials require basically the same in-season and fall care as annuals but because they grow more slowly, won't cover the ground as fast and will give you more weeding to do the first couple of years. Once they grow big enough, of course they continue to grow until they are too big, and need division. Both of these choices will leave your bed bare in winter, but in season they can give you the colour you're thinking about. When you get into shrubby stuff, as you were originally thinking, then you're talking pruning in such a small space, unless you get something like the fastigiate varieties of yew which will make a row of very narrow evergreen columns. Deciduous usually equals a fairly messy look; evergreen is usually tidy but not much change over the year. If it were me, I would get a few dwarf or fastigiate evergreen shrubs, planted in little groupings, and dress them up for seasonal show with some annuals or perennials. But it'll take some experience to know how plants will perform there, for example whether they crawl on the grass in pursuit of light or stay nicely in their places. So I foresee some trial and error in your future! For more specific ideas, you could go to the forums of the type of plants you want, eg conifers or rhododendrons or hostas or perennials, and describe the light conditions more thoroughly and ask for suggestions. Or to your local nursery. KarinL

What a great kitchen! The main piece of advice I would offer is this: get rid of excess plastic containers. I had zillions of rubbermaid containers that didn't nest at all. I thought I needed every shape and size out there, so I bought far more than I could ever use. After we renovated our kitchen, I gave myself one drawer for plastic stuff. That's it. Now, it's a big drawer, but I have a family of nine people, so we still need quite a bit. First, I tossed or gave away that which would not nest. I standardized on 8" squares that fit into one another. I bought 6 of these and I've never needed more. All the lids are the same size. I have deep rectangular rubbermaid containers for holding flour and sugar in my baking cabinet. I have round containers for lunch boxes: my husband takes leftovers for lunch every day and reheats them in these lightweight containers that are as sturdy as regular rubbermaid. In this drawer I also store two rubbermaid butter dishes, three nesting funnels, 2 two-quart plastic pitchers, 2 small mixing bowls and 2 large mixing bowls, plus about 12 measuing cups from 4-cup to 1/4-cup in size. The key for my kitchen is that any plastic container we have is in this drawer. So I've gone from cupboards and drawers of plastic containers and measuring supplies to one single drawer. I will add that I have a plastic pasta scoop and larger colander that I store under the prep sink. I never save even the nicest of plastic containers that food might come in. If we ever need more, I can use a storage container from another part of the house, wash it out, then put it back when I'm done (like when I need to bring 60 cupcakes to school). I've also done the same sort of thing for lunch boxe supplies and ingredients. I have a baking center, which is to the right of the oven. My baking center is really just an upper cabinet with wire storage things inside that make it easy to cram a lot of stuff in a 30" wide cabinet. I do store extra baking mixes and flour/sugar in my lazy susan cabinet. I don't have a pantry. All of our health food is in another cabinet, near the blender where we make our protein shakes. I bought white plastic wirer coated shelves at the container store to stack dishes and baking goods in those cupboards. And also these tall, narrow two shelf units that fit under my sinks which sit next to the plumbing. They aren't really deep but just hold the basics in view (stuff tends to migrate to the back of the sink cabinet). I also got rid of excess pots and pans. I figured that if my pots and pans couldn't fit into one base cabinet, that I would have a hard time keeping tabs on those as well. My baking pans and cutting boards store vertically in a cabinet designed to hold tall thin items. You have so much wonderful space. If you can be judicious with how you plan your storage, you will find that you can even keep major seasonal items in your pantries as well, or gift wrap, etc. In fact, it looks like you could even put a desk in one of your pantries. Lucky you!

Looks like green midges (if so they are harmless) but a closer photo of the buggers would be required ... at least for these eyes of mine. ;-)

I couldn’t add pics so here is my new post. Please give me your thoughts! Thanks! https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5717094/_trid=bWlzY21pY2g7TWlzY21pY2hAZ21haWwuY29t/please-help-my-exterior-to-not-look-like-a-mess-thx