I am kicking myself for not having posted before starting; we could have left the soil in place for the first two feet or so closest to the house. All that wasted work... We are not against widening the area. Some initial thoughts are that it makes for a longer walkway and less grass. If I come from the garage and head to the front door, I'll have to walk further down the driveway to get to the walkway. Certainly not a big deal, rather one of convenience and habit. Also, there's a definite slope in the front yard. From the current front of the 'bed', out 16', there's a 20-24" drop. I wonder if with the wider bed, and a wider walkway, whether the whole area up top should be level, with perhaps some terracing and/or a rock wall farther down (say at around the 16' mark). The foundation shrubs flanking the garage doors are definitely going. My thought is to replace them with some large planters. Annie - Thanks very much for the input. Good suggestions about the walkway, 2' space, crushed rock and talking to a local nursery or landscaping company. (The more we think about this, the better it will be). tibbrix - Your idea of grasses pleased me. We have some in the back, where we some established beds. Now is there a grasses forum...?! OutsidePlaying - Did you have to look up the spelling of chamaecyparis?! I had never heard of either those or cryptomerias before, thank you for the ideas and detailed response. I think the bed you're talking about would be larger (perhaps more like 6 feet?). Good point about two people walking together. Contractor will be DH (remember, he has the new toy...). may_flowers - I take your point about final size. Thanks for the suggestion of the Conifer forum. Flat top haircut:) The idea of a flagstone patio interests me (see above comment about leveling the top area). amck2 - True! Hence, no gravel walkways - snowblower needs to get through. sprtphntc - good point about native plants, I will spend some time on the website you linked. emmarene - The trench ends at the front door. I will be the gardener. All the plants (except the daylillies) in the containers you see, I grew from seed this year in the greenhouse:) chickadee2 - we've been here for 17 years. Yes, lots of problems with deer but I go around and spray Deer Off regularly, which keeps them away for a good 3 weeks or so each time. Thank you for the list!!

A couple of notes: - You don’t actually want to plant as densely or as close to the walk as in Doug’s sketch or in three years you will need to do a lot of pruning and in 5 or 8 you will be ripping out plants and starting all over again with many of them. Add large pots or a birdbath or art or annuals while you wait for some of your woody plants to put on size. - Whatever you plant needs to be sized appropriately for it ultimate growth. Plant tags often give plant sizes at an unrealistic 5 years, so be sure to look up on a reputable website such as the Missouri Botanic Garden’s Plantfinder to find the actual expected size. - You have a big overhang that creates a rain shadow that will always be dry without irrigation. Be sure to plan on irrigation for anything within that rain shadow. Regardless, don’t plant anything so close that it will grow to within a foot or so of the house. - Wider steps are great to make a welcoming entry. - Notice in both sketches that the plants in front of the windows are lower with taller plants framing it or placed further down the slope to not block the windows. - Plan to have some of your plants evergreen for a winter presence and some with either colored foliage or flowers for interest. - Sod or hydro seed the lawn at the appropriate time of year for your area which may be now.

So I assume you want to plant something in the rocks? We need to know your approximate location. It won’t do any good to recommend palms if you live in Minnesota. And what’s the sun exposure of this sidewalk - if your front door faces East, this sidewalk would have full south sun most of the day. And how wide is it, measured from the sidewalk to the wall? It looks very small.

a plan usually starts with some goals ... do you have any goals.. other than just filling it up .. do you want to block a sight line ... either towards the house.. or away?? stand inside that picture window.. and look out ... what do you see??... do you always want to see it ... or do you want the neighbor always looking in??? from the car.. the last pic.. do you want to be able to see the door coming in??? .. perhaps a safety issue???? once you can state some goals ... then you can come up with a concept ... and ONLY THEN ... do you start picking plants ... ken