Actual window boxes that work well would probably be custom made, which might be more than you want to spend on a house you're selling. You might slap some decent ones together yourself since it's a fairly simple operation to build an "open box." The key to good window boxes is making them large enough to hold enough soil to actually grow plants that aren't panting for water on an hourly basis. To make them look good, hang them somewhat below the window so that what grows in them doesn't screen the window itself. Include pendulous plants so that much of the window box itself is covered by foliage and/or flowers and works to obscure some of the blank space below the windows. If you want shrubs below the windows, you might consider regular Nandina for a look that is not too "tight." (Your photo does not allow us to see the ground space in that vicinity.) I like the portico being white much better than the dark green. For shutters and window boxes you might explore one of the many variations of TAUPE, a color that goes almost anywhere with almost any thing. Trying some paint samples will be more productive than discussing color theory for hours or days.

You could use some help from the LD forum on this landscaping. Since you didn't pick the hollies and aren't attached to them, I'll be blunt: for my eye there's not much you can do with paint colours or house details to distract from the very unfortunate placement of those bushes. I'm not saying they couldn't be useful if you combined them with some other landscaping (the other forum people tend to be better at foundation planting issues than I am), but on their own at that height they... are unnecessary, to put it mildly. The house has a very nice foundation, nothing to hide. Do any similar houses in your area have no foundation planting with more greenery further out in the yard instead? I might be inclined to put such a hedge perpendicular to the house if anywhere in that yard, perhaps along the side property line. Cutting them and fleshing out the beds further into the yard with more plantings in front of them might help. I think they will sprout from below if cut back, but check that on the shrubs forum perhaps, or someone on LD might know. KarinL

The current front walk from the drive looks too narrow, and the garden beds both along the walk and to the left of the door are too narrow. If it is in the budget, plan to move the walkway to a minimum of 5 feet from the building and widen it. That will give you a more generous garden, remove the the skinny bed to the street side of the walkway, and give you a walk wide enough for comfort and not crowded by plants needing frequent trimming. Right now everything is in skinny rows. I would also remove the swing and plan to incorporate that space into the garden, either with a small water feature such as an overflowing jar, or some art, or some low plants. You don't want to hide or crowd the approach to the door. If you own enough property to the right of the drive, I would plant a small tree over there about half way between your drive and the neighbor's and midway between the fence and the sidewalk. Your large tree gives the yard character and will help reduce cooling costs. It will also influence what will grow to the left side of the door since it will provide shade and compete for moisture with whatever plants you put in. Before removing what is there remember that establishing new plants may need extra care. If you decide on a central front walk, be sure to avoid doing major damage to the tree's roots. You won't get the most useful specific plant suggestions without information on your growing zone and the amount of sun the area gets, particularly influenced by the direction the house faces which can be determined by finding the house on a map. A north facing house will have the front in full shade, while south facing will have both more sun and heated masonry adjacent to the gardens. You may want to ask on the Florida Gardening forum or visit a few good local nurseries for specific plant suggestions. Think about foliage color and texture as well as flowers, and be sure that some of the plants retain nice foliage during winter. i would plan on doing all the hardscaping and painting before working on the gardens themselves so that you aren't damaging the plants. My personal taste would be to keep the house in a relatively neutral pastel color such as sage green or gray with the trim a slight darker shade of the same color. Make your door brighter or lighter since it is recessed. I don't think the current color which looks like a pale olive green on my screen is a problem. Do you not like it?

Flo, I like your sketch very much (although without knowing the basic sun/wind info I mentioned above, it may or may not be what she needs.) However, the suggestion of polished black Japanese river stones for a first time home owner in Oklahoma is probably not helpful.b You will drain her budget and she will find herself looking at dusty, not shiny, stones. If she likes your concept of creating a dry bed/ river effect (as I do), you or someone else might teach her how to do this with grasses native to her area. Ones that can be easily propagated by division, require no water or weeding, and will blow in her prairie breezes while attracting birds and wildlife. Can, I urge you to google images of landscapes by Oehme, Van Sweden. They are known for using sweeps of native plants, especially grasses. My suggestion to you is to play around with flexible hoses or ropes in dividing your wide open space to see what shapes please you. Then imagine the spaces filled with different color blocks of various heights. Which ones do you want moving, which ones static? Designing a three dimension landscape from scratch like yours can be overwhelming. Break it down into digestible parts. 1) Gather all information about your conditions. 2) Get out the hoses and ropes and draw on the ground like a canvas.