You've done a lot and are to be commended! I'm glad you got rid of the huge shrubs, and I agree that you should also cut down the one that remains. karinl's correct in pointing out that your foundation is nothing to be ashamed of. BUT let me argue for some evergreens somewhere. Going by your zip code, you're in Tennessee just south of the Kentucky border. Your zone is 6B, so you have a definite winter -- one zone colder than mine. I did see your photos earlier, but for some reason Firefox won't let me access them again at the moment. From what I remember, there wasn't anything that would have any winter interest. I remember a low rose bush -- empty twigs in the winter -- but the rest may all be annuals and perennials which die back to the ground at the end of the growing season. So for four months, there's nothing around the house except empty dirt and a dormant rose. (Apologies if I'm not remembering correctly, or if there was something I'm not familiar with; I'm not a plant expert.) Even if the stone foundation is interesting, it wouldn't hurt to hide some of the utility boxes, not to mention the phone (?) wire that snakes along quite a bit of the siding. Not all shrubs are five feet high, as were the old ones. How about a few low evergreen shrubs and groundcovers? I understand that it's not your own house, and that evergreens may be more than you wish to invest in landscaping at the moment. But think about adding something evergreen this fall or next spring -- or several somethings. Here's the Missouri Botanical Garden's PlantSearch. It can give you some idea of plants in a particular category. http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Search.asp You might, for example, use these settings: Sun = whatever's appropriate for each bed Height = 1-3 ft. Maintenance = you'll probably want "Low" or "Medium" Zone = 6 And on the far right, under "Leaves," click "Evergreen" Depending on what you checked, you'll get somewhere between several and several dozen evergreen cultivars. Clicking on the links will give you more info and generally a photo. Then try slightly different settings: maybe two different sun settings, and both "Low" and "Medium" for Maintenance. Or go for shorter plants and/or click "Groundcover" under "Uses" on the right. To avoid future worries about roots and the foundation, plant far enough from the house so that you always have 1-2' clear for house (and plant) maintenance. (Take the mature width of the shrub/annual/perennial, divide it in half, then add at least a foot: the figure you get is the distance from the house that the center of the plant should be located.)

It's "View image info" in Firefox -- and IIRC, that same term in whatever old edition of IE I used to use years ago. But if I understand you correctly, you're hot-linking the photo. Unfortunately, whenever your post with that photo is accessed, it uses the bandwidth of the original site. In a thread about acharles's driveway, it makes sense to use acharles's photo (though redundant) and acharles's bandwidth. But in other circumstances it's bad manners to add to someone else's bandwidth cost, and a simple link is preferable. A canny website owner will use software which prevents hotlinking -- generally replacing the image with a rude notice (which being smaller and simpler, uses much less bandwidth); you've probably seen some of those but didn't know what they were. A less knowledgeable site owner, overwhelmed by unexpectedly large bandwidth charges, may just close the site. http://www.webweaver.nu/html-tips/hotlinking.shtml

Well hi again teejay! :) The link to your pics isn't working. Can you post again in the field below "Message?"

I would remove the walk to the front door and install concrete pavers with grass to form a J drive.