Hi neighbor! Believe it or not, I walk by your house all the time and always tell my wife I love it :)

As for what you can do, I know that you are around a lot of shade in that location, and perhaps those are sun loving plants. Now is a good time to mulch with some good compost. We’ve been seeing good results with just getting some black kow from Home Depot.

Also, we have a ton of deer, and your arborvitae look like tell tale signs of deer nibbling. They can’t reach the top so just eat out the middle.

I got a motion detected sprinkler to scare them off a few years ago and that seems to help.

Small world, especially on Lemmy!

I live just outside Philadelphia, so close enough climate wise. Given that your house is raised, I think it would look good anchor the house with something full with some height. I recommend a Laurel, which is evergreen for year round color and does well in full sun. Also consider large sedge grasses flanking the stairs.

You could stop there or you can make your garden beds as deep as you want for smaller shrubs and annuals. My only design suggestion is to place plants considering it’s full grown size and not what looks best today.

There are so many choices, the best thing to do is find a locally owned garden center and talk to the staff. The one near me is staffed with landscapers and, big surprise, they love talking about plants. They will know what works best for your region and will give you tips on planting and caring.

Lavender likes sun. It also likes well-drained soil and a neutral to high pH, so add lime to the soil and sprinkle more lime every year.

Source - we have Lavender in front of our house, and it didn’t die yet. It’s less than a year old, though.

Call your county’s master gardener helpline to ask this. Trust me, they live for questions like this. https://njaes.rutgers.edu/master-gardeners/helplines.php

I’d give you advice, but I live in Texas and know nothing about what would work in NJ.

I’d suggest refining some of your ideas. Are you looking for traditional trees and bushes, or do you want color? If you want color, which colors? Do you want something blooming every season? Do you want low maintenance? How drought tolerant should it be?

Are you looking for ornamental plants? Do you want fruiting trees or bushes? Do you want to grow your own herbs and maybe some veggies? Do you want something pollinator friendly? Etc etc.

I’m a big fan of gardening with native plants. Here are a couple of sites that might help you if you want to try that:

https://npsnj.org/native-plants/plant-lists/ https://www.jerseyyards.org/jersey-friendly-plants/native-plants/ https://www.backyardgardenlover.com/new-jersey-native-plants-list/

From a design perspective I’d probably start off with a couple of small shrubs on either side of the steps that are either evergreen or have year-round interest. If you go with native plants, you could check out inkberry holly (need male & female plants to get fruit) or catawba rhododendron. I’m sure there are other great options, but I’m not from the area and just recognized those two from my region. For non-natives, cryptomeria globosa nana or gold mop cypress might fit well.

Beyond that, I’d find a good local nursery and tell them how much space you have to fill and load up with perennials. My personal preference would be to focus on creating a butterfly/hummingbird garden. Just buy 2-3 of everything and plant them in little groups using the recommended spacing as a guide. Then, load mulch between all of the plants and wait for it to fill in over the next 2-3 years. I like bark mulch, but currently use pine straw (that’s the big thing here in the south); I despise rock mulch.

Another option is to get a seed mix from a place like prairemoon.com and just spread it and let nature take its course. It will take longer, but save you time and money compared to buying and planting individual plants.

From there you can just keep going and replace all your grass and never have to mow again! :)