We bought our house last November, so I haven't had a chance to do too much to the landscaping, but I got the bug big time this spring. I've been focused mostly on the backyard so far, but now I've shifted my focus to the front yard. Some of the shrubs are just massive, leaving no option but to prune them into giant mounds, which is no fun to do and doesn't look all that nice, either. And on top of that, everything seems to bloom either white or light pink, which I don't think is the best color choice for a red brick house. Besides, I don't seem to be happy lately unless I've got dirt on my fingernails, so I need a big project to keep me going.
I want to start by taking out the Indian hawthorns, Japanese boxwood, and the low-growing juniper. That will leave me with the holly on each corner, the (unidentified) tree on the left corner, the center crepe myrtle (which blooms dark pink), an unidentified tall shrub near the front door and the rosebush that grows next to it, and, on the left side, the variegated privet and spirea,(which blooms rose-pink). I'll need some evergreen foundation plants, but I don't want them to be quite as deeply planted as the current shrubs are.
As far as color scheme, I'm thinking of using yellow as a predominant color, with accents of blue/purple and touches of orange and red. Something eye-catching and inviting, but not too structured.
The front of the house faces south. The bed to the far right gets full sun, and the rest get part sun. I want to extend the beds to follow down the sidewalk and then flare out again at the end of the sidewalk. The end of the sidewalk is obviously shaded by our large pecans, which are just beginning to leaf out in this picture.
Thoughts, ideas, opinions?
I'll post some more detail pics below.
