Totally blank slate need ideas....picture heavy

[Jared77]

Yes some specific plant ideas. She prefer pastel color pallet.

My problem is I can rattle off a bunch a bunch of tomato varieties, or roses fir example but there's a lot of other plants I have no idea how to use effectively in a landscape.

 

[so lucky]

Is there going to be room for any more trees inside the bed? Maybe a crab apple. They have interesting shapes and grow fast enough that you won't be waiting around for decades for it to take shape. Also, I was thinking about ornamental grasses. And more rock. That fake rock kind of bothers me, where you have the boundary of the garden area. It is too close to the boundary, and I know it has to stay where it is, but you could maybe move the boundary of the flower bed, so that the rock (and some more big rocks) are a focal point of the bed, and not at the edge of the bed. Me, I'd love a boulder garden, with a plant or two thrown in.
Other things you could think about: a garden bench as focal point....a birdbath.... What kind of trees do you like for shade? You would probably want deciduous, for summer shade, not winter shade. A grouping of them in the west yard would be nice, and provide shade for the flower bed at some point.
You can sketch it out, thinking about the look of the plants, shapes, leaf texture, growth habit, color. You might be able to take the sketch to a nursery and ask for a shrub or grass, etc, that has the characteristics you are imagining.
It's hard to believe that it's been three years since you got that property. Boy, time sure does fly.

 

[baymule]

I remember your excitement when you bought your house. Just moving and settling in is a big job, then work gets in the way......

I would put bulb flowers in the bed for that first spring color. They die back and come back again and again, I love them. In the summer you could plant annuals over them. Maybe a border in the front of hyacinths, in pastel colors of course. Plant rings of daffodils around your trees.

 

[Nyboy]

I always love a front porch. I would add white windowboxes under 2 ground floor windows to balance out the porch side.

 

[thistlebloom]

I like So Luckys ideas about a bench (for watching sunsets) a birdbath, and grasses to soften the boulder over your pipe and add some airy movement. I love Northern Sea Oats myself, they have really attractive seed heads, and I don't think they self sow.
At least I haven't noticed them coming up all over my garden.

There are some really nice cranesbill geraniums for ground cover, some have small leaves and are short and more compact than others. They also have a nice fall color.
I like Lancastriense a pastel pink shorty.

Threadleaf coreopsis is a nice airy perennial (Moonbeam is pale yellow) and looks great with echinaceas and nepeta, which I love for it's non stop bloom all summer.

There are short eupatoriums, Joe Pye weed, "Little Joe" is shorter than the regular guy, and I think they just came out with an even shorter one in the last few years?
Or maybe I just made that up.

Meadow sage is great for all summer bloom, although it's a deep blue, not pastel.
Centranthus ruber is a nice perennial, common names are Jupiters Beard and Keys of Heaven.

If you can find it Gillenia trifoliata is a wonderful perennial, grows up shrub like, but is actually herbaceous and dies down to the ground in winter. It's covered with star shaped pastel pink blooms right now, and then turns russety in the fall.
One of my favorites. I can't find it locally anymore, but bought it years ago as a tiny plant at a perennial nursery that specialized in unusual plants. It's about 3'x3' now.

I know this isn't an area you're asking advice on, but smokebush would do great on your walkway against the house.
You can keep it coppiced so it doesn't overwhelm that bed, and the foliage can't be beat IMO.

Here's a pic of one of mine as a little squirt, this one is "Grace", I love the color of it's leaves. I don't care for the blooms, so coppicing is good for avoiding that yearly.

 

[Jared77]

Thank you this is exactly what I was looking for. I'll be sure to show my wife.