landscaping for very small front yard

Hello,
We just bought a new house with small front yard along the drive way. Our neighbours planted cedars between our properties and there is municipal tree in very poor condition in front of it (I don't know which tree is that). I was going to plant some lilacs between the porch and the tree for nice flowers and some privacy (close the porch and may be even put the bench behind the shrubs). But I am not sure how to choose the location of this lilacs (perpendicular to line of cedars, at angle or some wavy shape) and also may be have some wild flower bed with big rock in front of lilacs. Do you have any suggestions? Also do you have any comments about lilacs, such as which type is better, are they invasive, etc.
The house is fronting north and we live in Ontario so it's pretty cold, I think it's zone 5a but I am new to gardening so can not be sure.
Thank you all,
Gail

Congrats on the new house! I have lilac bushes and they can get a little unruly and not to mention huge. Mine don't have beautiful blossoms every year either. But my neighbor has a tinkerbell dwarf lilac tree that is beautiful and always seems to have beautiful blooms. Seeing it is a somewhat confined area (from what I can see..I really can't get the picture to enlarge) it would probably be easier to maintain and then you could have smaller shrubs with winter interest near it. Like a scotch broom, heather, azaleas, rhododendron. Here is a website with different types of lilac trees and bushes.

http://www.creeksideboulder.com/products_lilac.html

Thank you very much. This tinkerbell lilac looks good. The place is pretty small, probably 3 meters from driveway to cedars, so dwarf trees seem like a good idea, especially I want them mostly for flowers.

Someone could correct me but I thought lilacs only flowers a very few weeks every spring. They are lovely though but if I wanted flowers in abundance I'd consider a different option or instead to go with something which has phases throughout the year to give interest (flowers, pretty leaves, interesting bark) instead.

Also they don't flower in the first year after being cut down (but you can cut them down to the ground and they will come back up). I found that out when moving into our new house where the "avid" gardeners previous to us had cut everything (yes everything) down, probably for sale purposes. Three years later we're pretty much still at a blank slate (but a lot tidier than before).

We have a wild flower and ground cover garden tracking next to our driveway. Probably 2-3 feet wide and 20-25 feet long. Great for annuals, bulbs, and we have started to place ornamental grasses in the bed to add structure. The front corner, were sidewalk and driveway meet, would be a great place for something like a knockout rose bush. Just remember when you plant to allow for spread. The first few years it may look funny so far away from the sidewalk/driveway but a couple years down the road you will be grateful that the plant was set back so you don't have to butcher it to keep it off the sidewalk or driveway. Congrats of the house and your landscaping adventure. Nick

gbern, before you commit to Lilacs, just think about the viburnums.
http://www.finegardening.com/plants/articles/viburnums-are-versatile-shrubs.aspx

They work for the north side of the house and in cold areas like yours.

Thank you very much all,
I think Viburnums is a wonderful idea. I wanted lilac because I like the fragrance and it's something from my childhood, but may be I can limit it to just one shrub and the rest do something else.
I am also going to do some wildflower bed in front of the shrubs may be with some ruged stone in the center. So I know now what to ask at nurseries.
On the other thing, may be I should ask in a new thread but here is the question:
on our backyard previous owners had a huge trampoline, so no grass grew under it. I need to reseed it and I had ambitions to do it myself. So now I am considering ground covers vs moss vs regular grass vs this EcoLawn grass I heard somewhere.
What's your opinion on any of this?
Thank you.