Desperate Curb Appeal Needed!!!

I've never done any landscaping before. As a matter of fact, I don't have a garage or shed to put a lawn mower in, so I pay to have it cut. Alas, I will even have to borrow shovels and stuff.

I didn't plan on staying in my house but with the market the way it is these days, I need to do something with my front yard at least. There is no landscaping what so ever aside from my rugged lawn.

I was thinking of a row of brick across the front and then something, but I've never done anything like this before, so I don't know exactly what something should be. This is my first house; I've always been an apartment city boy. I've attached a pic... any suggestions on some look-good low-maintainence landscaping would be greatly appreciated.

What zone are you in and how much money do you want to spend? How much sun does your front yard get?

I would take this picture to a local nursery and ask them to recommend some easy care plants that you could use. You don't say where you live so it s hard to recommend plants without knowing your conditions.

Also, it's not clear from your message whether you've now made a longer-term commitment to stay in this house, or are you still planning to get out sooner rather than later? If you're planning to move, I would put in some simple beds with a couple of nice shrubs, then put some colorful annuals in front of the shrubs and be done with it, no point to spend a lot of $$ if you're not going to stick around to enjoy it. But the colorful blooming flowers will look great if you go to sell the place.

If you plan to move as soon as an offer comes along, I would do container gardening, you dont really need many heavy tool for that, if you can buy/make a couple of large containers, you can put a trelis into the containers, add a climber, like clematis that dont grow too tall, or a climbing Rose, then in front plant some summer bedding like Geraniums and over the edges some trailing ivy etc, if you think you will still be in residence next spring, put in some spring flowering bulbs, they will look after themselves and pay for their keep with flowers from early on in the year, when you move, you take the containers with you, lots of things can be used and disguised for container gardening, like any old baby crib, the small carry one, painted and lined with plastic and holes drilled in the bottom for drainage, and old wheel barrow painted and holed, even old boots, you really dont have to spend a lot on containers unless you want to,
hope this gives you food for thought, good luck, WeeNel.

You can really do away with the entire front yard and make a beautiful planting area. Creating an attractive landscape to this house can definitely increase the value. A brick bordered planting would be nice, but that is a typical look. You need something that is going to pop! Using a focal plant on the left side(according to pic) of the house will accent your assymetrical porch roof. I would recommend maybe a Japanese maple or something similar to grab some attention but dont go over the top. Subtle interest is the key to keeping the onlookers eye curious. You also have potential for a small water feature ie. Koi pond as a refreshing addition as you walk in. If you are doing this yourself, dont be afraid of doing a small pond. It is way easier, and cheaper than you think. This of course all depends on your budget, but remember landscaping is the first thing people see as they walk up to a house. So shelling out a few more $$ for this type of investment will only go back into your pocket in the long run. You want to use something that is fairly low growing on either side of the porch that is not going to block you windows, but remember you are going for an asymmetrical look so you cant just fold this one in half and cut it out, you need individual interest on each side. The corners can be beefed up with some tall narrow type evergreens (your zone will determine what species of plant to use), but here in Nashville i would use a couple of skypencil holly's on each corner of the house. These will help add some vertical interest. Your side walk will need some type of border, 80% of the US population would use liriope, so that means you should not. I would go with heuchura if your house faces the north, or an assortment of annuals if your house faces the any other direction (they will be a little bit of upkeep, but everyone loves color). Make sure you refrain from going to lowes and picking out all of the coolest looking plants you can find. You need some background/filler plants to make your focal/specimens pop. Remember your evergreens when picking out fillers, you will appreciate them in the winter.
i hope this has been helpful

If you need any advice you can contact me through my website grasshopdesign.com I would be more than happy to lay a design out for you.

Grasshopper Design
Hermitage TN

Thank you everyone for the comments. This helps set me in a direction. And I'm in the Detroit area, which I apparently forgot to mention and would seem to be kind of important. Thanks again... Perhaps I'll post pics when the job is done.