Tibs has the most poignant advice : Green Giant Thuga will get taller than 8 - 10'. Check with your community's zoning, you might be limited on how close you can plant to the road and how high for driver's visability. Even if it is within code to plant that high on a busy street corner I would advice not to. It is very dangerous for your community. Drivers need to be able to see around the corner. I don't understand the rational for removing the short stone retaining wall. It provides you with a low barrier set off the street which is great in regards to winter plowing / snow removal , provides an off street walking or car pull off area and allows the upper grade some flatness. I think that a walk around the Arnold Arboretum will give you some ideas about how to pull together a vignette/ composition of shrubs as well as inform you ( most all the plants are labeled ) of the various plant names. - - If the Arnold Arboretum is not within close distance then try one of the local well maintained museum properties like DeCordova in Lincoln or the old Case Estates in Weston. Another option is Allen Haskells old nursery or Weston nursery - - Otherwise a consultation with a landscape designer would greatly benefit you and would most likely save you $$$ in the long run and you will receive a good base plan to work off of .

what about a trellis on each side of the windows with some climbing roses. A nice tall bird bath in the middle and maybe a mailbox in the corner next to the door...i have one of these for all my small garden tools. Having something that climbs up the mailbox but not another rose but definately something flowery and showy. Then fill in with a few greeneries (hosta, and things things like that) and annuals and perennials with lots of color. I think color is the big thing. If the shrubs could go you could extend the flower bed on around and just make the color flow nicely, at which point i would move the mailbox from the corner to the other corner where the brick and siding meet. You could also place a nice shepherds hook with a cute birdhouse in the front bed or anywhere for that matter. Very cute house if i may add...and you can grow a ton of houseplants with all those windows there...is that a heated area?

FinJ, personally I prefer two things with a blank slate. 1st is the view from the street, namely the main direction you drive in and see every day. 2nd is the view from the windows of the house, or areas outdoors you would use the most. If you use your garage a lot, I would add windbreaking things like arborviate or any plant choice shrub with mid level evergreen trees behind on the driveway length, rather than have a single row, you could have yews, dwarf pines, juniper, spruce, arborviatae etc. I have never done a house that needed a windbreak from north winds "being from the south", but thats the NW facing section and should get the most winds unless you have a lake or something flat on the NN side. A very, very distant 3rd is how the areas in the outside interact with each other and the view from them. Needing shade from Sun exposure is my thing. All zones are a broad thing, is it zn 6 costal, mtn, etc? You want fast growing trees and those with a large canopy. In the south we use magnolias, live oaks, pecans, gums, and maples often. I do think with your zone decidious trees would be better on the far back of the lot allowing more sun in winter, and with the lower sun having 10-15 ft evergreens behind would allow for year round green while blocking the glaring view of the sun from parts of your home. Your house design on the back to me looks like it could easily entertain a pergola with climing rose, wisteria, grapes, etc. that would make an enteresting area to entertain, you could then make plans for a jacuzzi just off of it with a fire pit. It is an enterly blank slate, what do you like? I think you need to look at homes in the area plant wise, look at some things you like online, get an idea of a budget on what you want to spend, get it on paper, then do it again on paper after waiting a couple of weeks, then piece it together if your going the DIY route. If thats your house in the picture, I would echo the white in the landscape some. I would use real apples and white blooming cherries, honey crisp and rainier. I would also look at yoshinio cherries and white dogwood/white redbud for the front yard. That would pull the focus off your white siding and draw the inside out and the outside in.

I would pass on Jacaranda (invasive), Palo Verde (long thorns), Eleagnus (nonnative and often invasive), and Lantana camara (invasive). And Crape Myrtles are also nonnative, extremely overused and their wood is heavy (from water), yet weak. Anacua does sound like a cool native with edible berries, though. Otherwise, I would suggest: [Trees[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/favorite-underused-trees-dsvw-vd~1735953): American Persimmon Texas Persimmon Oriental Persimmon Desert Willow 'Lucretia Hamilton' 'Little Girl' Magnolias Western Soapberry Fig Pomegranate Goldenball Leadtree Kieffer Pear Oriental Raisin Tree Mexican Plum Pineapple Guava Red Mulberry Paw Paw Loquat Jujube Rusty Blackhaw Texas Mountain Laurel Eve's Necklace Bushes: Texas Sage Rosemary Hardy Hibiscus & Rose of Sharon (Thornless) Blackberry St. John's Wort Elderberry Flowers: Iris [Compass Plant[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/what-are-you-choices-for-foliage-interest-in-both-sun-and-shade-dsvw-vd~5357531) White Rosinweed Pitcher Sage Standing Cypress Texas Bluebell Texas Bluebonnet Wine Cup Lemon Beebalm [Allium canadense[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/is-this-wild-onion-and-how-to-propagate-dsvw-vd~5231628) Echinacea Yarrow Maypop Black-eyed Susan Clematis 'Madame Julia Correvon'