Help! Foundation design nightmare?

First off, I appreciate any ounce of help any of you can throw my way. :)

I'm starting off with a 34 year old split foyer. It's bad enough the house is pretty featureless, but I want my foundation planting to possibly mask that.

I am in zone 6(a), in Northern Virginia. Believe it or not, I work in a garden center and although I help customers on a daily basis with their landscape ideas, I'm having trouble finding inspiration for my own home. I've searched high and low for ideas for split foyers online and have come up with nothing.

Here's a few things I was considering once I rip out what is currently planted: double red knockout roses in front of variegated english boxwood on either side of the door way. Perhaps a Japanese Maple (Orangeola) on the right side of the house between the windows. Some rhodos and/or crape myrtle might be nice also, but their heights may not work.

Beyond that, I'm clueless. The low windows make design difficult, and I still can't tell if I want all short plants, or if something taller will draw the eye away from the split foyer look.

Please help!

Right in front of the windows I think you want to stick with short plants, the rooms on the lower floor will tend to be really dark otherwise if you have shrubs growing up right in front of the windows. I would actually make some garden beds out away from the house--either extend your foundation beds way out, or make an island type bed out a ways from the house. If you do this, then you can plant some taller trees or shrubs out away from the house a bit, that way they won't directly block your windows and you'll still get some light in there, but from the street it'll somewhat hide some of the exterior of the house which it sounds like you want to do. You could even turn the area in between the house and this island bed into a sort of courtyard area, put in some seating and a nice fountain, that will give you a nice place to sit outside plus a nice view from your downstairs windows.

Thank you kindly for your advice. The property actually sits on 4 acres, with ample trees and evergreens to hide it from the street, I just want it to look more attractive for me when I pull into the driveway! I think sticking with something short in front of the windows is the way to go.

Hi Trusuprise, would you maybe plant some climbing plants on either side of your windows, in between also, they dont have to be huge 20ft high to give you colour onto the house as you drive up to your door, maybe Clemetis, with big flower heads, or mixture of Roses with contrasting coloured Clemetis, I have a Yellow Golden Showers Rose, with a large flowering deep purple Clemetis growing through it, this has quite an unusual effect, or, you could perhaps have large shaped box plants in big containers placed against the gap between the windows. Rather than have beds against the actual house, clear the grass away to make a wide walkway around your foundations, then dig long, wide beds and plant them up with the things you sugested yourself, but with the gap between the house and the beds, you will allow you to enjoy the colours/greeney, the paths will also help with house painting etc, but the wide gap between house and beds should allow light into the rooms, just dont plant any tall things in fron of the windows when you plant up your bed, if these are in front of popular rooms, add some plants with perfumed flowers so you get the smell as well as the colour, wigwam supports are a good way to add hight into borders and you can grow Honey Suckles Roses etc for perfume, low plants like lavenders will also help this, the best way to get the shapes and size of a border you plan is to lay garden hoses into the shape you think you might like, then go back into the house to look and tweek as you need to change the shape or size, that way, you dont cut up half your lawn and then discover that you dont like it, also look as you come up your drive as you said this was also important to you, remember, some of the plants you want are acid soil plants, however you can add things to the soil to accomodate this, Good luck WeeNel.

Thank you very much, WeeNel. Lavender is an excellent idea that I'd thought of as well and in fact, I did buy some earlier today. The garden hose method of laying a bed is a great tip that I'm eager to use. The idea of pulling the beds away from the house is great, except that there is already an existing brick walkway that I don't want to tear up.
Thanks again for all your suggestions!

I looked and saw that perhaps some matched tall junipers on either side
of your front door would accentuate the formal tones of the house too.
love your house!
sheri

tru~ What don't you like about what you've already got there? Looks good to me, love the house color too, esp the left side. The color of the bigger bush on the right looks a little jarring, and its obscuring a window. It looks as though your house is more or less symmetrical? If that is the case, I would try this. Make a B&W copy of the pic you posted, outline the shapes of the shrubs you want to keep (if any, my vote is leave the left side alone and move/remove the big shrub) and then you'll be able to select new materials with the same forms on the other side, not necessarily the exact same plants. If you stick to how the left side is done, with the larger mass to the outside corner and lower masses next to the steps, and then draw an imaginary line along the top of the shrubs, you will have created a long, low 'V' shape with the front door as the base. Which means it will be your focal point, and it will welcome and envelop your family and friends.

Trusurprise - So what did you end up doing with your landscaping? Since we, too, live in a split foyer in the Mid-Atlantic, I'd be very interested to see what you ended up doing.
Dixie
Maryland

I have an older split level as well, this is what I did last year. Not sure if I will keep it the same this year but it looked pretty

WOW! That is a NICE clean looking flower bed---gorgeous color combos and nice clean green plants! Love it!

Hi there. I, too, live in a split level and thought I'd give you a helpful link for designing with a split-level in mind. It is www.splitlevel.net. I realize I'm kind of late in posting this, but it addressed some of the specific strategies for landscaping a split level home.