IMO, a lot of your shrubbery is covering some of the charming Tudor details. I wouldn't want any shrubs that cover windows or special parts like what is in front of the chimney.

What a wonderful house! I would add in some "cottage garden" plants for color to balance the green.

You really do have a marvelous place there!

I think you have done a good job selecting new plants.

Some of the existing Rhododendrons and other evergreen plants need to be pruned. My neighbor had Rhododendrons that were up to her second story when she bought the house. She cut them down to about three feet. An awful mess only the first year, but more than a decade on they look beautiful. At any rate, yours are not that bad, but get some heave duty pruners and cut off some limbs. The Rhododendrons should fill in and not look so leggy.

I indicate by an orange circle the reduced size of the plant.

The red X is a plant I think should be removed, maybe relocated. It is covering up the beautiful architectural features of your house.

A gorgeous as I think it's a specimen pine is, I think you should consider removing it. Again it is overwhelming your house and as pines age, the their heavy limbs can cause damage when they break.

These houses look like some in my neighborhood. They're not, but they could be in the town over - Ridgewood. Good luck with your beautiful home!

It looks like all sides of the yard need work. The first goal I would have, if you, is to develop a master plan that spelled out the planting layout and specified the uses of the yard. It's hard to take on so much in a forum, all at once, and especially when there's so much foliage that one can't rell what is behind it. The house definitely looks smothered and like it could use a reprieve from being covered in vegetation.

completely agree with decoenthusiaste . It's one thing to over-landscape an ugly house - and there are a lot of them - but it's a travesty to have this cutie so marred by busy overgrown 'landscaping' or 'foundation shrubbing' lol. I had a sinister AP bio teacher in high school who said of the problem of over-population: "Kill every 5th". LOL. In this case I say, 'get rid of every other shrub.' I don't have time to go thru with a fine toothed comb but in the first picture, at the very least, get rid of the straggly rhododendron, and the dark green shrub closest to the bay / oriel. Leaving the 2 sorta variegated looking ones. Well I wouldn't get rid of it if it were a choice rhodie cultivar but it almost certainly isn't. In that case I would ground layer it to save it. otherwise just chop it down, drill a few 3/8" holes in the stump and fill with an herbicide to keep it dead.

The big crypto could use a wee bit of *very* light pruning but I like it and would leave it. I think this is what houssaon called a pine and X'ed out for removal. Looks more like a cryptomeria, and unlike pines, they are extremely frozen precip resistant if correctly pruned. It's ok to have a big tree or two near a house...especially that one. It's probably not growing very fast.

Did you plant that weeping spruce? It's wwwaaayyyyy too close to the house! Oh, wait, I see the pot now. Thank goodness you haven't planted yet. You want to see that from one of your windows afar...not covering the view from the windows! Put it out closer to the sidewalk.

Thanks for all the feedback! Is mulch the best option to cover the beds instead of additional ground cover that can look messy? There’s currently ground cover to the right of the house which I plan to keep.

Any ideas for hardy plants / small bushes to fill in the from area between the crepe Myrtle and crypto globosa? It’s incredibly bare in this spot and will be until everything I planted starts to fill out.

Thanks!

My landscape instructor couldn't say enough good things about natural cypress mulch. It looks good, retains the soil and moisture, and repels insects.

I think mulch is a better option. I like cypress as well.

One thing people don't consider is that ground cover is good "cover" for small rodents like mice and chipmunks.

Good call. Cyprus is hard to come by although I love the color and benefits.

I was going to guess either Ridgewood or Westfield. I agree with the others, let us see the beautiful details of the home.

Westfield it is... I’m going to plant one or two more globosas near the one I have to fill that space and that’s it. I’ll find a natural looking shredded mulch similar to Cyprus and try that. Does anyone have any good recommendations?

Remove shrubs you think you have to clip into balls, instead of beating them back all the time. Because they aren't right for the spot.

And think in terms of planting around the lot instead of the house, so that the house is completely visible while being viewed from within the property, ends up in its own setting - one that is less open and public. So that a tucked away, even hidden cottage illusion is still produced - just not one where the cottage is hidden because It is boxed in by too close plantings.