The general rule will be that the evergreens (conifers) will not grow back from bare wood, while the deciduous ones probably will. So will any broadleaf evergreens. The other way of categorizing them is (a) which ones you like and which you don't, or (b) which are good in the place they are and which are not. You might not need to know what they are to answer those questions. A plant you hate that's in your way = get rid of it. That may encompass, as Ink suggests, pretty much all of it. There is both a pro and a con to keeping such big shrubs. Yes, they may not need to be watered, but that is because they have large root systems that are able to suck all the available water from their surroundings, handicapping the growth of anything new you might plant. Also, those large root systems are capable of pushing out a lot of new growth every season, which = lots of pruning. And again Ink is right: you need to know how to prune to do that with good results. I'm for yanking them - whatever they are, they are not treasures, and the landscaping has basically reached the end of its planned lifespan. The trees in back, however, are doing a pretty good job of screening for you, and may do for some time yet. KarinL

I second the dwarf hawthorns. They are on my short list to get some for myself. I love their foliage and their mounding form. Oleander is an amazing and beautiful shrub, but they are also extremely poisonous. I don't know if you have to be concerned with that, but I thought I'd just put it out there. Lantana is poisonous too, and it isn't evergreen, but is clearly one of my favorite plants because they are carefree, extremely drought-tolerant and the butterflies just love them. I have a good friend with a child with special needs, and now I am always conscious as to the toxicity of a plant before I put it in the ground. Also, I love Mahonia Aquifolium, or "Oregon Grape Holly". They are evergreen, have similiar foliage to the hollies, so they'd blend nicely, but they have yellow flowers in spring, and berries in fall. Also, the foliage turns purple/orange in fall. They're slow growing, but will get pretty tall at maturity. They like sun or shade, deer resistant and drought tolerant. There is another Mahonia, Leatherleaf Mahonia, or Mahonia Bealei, but it's supposed to be invasive in our area. Please don't confuse the two. Also, I don't know how drought-tolerant it is, but IMHO, you can't beat Pieris Japonica for thier foliage, however, I've been told they're more of an "accent" plant, instead of a hedge shrub, so you may want to consider that. But, they are carefree, I've never had any problems with disease, or deer. Also, I am totally in love with Camellias, so I'd have to vote for them as well. I know they get very big, but since there are so many varieties, I'm sure there has to be one that comes in a smaller form. Gardenias do well in either sun or shade, but I think they prefer sun. The deer have never looked at them sideways, and for the first year I owned my house, I never watered them once and they came through the experience without a problem. When I found out they were Gardenias, I watered and fed them, and they bloomed like crazy for me the next season. I understand that they can have a problem with pests, whiteflies???, but I haven't had any problems, yet, knock on wood. Perhaps, if you let us know more about the sun/shade aspect, we can give you better answers.

Thanks, all. I agree that the curves are a bit odd at places - I get the feeling the previous owners created the beds AFTER the bushes had grown considerably, as the shape of the beds mirrors the shape of the bushes almost exactly. The island actually looks considerably nicer than the photo reflects - I just took a bad picture at a bad angle. It breaks up the monotony of the front yard and the two trees provide some much-appreciated shade. That said, they both have grown quite a bit and are starting to actually block the view of the front of the house -- that's why I don't have a better photo of the entire front of the house. As for killing plants, I think my biggest problem is, to your point, knowing how much water is the right amount. We have very clay-y soil here (with topsoil and mulch in top) and I'm never sure if the roots are drowning or still dry when I water. I think I make the same mistake with my potted plants. My husband still jokes about the time I tried to grow a tomato plant at an old apartment of ours, and I gave it food and (what I though was the right amount of) water, I made sure it got lots of sun, I spoke to it and told it what a good little tomato plant it was... and it died. Or so we thought. We threw the lifeless remnants out in the dumpster and what did we find a week later? New growth, green stems, and little tomatoes forming! The garbage bin had a greener thumb than I did. My biggest concern with the house right now is the bed in front of the house, along the front face. How do I lay out the plants in a way that occupies the full space, provides some layering, and doesn't block the window? It there a layout that works well? Thanks for all your help so far!

Hi Jason. Whatever gets talked about or recommended via a picture still needs to be worked out in plan view. So you'll either need to draw a plan or maybe you already have a plot plan of the yard that you can use in order to create a "to scale" drawing (map) of your walk and drive. It's the only way that you'll know that everything fits properly and it'll serve as the instructions when the time comes to build. Depending on where you live and what is required by your applicable building department, it may be useful for permitting. You'll need to check with them. It looks like your drive will be straightforward and without any unusual quirks. You'd want to add a backup turnaround space at the left side since you'll always be turning around and never backing down to the street. Because the grade falls off there, you'll need to bring it up for the turnaround space, accounting for drainage so that you don't end up blocking any route of escaping water. You'd want to make the space large enough to get in and out of the car and also blend the flanking space into the grade fairly gently. You don't want a sudden drop-off at the edge of the turnaround space. You may want to make it large enough for two cars if it must also do duty as a parking space while simultaneously being used as a turnaround. A chronic, ongoing problem created by builders is in making the walkway to the front entrance too narrow. If too narrow it cheapens the look of the whole house and feels unpleasant to use, especially if there is more than one person approaching the door at a time. I would call 4' the absolute minimum in all cases. 5' or 6' may be fine. Once one arrives at the front door/porch vicinity the walk should expand into a landing that fits the set-up of the porch and the steps. Steps also need to be fairly wide. How wide depends on porch. Another chronic, ongoing problem with the walk created by builders is placing it too close to the house, consequently killing the possibilities for nice landscape plantings and pinching what plants can exist so they look like they are desperately and distortedly trying to escape. For the health of the plants and the house, plants should not be jammed onto the foundation wall. Shrub centers should be set at least 30" away. Larger shrubs or small tree forms would be set even farther away. In my world a bed should be minimum 6' depth from front to back. If push comes to shove, I would concede to 5' but not like it as much. 6' of bed plus 4' of walk is 10' away from the house as a minimum. It looks like you could do that without running into trouble with the hill. In the real world there are constraints that sometimes force one into making concessions so we do them when we have to and avoid them when we can. Fortunately, the porch projects outward from the house (since the front door is hidden from the drive) helping to make the destination obvious to a guest. You'll want the entrance to the walk to be obvious as well. The house looks a little exposed. A couple of small or medium trees at the right side would help it look integrated into the surroundings. The hill looks like a b to mow. I'd consider converting it at some point to some type of farm friendly, rough and tumble groundcover. Some flowering or fall color trees on the hill (not blocking the view of house from below) could be a great seasonal thrill show.