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.
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 you said you’re southern exposure with a lot of sun, but I can tell you that I would consider your home and even that front mostly shaded.
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.
Additionally, I was just there yesterday, but The Farm in Green Village (by Morristown) is open and they’ll soon have plants in their shade section. Very helpful people there too. Definitely worth the trip.
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, indeed! I never considered that any of my neighbors would have even heard of Lemmy. Thank you for the compliment on the house; it really deserves a little more TLC from me in the front. The deer are definitely a problem, but I just assumed the arborvitae were growing like that because I never bothered to prune them.
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! :)
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