What makes you think the roses are gonners? Maybe i can't see from the pictures but what i do see is they are not doing as well as the other big one but they dont look dead to me...they have nice green foliage on them and appear healthy, but maybe they just appear that way in the photo. It seems where the large one is there are not alot of flowers around it, but the two that are not doing well seem to have alot of flowers around it and maybe it is not getting what it needs with all that is in there. I don't know i am a far cry from a expert, guess i just hate to see a rose bush bite the dust...my husband would have a million if we could he loves them! I am probably gonna catch three kinds of hades, but i think i would remove everything but the rose bushes in that particular bed, you can plant elsewhere or give them away if your not gonna use them. Then i would plant a perennial toward the front in between the first and second and the second and third roses...one that has a nice circular uniform shape and maintains it...you said virtually maintenance free right? If it were me i would plant a few hosta's there but when i have suggested that in the past there have been people that said they can't imagine them growing in the same area...but i do mine and my hosta's are huge and my roses flourish...i am in indiana though and it may make a huge difference as to where you are.

Yes, it’s about 4 feet. The exposure is south. There are parkway trees in neighboring yards, but not in front of ours. I have not seen it in summer in a long time, so I don’t know how shaded it gets. I think during midday it will get a lot of sun. The remnants of those trees will certainly need to be pulled out. Or just cut down flush to the ground and hidden by the new planting; which is the likely choice. I had to pull out a few shrub stumps in my own yard last year, and it was very difficult. Given what happened to the pipes we don’t want a tree or anything with a deep root system. Though it was more than a root infestation, the clay pipes had actually collapsed, no idea why. A standpipe was put in so in the future it can be rodded out that way. Simple and basic is I think what we need. But I want to make sure that the readily available options in local home improvement stores that I might choose will not grow up to be monsters. (no yews: gosh, how I hate yews: what everyone planted in the 50's; no junipers like the ones in the yard of the rental house next to my own house at present : things meant to be clipped into a fancy shape and left to their own devices and looking like a mess now.) I am guessing we will sell in about 5 years. Something planted small this season (likely by me, so it's got to be small) would hopefully look pretty good by then.

the house is symmetrical and I’d like a complementary style that’s not too stiff and formal looking It's really too bad the septic system is right in front of the house - while the tall foundation does call for foundation planting you'll never be able to marry the geometrically symmetric house façade to the naturalistic setting without being able to have plantings that echo the façade design extending out from the house. To form a transitional zone between these two dominating elements (the design of the façade and the setting within which it is being viewed).

It's really too narrow in depth to accommodate any plants of value so I'd likely opt to pave it. But as far as planting beds next to foundations are concerned, they are absolutely commonplace!! Maybe 75% of the questions asked here are how to refresh or modernize foundation plantings :-) As long as your foundation is waterproof - as it should be - and the soil level not too high, there should not be any concerns.