I wouldn't. Just include a hole lot of ground up leaves in the mix and then mulch heavily with the same. Even when I was a kid we had azaleas, and the key has always been lots and lots of leaves.

mazerolm, people tell me I have a short growing season! You must have a love for the garden and flowers to make the effort in z3. It's all looking so good! This year I've had some "no shows". Maybe because of our record breaking rain? Last fall I planted 50 Muscari, comosum plumosum and 10 Ornithalum that I haven't seen yet. They may still show up, but the clock is ticking! Still have alliums around the yard.... One patch of white giant alliums..... Hyacinthoides hispanica

Debra, Ruby Slippers is an oak leaf, it stays small, and takes some sun, the blooms turn reddish. I grow the smaller balloon flowers, have some pink ones too, they aren’t blooming yet. Love Crintonic Rain Dance! Wow, Celeste, we’ve got the same weather, it’s too hot and humid for me to be working in the garden, glad you are taking a rest! Love your garden shots today! Laura, it looks like you are a week behind me, bummer. See your, Tall Dark Stranger? It’s an amazing plant here. Sherry

harold100, thanks for your feedback - you're right, those bushes were hideous! When you suggest I move the taller plants and put in low plants, do you mean like sunflower tall, or anything over creeping phlox tall? I have a few low plants like some dwarf salvias, creeping jenny, and silver mound artemisia, but if I were moving all the tall plants from the road, I'd have to basically dig and amend another 60 foot bed closer to the house, and I'm not sure I'm ready for that much change, lol. I definitely plan to deal with the moss, but will probably hire someone to take care of it because I am afraid to get moisture under my shingles with a power washer, and I don't own a ladder that tall. I will try garden art to distract from the sign, thanks! I have this armillary sphere from the Philly flower show in my side garden - is that similar to what you were picturing? Ken, thanks so very much! I truly appreciate the encouragement - I am so often inspired by thinking about your responses on this forum to experiment and try things with my plants. For example, I was waffling over foxgloves and couldn't decide whether to winter sow, direct seed, buy small plants, or get larger plants and let them reseed - and then I remembered all the times you have advised someone to try them all and see what works, so I did, lol. I agree that "free" is one of my favorite garden words (right up there with "clearance" and "end of season sale") so I have enjoyed learning ways to make my plantings grow by saving seeds and dividing. I am on the corner of a cul-de-sac of three houses, but I have been careful to keep the sightlines clear, and have my daughter check in her shorter car, too. There is a drainage culvert that runs along the main street (which is to the right of the picture) that gives an extra 6 feet of view before you turn from the cul-de-sac to the street, so that helps, and I haven't planted anything along that side curve. I will try to keep building confidence in my garden decisions, but I'm sure I will kill those required plants along the way. Honestly, I have probably killed enough lupines to qualify there alone! lisanti07028, thank you for the compliment and the good advice! I definitely have to work on my spacing, although I want it close enough to flow together and choke out weeds. It's a tough balance between tightly planted and plants devouring each other! I look at my puny little first year ostrich ferns with their 6 fronds and think, oh, they're so small - but then I make myself look at the ones I planted last year that are arching over the caladium and merging with the oakleaf hydrangea and say, "patience, Jenn!" NHBabs, great advice! I didn't think about the idea of letting the front border be flat for winter, but bulking up the evergreen presence in the foundation area. That makes lots of sense, because it gives that pretty blanket of snow up to the green by the house look. And then spring brings it back to life. I did pick up a red twig dogwood which is near the lamp post, although currently hidden by dahlias and the summer perennials. I'm not sure what I want to do about the garage - I'm really not sure I can plant anything there. The arborists ground the stump of the huge cherry tree that used to be there, but the roots are still everywhere, and the soil is like concrete. The reason people tend to use it as a path is the overhang - my kids got used to using it as a shortcut to the car in the rain. Currently, there's an 8 foot mulch bed there, and I was kind of wondering about a narrow raised bed with paver stones or maybe a big huge planter with a trellis for a clematis (I have this sweet autumn clematis in a pot I haven't found a good spot for yet...) I am excited to research your specific plant suggestions for winter and early spring interest. I do have iris and crocus and scilla and snowdrops and hellebores, but they are all in the backyard. I take too many photos, so I will definitely go back and look through and see where seasonal interest is lacking. For example, it's much less interesting in very early spring... And in winter, there's basically nothing. Again, thanks all! Off to research plants with berries, evergreens, and flowering evergreen groundcovers. (There are flowering evergreen groundcovers?!?!)