Hi, This summer I planted about 12 heathers. They have started to grow but I thought they would have grown a lot more by now. I have tried my best to water them at least twice a week and we've had some occasional rain. There are a couple of heathers that show small purple buds but a couple of days ago I noticed they were gone from one of them. The lack of growth and flower bud disappearing concerns me along with the fact that they are growing very slow. Any ideas? The groundcover bed also quickly gets covered in weeds (particularly along the perimeter) and I have to remove them quite often despite using bark mulch. When I planted the heathers I planted peat moss under them but I didn't plant peat moss over the whole bed. Should I have done that to keep weeds out and should I plant peat moss below the mulch where the weeds keep growing? Finally is there anything that you'd recommend to help the heathers grow such as fertilizer. Although I just read a bh article saying that you shouldn't use fertilizer on heathers. I'm not sure because I'd expect better growth at this point. The soil is very acidic. I am attaching some recent pictures. Thanks!

I think that solving the main problems is going to boil down to two things: the walk; and the making the entrance visible. The walk should definitely be wider - 5' could be a goal, maybe wider near the stoop - and then it should make a better connection with the drive. I don't think this means to necessarily cut across the lawn with it. Given that the yard is small, you could widen the drive a bit with whatever the walk material is, continue on by widening the city sidewalk with the same material, and then turn the corner with the walk, heading to the entrance ... in effect bordering the yard with a "U"-shape "invitation" that extends from the drive to the entrance. (The portions adjacent drive and city walk would not be the same width as the main walk to the entrance. They would be like decorative borders.) When it comes to the portion of walk that heads toward the entrance, I think it would be beneficial to pull it away from the neighbor's drive and incorporate and "S"-curve into it. That way, room for a SMALL tree could be created between the walk and neighbor's drive. It would also have the benefit of making it look like it belongs to your property without any question. Note how entrances are typically clearly marked by some type of enlarged, often raised, paved area, and a roofed covering that offers shelter from the elements. I think you need to create such a structure over the walk, in the front yard, near to the house. It would be the obvious first "entrance" that people reach when approaching the house. But after they've reached it there would be no question about where they would continue to in order to reach the actual house entrance. The structure could be a very nice arbor, or it could be more architectural in nature (such as with brick columns and an actual roof.) BTW, I don't think there's the first thing wrong with your yellow brick. Maybe you're bored of it and that is the driving force behind staining it. But I think it would be a mistake, or highly inefficient at the least, to attempt to change it to another color. If the brick was flat out ugly I'd be all for it. But it's not. You might end up creating, after spending a lot of money and effort, something that is not near as nice. If you could replace the top panel of the garage door with one that has windows all the way across, that would resolve the boring quality of the existing door. There seem to be two main approaches to planting: smother the house with hedges; and smother the house with a variety of all kinds of plants strewn in a randomish fashion. You might consider "matching" shrubs to windows (like steps would be "matched" to a door) as the main shrubs of the landscape scheme. Perennials and annuals can be fit around them in some artistic scheme, keeping it simple preferably. I would plan on keeping shrubs below the window sill height. I would hunt for a spot for another small tree at the right side of the house. (We can't see that area.)

Why do you need to replace the stoop? It looks solid. It's surface is not great, but that can be overcome in a variety of ways. The walk is inferior ... too small. Possibly its path could be improved if one had a comprehensive understanding of the overall landscape scheme. The grade of the yard is falling away too soon at the left side of the house. If it were me, I'd want a more upscale and stable look. It would be helpful if you'd return to the same spot the whole-house picture was taken. Where the photo leaves off, add another picture that shows what we can't see beyond the right and left edges. We need to see a comprehensive view of whole house plus some space at its ends. (Add to the existing photo above. If you back up in order to add on, everything will be too far away to see well.)

Generously wide - at least 4' (5' is better). Other than that, impossible to offer any other suggestions without photos.