Lilyfinch, you remind me of my dad with the veggies. Those are the only 3 he will eat. When my folks had moved my dad really wanted to experiment with a veggie garden. My mom told him if he grew it, he had to eat it. When I visited that summer and saw him eating a salad I almost choked!! He had held up his end of the bargain, but only had a veggie garden for that one year!! LOL!! Your front yard is great. I agree with widening the paths. How wide are the paths now? Could you widen them enough to incorporate the lamp post into the path? You could also have them undulate a little, but still symmetrical if you want it to be a little less formal. I would even consider at the end of the path at the house flaring the path on each side out to incorporate the area in front of your house and porch. How long is the walkway? It looks long enough that you can repeat groups of perennials. There are some great single-blooming peonies that would be pretty (and no staking), especially if planted with some May-Night Salvia and Iberis. That makes a nice little spring combo. Sedums like Autumn Joy or Matrona would give some interest down the path well into fall and even winter if you don't cut them back. Also some grasses might be nice too, like Hakonechloa. I have also fallen in love with Solidago 'Golden Fleece' planted with low purple asters. Mix in a Fairy Rose and it's magical! Have you thought about shrubs at all? If you are able to widen the path and you don't think an arbor will work for you at the end, what about a dwarf alberta spruce at the entry on each side? Also there are some small spirea like Little Princess that work in a narrow border. Hypericum Hidcote may be a nice yellow that has quite a long bloom period. Mine seemed to never want to stop and hasn't gotten to be taller than about 2'. Crimson Pygmy Barberry is a great smaller shrub with a nice color. What a great area you have to play around with. Have fun!!!

Meet with a local landscape designer so you can address the entire plan for your home, both landscape and hardscape. It looks like your driveway could use some repair so you want to take that into account. I don't know MA plantings so I'm no help there, but I do think you could have a more inviting entry without having the asphalt run up to the steps. Maybe the parking pad could be made of different material or relocated or reshaped. This is where a great landscape designer comes in:) I like your home very much! A little softening around the entry and larger beds with a defined walkway would really enhance your entire entrance and curb appeal. https://www.houzz.com/projects/60080/lexington-historic-home

Looking good with the roof, washing and cleaning out around the tree area. I agree that the yews need to be shorter, even by 6” so they don’t look so overwhelming to anything you might put in between. Take out the scrubby bushes and add something less structured like variegated spirea (bridal wreath). Get the 5 gal size and plant 1-2 so the space looks filled but not crowded. Add more of the giant liriope across the length of the front porch. Focus color on the porch in good sized pots; if you can, curve the beds in front of the liriope and add some color plants there, too. I like your idea of using white flowering plants — if you put some in pots, use pots in a solid accent color like bright (not lime!) green.

Seems to me you do have 3 large projects here & they should be tackled in certain order to prevent wasted money & time. 1st project = large evergreen. Get an arborist to look at it & give you options. Determine what your liability is if it does fall & take out power lines. Answer to that might determine fate of tree but whatever you do to it will dramatically affect any landscape plan. Maybe it needs only to be limbed up & thinned out. NO topping to make shorter! It looks like a tree or shrub is in front of it too. 2nd project = widen driveway & figure out what kind or if a retaining wall will be needed or achieve the look you want. 3rd project & the fun one = create an appealing front yard! In this project my advice it to move those Rose of Sharon tree standards away from the house. In their natural state they are fairly large shrubs but easily pruned. They just look too close to house In that narrow bed. I’d also advise making a much larger planting bed in front of the house - you’ve got lots of room for a big curved bed to fill with all of the kinds of plants you mentioned you like. Those Rose of Sharon trees can be part of that bed. But, you need to know what the fate of big evergreen tree will be before you can plan the bed & also the retaining wall - where is it etc. So, that’s my advice - 3 steps in most useful order. 🌸