Front garden borders- any ideas?

Maybe a creeper/ground cover would be up your alley? They are easy, look lovely & just require a bit of time to keep them from spreading to areas you don't want them to go. Which one will depend on your soil/drainage, amount of sun & part of the country. Also, you can add a few annuals here & there each spring, if you like, for the added color. Some of us get a gardening bug that doesn't take much to cure ea spring! Here are some ideas & you can find many more ideas there: http://www.bhg.com/gardening/flowers/perennials/10-top-groundcover-plants/

Sounds a lot like my house. Our house faces north. Once the huge maple and elm leaf out only the east corner gets sun in the morning and west corner gets afternoon sun. The shrubs along the front were old and scraggly and some were just growing along the ground from neglect and leaving years of fallen leaves on them. We dug up all of them, leaving only the two flowering shrubs on the north si of the garden where it widened out. These provided privacy for the bathroom window. We used 99 cent red pavers between the sidewalk and the house on the west side of the front door. This allowed us to put an outdoor loveseat, two end tables and two barrel planters. The east side we planted hostas and a couple of accent plants. The north side of the sidewalk already had hostas growing all the way down it and they were healthy and beautiful, so we left them. It took us about four months to do the work due to cost, rain, heat and humidity. We love the area now and sit out there at least a couple times a day. It will take a few years for the plants to mature, but they are doing well as long as my hubby doesn't step more of the hostas. The east side was planted with perennial shrubs that we left. I have been fighting scrub trees amongst them for three years since we moved into the house. I also planted Tulips on the north side of the hosta garden going a few feet in on the east side to use up all the bulbs. Perhaps you could do a version of this to meet a look you would like.

House faces South (On North side of road), so hostad really only do good along the East side if can keep hubby from mowing them over. Only have a handful right now adding as I go. I have absolutely no trees on our property. I heard of a program our small town has that they will plant trees for you, but need to look into it as I want specific types and right now only 2 one in back yard and one in front. Later adding a couple apple trees if can convince hubby. I had no landscape in North back yard and half yard is a back gravel driveway to our drive through garage. Other half is fenced for dogs and now grandchildren. I did add three lavender shrubs and the girls picked a couple "flowees" (2&1 yr olds) for a pot they have on their picnic table. our access is thru garage or out front and walk around. Can't wait for money to come so dream plan of a mudroom off kitchen to backyard acess can be built. We are slowly digging out of debt after a lay off led to college after almost 2 years a job and just one semester til degree. I can't work because of medical issues. At one point there were 4 adults unemployed in our house. Thank goodness for military pension to help us thru. But anyway still working on getting supplies for a few other projects while thinking about what to do for this border. I do want to widen the driveway with brick along both sides as well as the front walkway to the sidewalk. Just don't know how to do the bed border.

I would add an edging inside, or outside the current block border, or for a longer term fix, dig up the existing blocks add soil, and clear out grass. You may find grass is growing under the blocks and it may take a lot of work to eradicate the grass from the flower bed.

Thank you.