Beginner Gardening: Couldn't be more, or less as the case may be, green, 1 by sioux21

sioux21 wrote:
I don't know the first thing about gardening. You could say I am gardening illiterate. I moved last year to a new house from a town home and am more than embarrassed at how awful the front of my house looks, especially compared to all of my neighbors. This year, I want to get it right. I want to do something so that I don't have the ugliest shrubs with no flowers anywhere in sight. I want to be proud of my flowers and myself. BUT, I don't even know where to begin. Not a clue. I can't just go pick out stuff and plant it because I will kill it. I bought a planter for the steps last year and the flowers in it died within days. How do people do it? I'll attach a picture of my house here. You'll notice the complete opposite of lawn beauty. The "soil" under those god-forsaken bushes appears to be rocks. I live in NE Illinois about halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee. Please, I beg you, help me! You can't say anything that comes even close to dumbing it down too much. I am handicapped and want flowers and shrubs like the rest of the neighborhood seems to make come so easily. Oh, and, I'm on a budget. Figures, right?