Hi there! I'm searching for anyone with suggestions or ideas for my front yard.

I've been working harder on it this year. Learned about different varieties of sedum and revamped my raised rock garden. The garden was already in place when I moved in and i'm not sure if I should remove it or what. It IS rotting, but I kinda like the rustic look here.

My main concern is the walkway. It used to be green carpet and I laid patio stones down instead. Now my bush thing on the left side (don't know the name) is crowding out the walkway. I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep the fence there or not and just let it grow over. But I want to do something now.

I was thinking a curved design of perennials along the walkway. Also trying to decide if I should have the walkway on an angle instead of straight across from the driveway. We don't use it anyway because it's too close to the big shrub. I also like the look of a larger mouth at the beginning of the walk and tapering. Not sure what type of stone to use, but something inexpensive.

I also like the look of flagstone or flat rocks with ground cover growing between, but don't know if that's ok for the front?

So my questions are
Remove the raised rock garden and use plants elsewhere?

Remove fence or keep it?

How to revamp a nice walkway and design

Here are the pics of the front yard as is.



And walkway

Personally ....

I would cut back all the shrubs along the front of the house, to a few feet of the ground ...including that shrub behind the fence structure ....am certain the previous owners put that fence there, to control that shrub ....

The goal of cutting shrubs back is to encourage a bushier / fuller appearance ....

If it were me, I would remove the "fence" - and probably that shrub behind it too, because it is actually too big for that spot - the fence in some ways, looks way out of place

The fence sort of ties in the raised bed with the overall front yard design ...and vice versa ...remove one and the other sort of gets lost - since the wood of the raised bed is rotting ....remove it too

If you have a saw ...and there is salvageable wood left over - instead of tossing it - might want save your landscaping wood (fence & raised box) for future projects elsewhere

Back to the walkway ...with "big bush & fence" gone ..... you can do the curved design with the plants from the raised bed ..... to break up that "straight look" of the walkway .... do the curved design that uses both sides of the walkway......
But consider the ease of mowing the grass with any curve ....too steep a curve and mowing may prove hard to do ...too shallow a curve and it sort of looks like a straightaway ...

Try to group your foundation plants and curved design plants in odd number groups .... and not planted as if "standing in line" ....straight lines tend to be "boring to look at" while odd groupings tend to draw the "eye in", making things interesting ....

Could use your rocks as "spacers" and to fill in between plant groupings .....

Probably wont see "everything" from the street ....but that is sort of the point ... make it a "surprise" to anyone who ventures down the walkway

Hi
with James. once you have stripped out the bed,fence,bush, etc
Nice curved path to your door from the driveway, the rest will fall into place.
Good luck
Regards
John

"Straight is the line of duty, curved is the line of beauty."

I'm not fully understanding. Are you planning on removing the cement walk way? Great! All for it.
Your pathway should go wherever you want it to go. If you don't use the walkway, how do you reach the front door? From the street? How do you plan to use the new walkway? Your personal use, or is it for others to access? Do you want your front door to be open and inviting to all? Some? None?
If you like the look of flagstone, why are you asking us? We don't live there, you do.

The fence serves no purpose.

I see raised beds, but I don't see a raised rock garden.
If you are not using the raised garden, remove it.

Thanks all for taking a look and all the thought put into this :)

I've considered all the suggestions, and this is what I've come up with.

I like the raised bed actually. I said it was rotting, but it's only the top tier of wood that's rotting. (@Sallymander, it's just a raised bed with rocks). I think I'd like to keep it



So I was thinking, since the bed gets lost without the fence and they tie so well together in design, I'll cut the fence down and use the frame and wood as a raised planter along the house on that side to match the style of the raised garden. I am interested in keeping the bush in behind the fence too, but cut shorter. Do you know if this type bush will grow back if I cut it down? I don't want to kill it.

The right side I did myself. I admit, it was neglected for a couple years, but I have been trying to rejuvenate the wigeilas. I just trimmed them again and they are looking better. The red bush (idk what is called) was just a little thing when i planted it and is still bushing out and filling in. (If anyone can ID that red bush, it would be appreciated). I think a couple more trimmings and it will look nice. I do think I let it grow quite scraggly, but can work in it. The other bushes are spirea, and i cut them down each fall, sometimes more. That side has a slightly curved design as well already. Mowing is not a prob, thanks for the advice!

We were walking across the grass where I was envisioning a curved walkway. Thinking about planting little sedum types and perenials in between the walkway and future raised planter in front of the green bush thing.

Why do you all think?