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Color inspiration bouquet, existing bushes (can move)

Where are you located? Zone?

@jck910 Atlanta area, it looks like maybe on the cusp of a couple zones:

@celery Thank you for the visual suggestion. I didn’t even think about changing up the old entrance walkway, but your idea of a curved one that meets the driveway 1/2 way down looks great & way more practical. I’d been considering doing away with the large (currently bare) planting island altogether, but here it seems to provide nice balance. We actually have a large decorative boulder on both left & right not visible in the pic, so the small cluster might fit right in.

I wish Celery had placed a small tree near the left front corner of your home.

Also, would you consider relocating the forsythia? It's glorious in bloom for a couple of weeks then it's a big green ball (which needs frequent trimming to stay roundish) for the remainder of the year. If you love it, move it to the side. Since you're adding plantings around the foundation, please just grass where the forsythia currently sits.

When we bought our last home, we removed almost everything, took pictures and headed to a good garden centre (during their slow time). They provided all kinds of great suggestions for our soil, variations in height, bushes, trees, boulders, flowering plants, etc. They didn't charge, as they would benefit from our purchase. Best to have a short and long term vision and if needed, add in steps for budget purposes.

@cecily I’d love a smaller variety Japanese Maple or similar where you mentioned, but there’s already a large tree planted further down that would probably partially block it (& the sun from reaching it). The pictures I posted yesterday didn’t show enough layout context, but there is an October Glory maple tree about 25ft down from that left corner that’s currently 20ft tall but will get pretty big. We have a several aborvitaes in the side yard between us & the left neighbor- would something like that be good to help “frame” that corner?

@cecily the forsythias- we’d love to remove them! High maintenance & block our view when pulling out of the driveway unless kept under 3ft tall. One was planted directly over water, gas, electric, & cable lines so our landscaper said digging it out for relocation is a no go. Their idea was removing as much as possible then sodding over- both & the island- then focus on planting closer to the house. They aren’t landscape designers, though.

@maureen Thank you for that advice- we didn’t consider separating short & long term visions. We started with adding back 1 large tree after needing to remove the only 2 shade providers in the front, since that was top priority & takes the longest to mature. I’ve visited a great Pike’s a few times to browse, but they never seem to have slow periods & told me about their design services almost right away😅
I think I need to visit a different location, as well as a couple independent, smaller nurseries.

Pictures with better context. Young October Glory maple tree circled in pink. Dark blobs are for peoples’ & neighbors’ privacy.

Sometimes it takes a year to recover from decision fatigue in remodelling. If you want to postpone making decisions about new landscaping, you can have some fun and simply plant a lot of colorful annuals from 6-packs or 4" pots. First, add a vast amount of compost and all purpose fertilizer where the old landscaping plants were. The old soil is likely to be depleted.

Flower Gardens in the South · More Info

Residence Number 3 · More Info

Oh great, I'm glad the October Glory maple is already in place. I rescind my suggestion of another tree LOL. Could you place a holly at that corner? Hollies tolerate a lot of pruning.

Please do kill the forsythia.

@apple We may do just that with annuals, or perhaps perennials in containers that can be later transplanted. The lawn & soil do need a lot of help, so your idea of focusing on prepping now/designing later sounds great. At least that would likely help anything we plant this fall/next spring “take” better. Thank you!

@cecily haha, yes- I’d love a yard full of ornamentals but would be the only one in the neighborhood I’m sure. So a massive holly bush is what we actually removed from that corner! It was my husband’s least favorite as he always got stuck by the leaves when trimming the nearby bushes & putting up Christmas lights😂
I always love Green Mountain Boxwoods whenever we pass them in someone’s yard…perhaps 2-3 of those are the corners to frame?

I'm sorry to hear that you removed the holly rather than pruning it. If your husband wants dense shrubs to drape with lights, then a group of blight resistant box is a possible choice but it won't grow tall enough to frame the house.

Cecily, it’s been awhile but you’ll be happy to hear my update about the Holly bush- it somehow started growing back the week after I created this post & has just taken off since then! We took it as a sign & will be keeping it, but just making sure to shape it to allow sufficient room between the house & itself. The other bushes are slowly establishing themselves & are all doing well. I can’t wait to see the maple’s color changes for the first time this fall!

Yay! Thanks for the happy update!