front gardens

The link (hopefully!) shows a few photos of my front gardens... against the house on the left and right of the front door. In New Jersey. full sun all morning and afternoon until appx 2:30. North-East facing.

Looking to redo the shrubs but a little stuck with ideas and looking for input! Bought the house 18 months ago and ready to make the front more me.

Both gardens have boxwoods which I find stinky and want to remove asap! This is my biggest motivation for the change. I like things with color and flowers that smell delicious, especially under the front bay window. We have a feral cat issue so I need to keep that in mind... nothing that encourages the cats to sleep in the plants (although I'm using motion-detectors and lots of sprays to try to deter them!) Not one person in my neighborhood has flowers in their front gardens... mostly shrubs similar to mine. I like flowers! And would like to add some new flowers along with new shrubs. Hoping for lower-maintenance but colorful shrubs (think Carol Mackie Daphne is beautiful but I've heard it's high maintenance??)... nothing in the boxwood family or evergreen-y (if that makes sense??)

The larger garden on the right: One shrub towards the front is getting bigger and bigger regardless of pruning and it's hiding the beautiful fancy (japanese maple??) tree that's growing in the corner. I removed all decorative grass for fear of snakes and crickets.

The smaller garden on the left: i don't open the windows but don't want anything so large it will block the view.

I like differnt things but have also considered a cool azelea I saw the other day which I never expected. Azeleas just don't seem like me. But I'd consider it for the color.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for teh consideration!

Ooops... here's 2 other views...

right side



Full view from the side

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ugh21,