I don’t understand the part about ’ties.’ You mean these vertical pieces I circled? Why are they there?

A landscaping plan evolves more quickly if we can see the entire facade of your home. Are you the original builder of the house? It is possible that the "walk" around the house is actually for a drainage issue and building an embankment that helps retain water behind it may defeat the purpose of the concrete skirt all around the house. Check and be sure before you proceed.

Popping in to recommend red-twigged dogwood, lovely against white.

A quick spreader and soil stabilizer, a great hillside or bank space filler. Plant in mass for a lush green screen in spring and summer and a fiery red landscape accent in fall and winter.

Cornus sericea 'Bailyana' · More Info

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"scorching hot sun" on the north face of a house in the PNW........seriously?? Scorching hot sun anywhere in the PNW even in midsummer is a very rare occurrence!

It is also not very clear from your description and the marked photo what your intentions are and where the septic outflow is located and the purpose of what appear to be wooden posts at the near end. It's all rather confusing :-)

I will say that you need to move the little Christmas tree conifer to another location soon, as it will outgrow that space in no time and it is far too close to the structure.

Garden - Pacific Northwest - Eclectic Landscape -

Blooming Penstemon and Russian sage in an eclectic full sun formal garden in Seattle for summer. - Houzz

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If the house is long, a large volume of planting and/or color could expand the center area, to draw the eyes out into the yard [instead of to the width]... ?

I’ve been thinking about this more, aligning with the thoughts of Deco above. Perhaps you have a drainage problem that needs dealt with first of all. You said ”far corner downspout” and “embankment” and ”french drain” and ”sidewalk all around the house,” all of which might relate to water issues in the house/yard.

Back waaay up and take a picture that shows your whole house plus 15’ or so of the yard on both sides. So we can see the whole area and how rainwater flows around it.

Thank you everyone for your comments. The house/site does not have drainage issues. We are on the top of a small hill relative to both the back and front yard. The drainage issue originates from the downspout. The house is "L" shaped (very open angle, not 90 degrees) and the (very) long end of the house drains/downspouts at that far corner. When we have a downpour, it overwhelms the downspout and it backs up. I planted a dogwood (great idea everdebz! :) ) at that far corner many years ago, and the roots have invaded the trap that the downspout drains in to. Whether or not the backup issue is a function of the roots, or there has always been an issue there, I unfortunately can no longer remember. Regardless, the dogwood is history. The embankment is a function of the slope of the front yard. There is also a slight rise in the front yard toward the far end of the house (which is what you see in the picture), and this is what creates the hill that the retaining wall reflects. Railroad ties, as seen, are used to "shore up" the embankment. They are placed vertically close to the front porch (which someone mentioned), and horizontally beyond that to the far corner. I assume this was for visual interest, and I like how it breaks up the wall. The front porch and other end of house (which you can't see in picture, and which is the short "leg" of the L shape). are flush with the front yard. I'll post pics later. I'm fine with getting rid of this area as a garden space (although containers might work?), it's a difficult space with no direct sun (cool/moist) except during June to August when it gets direct sun and is very hot. Later! and thanks again for your thoughtfulness about this.

Well it's been a while, we had a french drain placed to deal with the downspout (which seems to have fixed the problem!) and put in a small retaining wall. Unfortunately, we had a wood one installed initially and between the sloppy installation and the juniper wood vs. our house color, we ended up pulling it. Caveat emptor. We then had a small, manufactured stone wall installed, and the contractor (having heard our comments about the previous job) did an incredible job. It looks terrific! We have 12x12 gray/black basalt squares to place in the granite gravel at approximately 15 inch intervals for visual interest once the tree debri dropping season is over here. How do people keep these type of areas clean? We have a plastic layer over it now. It works fine (just sweep it off), but I guess it's going to be a seasonal thing in terms of leaving it uncovered. Regardless, it looks terrific! Shout out to New Leaf Creations, they were a pleasure to work with and did an excellent job!