Need help with landscaping front yard

Hi y'all,
My hubby and I settled into our new home in October of '07 in Kentucky (Zone 6). With the crazy (and wet) weather we have been having, we have just started to look into landscaping the front yard. Right now we want to concentrate on the area in front of the house. I have downloaded a main picture for the front of the house and will download another close-up view. We have not obtained the Certificate of Occupancy so the wooden "rail" will have to remain for another month or so. Once we pass, we will remove the rail.

Does anyone have suggestions on groundcoverings, shrubs, & perrennials? I like low maintenance items as I was not blessed with a "green thumb"! :) The front of the house faces west, so the plants would get afternoon sunlight.

Thanks so much for your help!
Heather

Here is a picture of close-up from the right side.

And one from the left...

I'm no expert either. But in my few years of garden advice I've been given (and must use at this new house here to)---if you want long blooming bushes checkout knockout or double knockout roses. They have tons of thorns but won't give you blackspot (yellowed leaves that all fall off) and require minimal care.

Thanks Tir but I forgot to mention that I am not a huge fan of roses. :) Roses and hostas!!

I'm new into gardening also, but I've done some reading. Hollies are nice foundation shrubs and I believe most, if not all are evergreen. There are different varieties and various sizes so you would want to read up on them before placing them. Maybe some Bluepoint Junipers here and there for different texture. Crape Myrtles bloom all summer and require little care, and they come in a variety of sizes and colors to fit different areas.

An Oak tree and maybe a Maple tree for Fall color might be nice.

Your house is beautiful! Congratulations!

Honestly with this nice of a house I would hire a professional. Or make the nursery place plan it out for you if you purchase the plants from them. I would definlity go with some nice small evergreen trees. I would frame in the porch with them. I would also get some barberry bushes. I would look for some yellow leafed bushes mixed in there too. Plant things odd numbers for a big impact. YOu ahve those colums maybe some climbing annuals and some planters on the porch.

allanme79, that was what I was thinking to, a professional opinion would be great for this nice of a house, especially if you aren't so gifted in the garden jvog. But that's assuming you can afford to hire it done. We've lived in 2 homes, only homeowners 3 years, and we still make tons of mistakes since we are new to gardening. When you consider all the mistakes you'll make in plants the advantage of hiring help might defray that cost!

Thanks guys & gals!! I think I will have some professionals come out to take a look. I've been checking out several places on-line and most give a free consult.

Thanks for suggesting it!!

It usually doesn't cost that much to have someone draw up some plans for you as long as you do the work yourself. It's the labor that gets pricey! When you have a huge blank canvas like that, unless you're really good at visualizing what you want and can draw up your own plan, hiring a pro to come up with a design for you could be really helpful. A lot of nurseries have on-staff designers who will do things like that for a reasonable fee, and then you probably get some (if not all) of that money back if you buy the plants from them to execute the design.

What a beautiful house! I don't really have any suggestions to offer as far as landscaping goes (I'm a newb!), but I just wanted to say that I'd love to be faced with a landscaping project like yours. All that yard just waiting for you to make it your own. :)

One more thing...

As to hiring a professional, if expense is an issue you might consider hitting Craigslist and looking into hiring an individual or two to help you out. Some folks are even interested in bartering. Make sure you ask for references and screen people carefully, of course.

I would play up the beautiful color of your brick with smoke bush, euonymous, nandina, magnolias and/or sand cherries. With a lot your size, you might also want a Forest Pansy redbud or two. Since you don't care for roses, maybe azaela or rhododendrons would be a good choice. They come in so many colors that would really play up the color of your brick. Just keep in mind, with a house this size, you'll want to have vertical plantings to balance out the look of your landscaping. Climbing hydrangea, conical hollies, or any upright growing deep green bush/plant/tree would work well. You're lucky to have a blank canvas to work from. Usually a new house means tearing out a lot of old stuff before you can even begin a new landscape. Your house is gorgeous, by the way!

You have a beautiful house and a professional landscaper would be in order if i were you. When we moved to our house years ago we bought 8 trckloads of dirt so we can have zoysia and off course for the gardens and it paid off. Landscapers will work around your budget and knows exactly where to put different shrubs , plants etc. they also will give you a design for your approval. I would get 2 quotes and take your time. I love hosta and happen to have 600 varieties. Good luck!!! bellieg

And also don't forget you don't have to do everything at once...get the plans done, then if there's any major hardscaping or if you're putting in lines for irrigation or low voltage lighting you need to do those first so you're not ruining your garden to put them in later, but the planting can all be done in stages as you can afford it.

ditto. You do not want to have to dig out the plants or lawn to put the above things in. Think of your future needs wants and or needs.