Do you have an opinion on these newbie landscape plans?

Thanks for all of the information! My best recommendation is to go to the nursery where you plan on buying your replacement shrubs with all of the information that you have supplied to us. There will be personnel there who can show you plants, the ones you mentioned and others, and recommend what will work well together. It's what they do best.

Hi Leigh, You have your work cut out for you. OK, here's my thoughts. I think the bushes on the left of your front door could stay. A good trimming would help. The area to the right of your front door could use some love. If you are going to remove the white stone, you might want to keep it. You are going to need filler after you install the retaining wall. Save yourself a little $$ and use what you already have. You could use five gallon buckets to hold the rock in the meantime. As far as perennials go, I like your list. Just remember to put anything with greatest height when mature in the back of the bed. Then graduate plants down towards the front. Also, your list contains mostly blue hues. You will need a pop of color in at least a couple places so your blue plants won't melt together. I like the idea of something in the bright yellow family. Whatever you choose, put some of that same color on the left of your door. Don't put your contrast color all over the place. (one here, one there) Make groupings instead. 6 or 8 plants to make a group. Wow. Sorry for this length. I guess I got carried away. I hope this helps you.

We also redid the front of the house, the shrubs weren't in the good shape yours are though, that was why we got rid of all the shrubs along the house. The previous owner rented the house out for a few years and they lived out of state, so the renters did not take care of anything outdoors, other than the lawn. We made the west side of the house into a sitting area using pavers. If you take out the shrubs on the left side, you could do that, just take it out a little further than the shrubs are. We used pavers, put an outdoor love seat, two end tables and pots of flowers. We use it (weather permitting) all the time to watch the world go by in our neighborhood. I can't really advise you on what you should put in for flowers, we have a huge maple and elm in the front yard, so have to use all plants that can handle almost no sun once the leaves come out. I only get sun before the leaves come out, so at least I can have spring bulbs that get the sun they need (I love them, so I was happy I could get them).

okay, i think i would just pull out the bush that is next to your stairs and that is where i would plant the lavendar so you can smell it entering and leaving,i would put the beautiful pink grass towards the back and have three areas with it in, and the sage in two areas close to the pink grass and a little in front of it, i would plant the blue fescue in front of the big green hedge scatter your coneflower in the front and i would get something else that is pink to scatter with the coneflowers, the hosta and hydrangea are expensive plants i woulld plant them in your back yard close to the house in the shade and remember as long as you check if the plant takes sun or shade you can plant whatever your heart desires gardening is supposed to be fun and i am sorry to tell your hubs but the maple does not tolerate sun and also it can grow from 20 to 33 feet kinda big for that spot and the roots might grow under the foundation i would move it to the back center of your yard, hope this all helps a little xx

The maple looks like one of the low-growing, wide spreading Japanese maples. It really would be better in an area out of the sun, perhaps at the far left corner, where it will get some shade. It's really not a very deep planting bed, so beware of planting anything that will eventually grow wide.

A very important point is not to plant stuff too close to the foundation. You want to leave some breathing room, so that you're not watering the plants and your foundation all the time. The space allows you to get to the house for chores like window washing, and it just looks better not to have the plants smash up against the house.

I like nandina plants near the front door (they're very colorful) and you can find varieties that don't grow large. Take a look at them.

Browse through some of these ideas.https://www.pinterest.com/explore/front-house-landscaping/?lp=true

Remove the stones that are being used as "mulch" . These stones heat up in the summer . They cause the soil to dry out. The heat kills the roots and the the plants. Take them out and replace with cedar mulch. The plants may be happier.

I would add prostrate or trailing rosemary ... especially pretty growing over the retaining wall. Also add some black mondo grass. I love the nandinias too. The plants you mention look good in Summer and Fall. Nandinia is great year round. You have nothing going on in the Spring. Do you like bulbs like daffodils or tulips ? The tall grasses get cut back in early spring and blue fescue stays pretty short. Your other plant suggestions will die back in winter.

Yep, hostas and Japanese maples do NOT like direct sunlight. I am not in agreement about getting rid of stones. They're a great way to maintain DRAINAGE. Figure out if they are functional and not just an amateur's attempt to make it look pretty. Cuz mulch can have weeds growing through and stuff. I'd add a tree that does NOT get too big (you don't want the roots competing with your foundation.) And, make sure to plant far enough from the house to not harm the foundation. Also, you can always let shrubs have a more natural form than the geometric oversheared look that amateurs tend to do. Go natural and then you can shape the shrubs. If you make a mistake, it will grow back (usually).