You need on-site consultation that really "gets" where you are coming from in what you want from your "landscaping" and what you can put into it (not just money but maintenance adn/or interaction with your landscaping. You could give some thought to how much you value really fine landscaping (it's okay not to, much) and that might determine where you shop for services. You said "I want to design it now," which I interpret to mean you want it designed now, and that's fine. But this type of random interaction with posters is not the same as the design process that you need when you are just starting out with your first thoughts about landscaping AND you want a soon result. You're "in the weeds" here, and because of the combination of where you're starting from and the way random postings and replies work, it isn't likely that this process will work for you, and I think you don't realize that. Your builder has put you in a box with all the "beds" and mulch lined up around the house and I think it will take an on-site re-design to help you break out of that. I'm not intending to put off those who have offered specific suggestions and pictures--I think they know the limitations of their suggestions and are just giving you food for thought. So of course it is fine to have a fun back and forth of suggestions and reactions, and for some people it gets creative processes going and new ideas. But that is not getting your landscape designed. So, find professionals in your area, look at some of what they have done, and try to pick one. The threads that I think will be most helpful to you on this forum are the ones on what types of persons/qualifications to look for, how to find a professional, and the different ways they tend to charge, how you can interact with professional, e.g., turnkey jobs vs. pay for design jobs and install yourself, install in stages etc. So you can decide on both a budget and how much you want to be involved in the process.

It sounds like you have a love for plants and landscaping in general! I would consider hiring a professional to collaborate your ideas and come up with a design for your property. If you have the time and know-how to construct the whole thing I would do it. Maybe hire a contractor for the stone work and heavy lifting, and do the plantings and bed work yourself! This is quite a large project that needs a lot of consideration including grading, lay-out, style, budget and you!

Oh, btw, long run it will be a disaster to have dwarf burning bush as shrubs below the window. If regular burning bush is allowed to grow naturally, it gets 18' to 20' height. Dwarf gets 10'. Do you really want to do that much trimming? And ALL the plants are much too close to the building wall. Don't plant them closer than 3', and 3 1/2' or 4' is better. Therefore, the bed is unrealistically small ... unless your goal is to have the kind of landscaping that looks like a novice did it.

Hey artemis; a great site you are fortunate to have! Thought I might share something on deer and landscaping in our neck of the woods. First your neighbors are a source of a wealth of information. If you're shy or don't care to go face to face with them just observe what is planted and doing well in their landscapes and gardens. It will tell you a great deal. If you're the gregarious type seek them out and talk to them, the local garden club even, or county ag, extension. Here in Tioga County NY z4 to z5; deer population is I think out of control. Plants that may have been possible to grow years past are not so easy now. You see plants and wonder, how did this fellow manage to grow this, it would never survive at my place. But they are mature plants that were started back in a time when the deer were less. Now they are mature specimens and mostly tall enough to be out of the reach of deer. It is very hard to tell what the deer will eat and seems to very site specific, to the point that things I can't keep the deer from eating, I see doing fine a half mile down the road! Yews are serious deer food on my place, anything lower than 5' is browsed, yet other homes in the woods here have them and they seem untouched. After 20 years trial and error the standbys, as far as the evergreens go, for relative deer resistance are juniper, spruce and pine and box. I often here junipers disparaged, I don't know why, beautiful to me if properly cared for. And tons to choose from, from ground hugging a few inches tall to our native juniper, the eastern red cedar, which is not a cedar at all but juniperus virginiana and can become a full sized and beautiful tree. Every shape and size in between. The same is true for the spruces and pines, of which there are hundreds to choose from, forms, sizes and colors. I keep experimenting and trying new things, lately inkberry; ilex glabra a supposedly deer resistant holly and larch; larix. Such a variety that a completely successful garden is possible with just these few species. Those are the species I can rely on to be deer resistant, as I said I keep experimenting, but with the mindset that I am taking a chance when planting and not to be surprised at seeing a well gnawed stump were a plant used to be. Here's a link to some of the conifers available for the landscape. http://www.iselinursery.com/