Sort of repeating what others are saying here, but wonder how you feel about retaining walls? Also, how aware are you of the drainage issues? It sounds like this might be a new home? What has the builder done to insure that water flowing down that slope won't be a problem for your home? Also, I disagree with Ronbre. Not about the drainage concern, but about just handling that before you think about landscaping. Heavens, that is a part of the whole landscaping process. If you throw in a French drain and then decide you need the retaining wall Well, itÂs a classic example of why one needs to make a careful comprehensive plan for your property before you put in an fd or go out looking for plants. The spacing seems problematic to me, but I can imagine a higher and lower tier to your property, divided by a retaining wall. Such a wall can be extremely lovely, but if it were designed in your space, it would be more important for its function of protecting your home. Each "tier" of your yard that the retaining wall would create would be more or less level. The lower level -- though virtually flat -- would be properly graded with a slope away from the foundation. If possible, this wall would follow the contours of your property or would be designed to look as though it does. Steps would need to be designed to allow for access to the sidewalk / mailbox. The frentch drain  which, by the way, is a sort of artificial underground stream bed, often not visible at the surface -- would be at the base of the retaining wall some 10 to 12 feet ? from your foundation. Cost? Not cheap. I have no clue if thatÂs what your situation needs, but addressing the significant negative slope toward your home is at least as high a priority as screening for privacy and planting for shade. ThatÂs where doing tons of background research on the landscape design process is needed to help make sure you arenÂt missing something. The cool thing is that once you are clear about what has to be achieved in your front yard design in order for you to be happy, certain solutions will start working together. If, after youÂve considered the worse gully washer that could happen, you decide that some sort of drainage work needs to be done, then whatever choice you make about it could also work with other objectives. I can imagine, for instance, a retaining wall enhancing the sense of shelter. Paying for it? Ah, thereÂs the rub. But if you know what your dream front yard needs to be, then you might be able to work toward achieving it. Hope so. Wellspring

Looking again at your diagram, I'm hoping that on the right side, the triangle by the little sidewalk is meant to be paved. If that is your car, I would do quite a lot of paving area, a landing pad if you will, perhaps with a bench or table to help with unloading the car - really expanding on as you've shown, or fully replacing, your little sidewalk. Focus on the shape of the paved area, it should be nicer than you've drawn. Your plants can be around that, but which plants they are is irrelevant at the moment, all that can be certain is that they will die from being stepped on if the area is not big enough! Plants will come and go over the years anyway; just get the paving right. Even if that is not your car, I would be surprised if neighbours did not step there. The left side can be your gardening extravaganza side since it doesn't have to be passage to anywhere. Just make paths of some sort through the planting areas. I would not worry about symmetry. The house is so symmetrical that nothing can "throw that off." And since the yard is already not symmetrical, I would simply ignore the issue. In a yard this size, the task is really what I call "microlandscaping" - meeting your needs at this spot, and that spot, with the outcome being the sum of the parts. My observation in my area of historic houses with tiny yards is that the overall effect is usually good. The house so overwhelms the space that the gardening can't alter the impact the house makes. So, in a bid to win the award for "worst sketch ever posted on the LD forum" I hereby submit a diagram of my postage-stamp front yard abutting a house very similar to yours, with a full-width elevated porch and central door. Please be clear that I am not recommending this, but just showing it as a model (if you can't be an inspiring example, be a horrible warning...). My space is really reflective of ME, and as we slowly approach the idea of selling it someday, I know I will be changing it a lot in order to sell it. When we bought the house, there was basically nothing, well, except for a flowering quince off to one side that was poised to consume most of my gardening time for the ensuing 5 years with first pruning and then removal. The "design" process has been incremental, marked by what were sometimes good ideas that did not work for the existing constraints, for example, a diamond-shaped patio on the right that we removed because it quickly got buried in debris from the neighbour's giant-and-growing conifer (now removed). This layout evolved partly in response to existing constraints and opportunities (one bed, for example, is where it is to incorporate a large shrub that I was not ready to remove), and partly as an actual design as we gained experience living in this space and learned what our needs were. To explain the diagram below, I've put in grey the lines of sidewalk as they originally were, and shaded in overtop in red what we did as paving instead. The green areas are the planting beds, and the white open space is simply mulched. The big circles denote the canopies of major trees and shrubs. There is a fence that I haven't shown. Also, out front is a public sidewalk, and a hellstrip before the street. To say it's crowded would be an understatement. With most of the plantings being shrubby or tall, the white areas are quite enclosed - and I think the drawing makes them a bit too big; other than the red patio it is not quite to scale. The small patio to the left makes an amazing difference for such a small adjustment. It gives me a space to "be" and to keep stuff in the front yard that is comparatively private, shielded by what I call the "isthmus" of plantings extending from the left property line. Converting that sidewalk to a patio also allowed me to enlarge the foundation bed on that side (yes, I do have foundation beds!) which I wanted to do because that seemed to be a place that my favourite plants thrived. The patio is just dry-laid 2'x2' slabs, some cut on the diagonal. All the beds are actually raised beds enclosed by boulders; My porch foundation is fortunately masonry so I can pile dirt against it, and I am on a bit of a side slope so the beds are built up to even that out. In real life, the whole composition is just a mass of canopy, but that is how I like it. My primary gardening interest is in foliage; the overlay of different leaves and the contrast among them, as well as in the up-close changes that plants go through, so being really immersed in the plants rather than seeing their shapes from a distance works for me. The driveway is not ours, by the way. Regarding your arch over the entryway, it might be relevant to mention that I have an arch "in effect" due to overhanging foliage that is actually an irritant. If I am standing on the porch, I can't make eye contact with someone standing on the sidewalk unless I bend down to look through the "arch." So when you have an elevated door, I would not recommend the arch, especially not with plants growing riotously over it. From the outside, the arch frames a view of the bottom half of the door or of your feet if you are there. We actually had to put our address on the top step (riser) because no one could see it above the door. I hope that helps for starters. You will develop your own garden personality and way of "being in the space" that will drive later decisions and amendments to whatever you do now. And in that process of discovery, for me, is the fun of home landscaping. And this is very different from owning a larger lot, although perhaps your back yard is bigger. On a small lot, you do tend to spend time in or use every corner, so nothing is really just for looking at - it is all about how you experience it. Karin L

Purple leaf plums unfortunately are short lived nowadays and no longer recommended for a number of reasons. A good substitute is a series of black-leafed Lagerstroemias (Crape Myrtles) available, quite stunning small trees with gorgeous flowers. Developed by the USDA, they are marketed under a couple of different names, including 'Black Diamond'. Different summer flower colors include red, white, pink. Lagerstoemias are good parkway trees, most all are not overwhelmingly large and they have beautiful bark as well as beautiful summer flowers. Not at their best close to the ocean, but at least a few miles inland with some summer heat they do well. Autumn foliage color can be excellent if we get a bit of cold weather. Non-fruiting Loquat (Eriobotrya deflexa ) makes a good small parkway tree; perhaps a dwarf Magnolia like 'Little Gem' or 'Teddy Bear' (do not be misled by the "dwarf"--they will still get 30' tall in time, but a regular Magnolia can get 80'. Or decidious Magnolia like 'Black Tulip'. Metrosideros 'Spring Fire' makes a nice 15-20' tree with coral colored flowers off and on that feed the hummingbirds. You could also consider medium-to large-ish shrubs that can be limbed up as small trees.

I think that corner spot came out great! You could also add some low stuff if you want some color there like Variegated Liriope or something along those lines. In the first picture, how about something simple like Coral Bells (for color) or Autumn Joy Sedum (just because they look cool)? As for the second picture, I agree with Yardvaark that some simple pruning should fix up that side. You can always add something along the edge of the bed--groundcovers like Brunnera (I love Jack Frost!) or V. Liriope that you can keep contained or something small and perennial like a Lenten Rose......... http://www.hallslandscapers.com