Houzzers will want to see the entire yard and home to advise.

My apologies, here are some pictures of the entire front.

Where is this located?

Georgia

i would add black planter box with a large fern and double mat at door

Do you like the look of heavily pruned green shrubs? A lot will depend on what you want to do with front beds as a whole. If it were mine, I would rip the whole thing out and replace it with plants that are properly sized so that they don’t need severe pruning, one that had more interest. But regardless I would want to remove the shrubs immediately on either side of the steps if you want to add something because there is currently no room for anything else.

I might hang something on the door, but I wouldn’t add anything on the stoop itself. Your walk and stoop are currently one of the few I have seen that are reasonably sized for the home as opposed to seriously undersized. If you add things actually on the stoop, it starts crowding visitors as in the example immediately above. Place the embellishments in the garden alongside the stoop.

I would remove the shrub on the right where the steps end. I would rather see Perennials there. I do not live in Georgia so I cannot suggest specific plants.

This is easier to see. Your landscaping needs more variety and texture and a tree in the front yard

You are in the 'land of crape myrtles' so consider adding them to your landscaping. The color will help.

I would certainly remove the big clumpy shrubs I X'd out; maybe even more of the mushroom ones. I'd like to see a Japanese maple planted in front of the triple window, and more ornamental trees in the front yard.

I agree with Babs, keep the decor off of the porch and steps. If the landscape is improved, it will not be needed anyway.

Houzzers will want to see the area in the red frame ... from half the distance that this is shown. Note that it includes A LOT of space at the right and left beyond the ends of the house. To get this, move to much closer than where this photo was taken. Take slightly overlapping pictures that pan across the front while you stay in line with one spot lined up with the center of the house. Please take them when the light is good.

Is this any better?

What is this obsession to turn all shrubs into meatballs? Virtually every photo we see requesting ideas for curb appeal or other landscaping input has multiple generic rounded green blobs populating the facade. There is nothing appealing about this!!

The stoop is fine and needs no other adornment. But you really need to rip out and start over with the landscaping. Select plants that will stay in scale with their placement and not require constant pruning to maintain size. And please, allow the plants to assume their natural form!! The only pruning that should be done is to remove any damaged or dead portions or to remove any odd, wayward growth.

If you want meatballs, go to an Italian restaurant :-)

Thanks for the feedback. We just moved in, so dealing with what the previous owners “designed.” I guess the thought of ripping out the entire front landscape is a little daunting since I’m not a landscaper. We have other improvements to make around the house, so I was looking for some affordable, quick fixes, but it sounds like I may be in store for a pretty large project!

"The only pruning that should be done is to remove any damaged or dead portions or to remove any odd, wayward growth." I have to disagree. That pruning is fine if man's concern is limited to keeping things more or less as nature dictates. But plants have demonstrated their ability to be one of the most 'plastic' art mediums ever discovered. They can be transformed into anything that suits the plants growth habit. I'm not talking about making forests out of fescue or lawns out of oak trees, but creating forms that suit the plant's nature and mans' purposes ... like how cutting and polishing a diamond makes it vastly more valuable to man. The yard tree form itself is a primarily a creation of man. He removes the lower limbs so as to fit a huge plant into a relatively small space. Otherwise, in a sunny condition, trees would keep their branches all the way to the ground.

These new pictures are infinitely better. Now we can see what you have.

Trisha, do you know if these are yews? They look like it and if they are they can be trimmed with severity without damage. I would save the large ones at garage corners, but trim to dome shape, not as ball. I would also preserve the small tree off of the left house corner, but grow it large, which is a product of not trimming the upper canopy to much, and over time, removing bottom branches. The rest I would make a plan to replace. below windows could be low shrubs (much lower than yew), or perennials/tall groundcover, that sort of thing. I might add a groundcover island with a small tree where the walk intersects with drive. Though we can't see behind the camera the lawn has a large, open feel ... possibly an exposed feel. If so, consider street trees a few feet (10-15) off of the road edge.

" But plants have demonstrated their ability to be one of the most 'plastic' art mediums ever discovered. "

Some are. Most are not.

" They can be transformed into anything that suits the plants growth habit. "

How does pruning everything into a round ball suit the growth habit? What grows like that naturally?

Feel free to disagree all you like. If you think that is an attractive aesthetic, so be it. It is certainly not one that finds favor with most designers or horticulturists in my circle. Or skilled arborists, for that matter. That is typically a look favored by landscape crews without skilled pruning ability or the time to devote to it or to homeowners who just don't care or don't know better.

I appreciate plants for their inherent characteristics - flowers, foliage color, foliage shape and texture, trunk and branch structure. And their own unique, individual growth patterns. And I include them in my designs with those characteristics in mind. I do not wish to view nor am I compelled to transform them all into characterless, round, green blobs.

And the majority of my clients are looking for attractive, low maintenance gardens. That look addresses neither!

Thank you for the suggestions! I need it desperately as you can tell. I am not sure if they are yews. Is there a way that could be easily determined? Also, can you please let me know what street trees are? Would these be planted along the driveway or someone else within the yard? Thanks again. 🙂

*somewhere else

Since it looks like the brickwork comes almost to the ground strictly speaking there actually isn't any need for foundation planting at all. And this would also be why even comparatively short foundation planting appears to be excessively obscuring (hence the maintenance shearing of even the shortest existing shrubs). So instead of having a lot of planting right up against the house with very little except lawn beyond the walk you might want to shift most of the planting to locations farther out from the house. So that the house reigns supreme when it is what is being looked at - from the front anyway - with garden features mostly being subordinate elements encountered elsewhere within the same setting.

When I said that plants can be transformed into anything that suits their growth habit, I was speaking of plants, in general ... nothing to do with the subject property. That's why I said elsewhere, speaking about the largest shrubs here, "... but trim to dome shape, NOT as ball."

Trisha, you can get the shrubs identified by posting a good close-up picture. And "street" trees are merely those trees that line the street, or a big enough drive. Typically, they are shade trees.

gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9) and everyone else, I think we see lots of balls and hard shapes plants because landscape maintenance workers use electric hedgers. I have the men who work for me use hand pruners and go deep into the plant to open it up while reducing the size. I have hand pruned a large yew that looked like death warmed over because it had been cut in exactly the same shape and size for years. As a result there was very little new growth and the interior was bare. Once I cut it it looked awful for a few months but by the next year it was quite lovely.

Hicks Yew · More Info

There are yews in the foreground of this photo. Also, notice how natural all the evergreens look.

Farmhouse Transformed · More Info

Trisha, your home is beautiful, even with the green balls. I, too, never understand that style of planting or shaping, but it seems so common some places. You can start slowly and develop a plan that lets you do things in increments as you can afford the time and money. Hire someone to help you make and implement a cohesive plan.

But for now you could remove the shrubs closest to the porch and steps, to allow a place for some large, oversized pots with colorful annuals and perennials. Your porch looks plenty large to add some planters if you prefer that to tackling the shrubs. Maybe rectangular wouldn't take up as much room as round, but I think you could fit round if you prefer.

Your black door is classic, but I might think about adding some color there by painting it.

Trisha, there is a Name That Plant Forum. If you post close up pictures of the foliage someone will identify your plants.

Name That Plant

If you like the current landscape then you can add colorful annuals in the bare soil where there is room. I still recommend removing the two shrubs at the bottom of the steps.

I don't hate sheared shrubs but I prefer them mixed with other shapes. Here is a picture I found on Google.

Over time you can work towards a plan like what Yardvaark presented. You need to learn your growing zone, Georgia has a few.