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judyg i do have a suggestion. You can't plant in the middle, so I think you need a spreader that will run along over top of the middle section wall. I suggest a euonymus in each. You can easily train it to fill in where you need to cover; even let some of it trail up on the brick. Best? Stays green all year and there are a variety to choose from. No need to even have them the same as they will run together.

Paradise Restored Landscaping & Exterior Design Full sun? Looked up some info and these rules seemed pretty solid :

The Designer's Rule: Planters look best when you combine plants with three different habits:
Vertical, such as phormium, canna, calla pennisetum or upright fuchsia (Fuchsia triphylla 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt')
Horizontal or weaving, such as heliotrope, osteospermum, petunia, coleus or impatiens
Cascading, such as nemesia, helichrysum, ipomea or callibrachoa.

You have a nice brick back drop and I can see you do not use bright pink or reds in your other plant choices. Below the first choices for the vertical- perhaps looking up the next group will help give you some ideas -

smitty1159 Not full sun, but it gets a lot of sun.. I also live in the Toronto area so we do have winter. The garden i planted below, has a yellow, white and blue colour scheme and would like to stick with that. I like your guidelines, paradise and the idea of putting a euonymus in there as well. Thanks.

Richard Mosbaugh 'Greening L.A.' A great plant that is sturdy and will tie in with the color scheme of both your shutters and your door........ and one of my favorite plants : Pittosporum crassifolium 'compacta'. Of course you will have to integrate it into you lower planting as well. The lower planting seems a little weak and the pittosporum will give it a little boost. See the photo attached of a recent landscape in Bel Air, and you will see an example of the pittosporum in the foreground.

tsudhonimh What climate zone? That's critical to know! Toronto?

Beware of plants that need constant pruning. Both the eunonyous and the pittosporum have compact and HUGE varieties ... look for the words "compacta" or "nana" or "dwarf" and check mature sizes of the varieties.

In Toronto - evergreens like a spreading juniper, with spaces left to insert some annuals. Use the "pot-in-pot" method where an outer pot is left in the ground and a nursery container is plopped into it with the growing annuals for the season. Grow your own or buy them.

smitty1159 thanks again for the suggestions. I am still thinking about what to put there. I have a few fall mums right now. I do like that Pttosporum idea!

I live in Zone 6, btw.

Dytecture Perhaps some ornamental grass with pea gravel covering so they are relatively low maintenance.

mccutcheon1 I like tsudonimh's ideas, especially looking for small varieties that will stay in scale with the house. The window well might also be covered by putting a window box on the inside front, level with the masonry--probably suitable only for annuals, but one way to fake a center planter. Maybe white geraniums, blue scaevola, yellow petunias?

benniebonita Better to leave open no dampness and light to basement
Plant in front of planters ps merry Christmas : )

procrastnovate I'm in windsor and have a similar planter flanking the gigantic chimney on the front of the house. I planted a mixture of day lilies, stonecrop (we call them live-forever) and a ground cover from the sedum family. One of the big problems with these planters in our climate is with the front being exposed, the earth can/will freeze solid in the winter and kill anything delicate and I thought that these three plants which seemed almost impossible to kill in my normal garden, would be perfect, and I was right. They all flourished and they would fit your colour scheme as the day lilies are yellow (and in my area they flower 3-4 times through the year), the ground cover is green, but develops a bright yellow flower over its surface in late spring and the live-forever/stonecrop styes green throughout the growing season and then develops a vibrant pink flower late in the season, after most other flowering plants have stopped producing and looks great with the mums in the rest of the garden in fall.

Kivi Given that you are considering grasses I am assuming that you want permanent plantings vs seasonal annual planting that you will be always changing.
I do not think these two beds are big enough to use a variety of plant material and I think both side should be the same. Also it looks like you have a vent of some sort in the bed closest to the door (dryer vent?). Whatever it is for it needs to remain functional.
I think it is unlikely that grasses will do well in those beds because even if there is enough light they will tend to grow forward away from the house and will have the appearance of falling forward- not the desired look for grasses.
Euonymous would work but I don't think it is the right plant either because the stems are woody and they will interfere with that vent. Also not so sure that they are very interesting as a stand alone plant.
I would fill both planters with one variety of Hosta lily. Since you like the idea of yellow you can pick one of the variegated yellow/green varieties. I would choose one of the larger leaf varieties to add scale and interest to the beds. The growth habit of he Hosta will also not interfere with the vent.
I would buy a wide permanent metal planter to attach to the brick below the centre window. I would use this planter to plant annuals so that you have lots of colour spilling from this planter. It would be visible from inside and the Hosta would be a frame for the colour on the outside. You could also plant annuals like trailing lobelia in front of the Hosta if you want colour to spill over the wall.
In the fall when annuals and perennials are finished you have the option of putting mums in the window box and for Christmas season you can fill the two outside boxes with combos of red dogwood branches and evergreen boughs to keep the planters interesting in all seasons.
I would remove the rocks that are plopped into the front bed. They are not big enough to be visually interesting. Use them elsewhere. As someone else noted, plant the lower bed to be more lush and robust.

smitty1159 once again tanks everyone for your ideas. Kaveac i especially appreciated your detailed response. And love the graphic procrastnovate!

The garden below was just planted on August so I hope it will start to be lush next summer. In it are day lilies, delphiniums, peony, rhododendron, hydrangea, salvia, cone flowers, phlox, brunnera and more plus a few evergreens (mop cyrpess is one) .


That vent is for a basement washroom that is rarely used but I will keep the dirt below that vent and want to hide it with plant material.

We have also lined the planters to water proof it and drilled a whole at the bottom with a small pipe for drainage.

Thanks again! Much appreciated!

golfbeach Do you want a formal or an informal, casual feel? I think a three ball boxwood topiary at each end of the planter would be great. They are winter hardy and will be evergreen. You can prune this with scissors to keep them in shape. Under plant them with seasonal annuals for color. This planter box is screaming for color. You can cover the bare soil with cut evergreen boughs in the winter and add twinkle lights to the box woods. Make sure the boxes have drainage...no drainage then it doesn't matter what you play...you're doomed!

alwaysdesigning For my landscaping in Texas my best plants I have chosen are: rosemary (evergreen and smells good and vertical; keep trimmed to size); begonias (annuals that bloom constantly and way into our winters); purple fountain grass (a vertical very pretty color perennial grass); and gulf stream nandina (small globe type evergreen changes color in fall); good luck

lessismoore How would Bacopa do in your climate? I have a pot here (no. calif) that has been flourishing for years - especially when I remember to fertilize it! Mine's white, but I've seen a periwinkle blue version too. Mix with white geraniums with a varigated leaf, add in some yellow african daisy, blue veronica, for some height and/or some blue and yellow violas (which re-seed) and to match your existing plantings.

A Cultivated Art Inc. For winter interest Euonymus and Boxwood would both be good options since they will both winter well in planters in Toronto and both will tolerate extensive pruning to keep them in scale with the limited space. Dwarf Blue Holly would also be appropriate, just be sure to plant a male and a female selection to ensure you have berries. If you would like to include a grass you might try Golden Japanese Forest Grass at the front of the planter to trail over the edge. October Daphne Sedum has a intensely blue grey foliage and brilliantly fascia/ pink blooms this time of year and would be a good partner for the grass.

A Cultivated Art Inc. A boxwood, a golden Euonymus, Gaiety Euonymus and a Holly are shown below.

victorianbungalowranch I live in the north too and have a similar planter. it has always had annuals in it, and that can be a good option for Northen climates with a lot of freeze/thaw, otherwise the roots can get into the masonry and cause water to get in, and pretty soon you have foundation and basement damage problems, especially since the construction is brick veneer--a total horror if it gets into the sheathing or framing!

Shallow rooted hardy bulbs, like daylillies, are probably OK. I've thought about burying potted small evergreens, that are rated for really Northern climes (Baffin Island?) to prevent the possible root problems with some burlap and mulch to protect them in winter. You can probably get some on clearance right now. I also like branches mixed in with evergreens once it gets really cold--can last most of the winter.

You might be far enough south for the ornamental cabbage, pansies and dusty miller for a good bit of the winter--but not where I live!

A Cultivated Art Inc. Golden Forest Grass and October Daphne Sedum in the summer and the fall are shown below.

frenchdecor I like kaveac idea and I live in Toronto. Hostas are perfect height for your planters and they survive practically in any conditions (even in dead dry soil, but grow slow). I have them also in planters, they survive winter. Some leafs can burn though if there too much midday sun, other than that you shouldn't have any troubles with them. There huge variety and you can create a "persian rug" mixing them. As on the ground level you have mixed variety of perennials (usually short lasting bloom) my choice would be medium height annual flowers, they have long lasting bloom and color scheme could be changed every year, more work though. Whatever you chose to plant hostas or annuals go monocolor or close to it (orange-yellow, blue-purple) to make a statement. Rocks are small and next year, perhaps, they will be lost between plants. I would suggest "freestyle" groupping under the tree (far left hand side) and plant some ground creeping plant in front of them. Evergreens for me is a must have, as house looks bare in winter, and I believe on other side you have them. It would look more interesting if not lined up, unless they should cover something. Just a thought, if plants are young better to re-plant them groupping 5 arched (tip toward house's right corner); 3- triangle could be in flower bed where one stone now. General idea --groupping and planting here and there, avoiding formal look. Good luck.

sga114 But wouldn't a variegated Ginger look wonderful there? That pretty light green against those other colors?