Front Yard - Next Steps

I'd like to hear your guys' ideas for my front yard. I think it has come a long way -- see the progression here: http://davesgarden.com/community/journals/viewentry/199189/. Go ahead and look, it'll help explain some of the below.

I have a professional plan which solves the problem of the stupid walk to the front door. It has a new walk that nicely curves to the driveway, enlarging the bed in front of the porch allowing for a nice small crabapple. It also expands the bed in front of the bay window, with a small path to go to the side. It basically leaves a half moon of grass on the sidewalk side.

It is a lovely plan, however we don't do our own heavy lifting so we'd have to pay someone to do a lot of the work. And we're wondering if we can come up with a solution to best deal with the stupid walk and that stupid little bed between the walk and the porch (can I tell you how I really feel?!!). It is literally 2 feet of space, and as you can see in the below picture the space next to the driveway is empty. 2 spirea have died there, and I frankly don't know if any shrub will grow there. Perennials seem to do ok, my guess is that they are more shallow rooted and the roots will "stay" in the good soil which only lasts probably 12 inches. Below that is lots of rock, sand, and who knows what from the construction. My guess is blocking the roots on two sides (walk and driveway) are just too much for the roots.

So any ideas on what I should do with this bed?? Is there anything I can do to make it work?

[Note: The picture was taken in late April. Those little mounds are nepeta, and the shrubs in the corner are winterberry hollies.]

Are you looking to improve the beds on both sides of the sidewalk?

Sorry. I'm trying to figure out the bed between the walk and the porch. That will then dictate what I do with the bed in front of the walk and the rest of the front yard. If there's nothing that would really work, esp in that one bare spot, then we'll probably cough up the $ for the new walk.

Okay - what are the sun conditions? How well does the soil drain? I would not necessarily give up on shrubs yet! I assume you want things that stay below about three feet?

The front faces mostly East, so sun in morning esp the front part of the bed. I have window boxes and hanging baskets of annuals on the porch rail and above that do well (petunia are always in the baskets). It also gets winter sun, and I am a zone 4.

The rain only reaches half of the bed, and I'm not a big waterer. No idea how well it drains, but my guess is quite well given the rock and sand below the new soil and compost. Yes, 3' max sounds good. The biggest constraint is the not much wider than 2'.

I should add that the spirea once leafed out lean forward and almost pull away from the porch. Not sure what that is about. If it were that much of a problem with shade then the annuals shouldn't grow above there. So my guess is a problem with the rain coming off the roof from above.

Two shrubs that do well in shade and are available in small cultivars are itea (Little Henry is a good one) and clethra (Sixteen Candles and a few others stay small). The clethra will bloom mid-summer and are fragrant. The itea bloom late spring (mine are in bloom now) and get great fall color. Hostas are another option. Are you looking for flowers or is foliage okay?

Hmmm what about daylilies or are you looking for shrubs?

Daylilies do much better with more sun, Dawn.

I don't care if it is foliage or flower. I'm just concerned about things growing since there's not a lot of good soil (and it is impossible to remove the junk underneath -- the rock is impossible to dig).

I like the foliage of daylillies, but I hate the flowers.

It is cloudy today, but I'll go out there at 1 and see if it is still getting sun. If yes, then I'll go again later.

The sun has finally come out long enough to give a shadow. It is 1:35pm and the front half of this bed is in sun (next to the walk), the back half is in shade (against the porch).

I would try to help but I am a newbie. Someone will know!

The morning sun is fine for the shrubs I mentioned. Hostas, ferns, hellebores, brunnera, heauchera are all good foliage options.