The Front of the House

First off lets start at where we enter...Not a bad looking home, but very dated,  with the hedge going across the front...ick.  But baby steps first, my goal is to landscape without spending much money.  In other words use what I have.  And I can do this in several ways, cuttings, separating and collecting seeds.

 THE ISSUES

Underneath this giant window is a built in planter box...at first glance you would think...OH so many choices, what to do with this.  But...see the over hang?  Yep...dry shade. Well, I could put a rain barrel under the drain pipe right next to it and run some drip line from it to keep that area watered...this would take care of more than one issue. But that would be costly.  Any suggestions?

And here is the other issue that could be resolved with a rain barrel as well.  Isn't this special, the drain pipe go's right across the path in front of where you would step up onto the porch.  Who thought this would be a good idea? And the drain pipe directs the water to the side of the house where there is an erosion issue! UGH!  really people?  This leads me to the water fall and the delta.

I am standing in the back yard looking towards the front at the street.  CRAZY!  When it rains this turns into a water fall and becomes a swampy delta at the bottom.  Second problem, I know you say throw some trees, bushes and plants in...cant do it.  The home is on a septic system and it is in the back yard.  This is the only accessible rout to the septic.  But I have an idea to make it a long curve, wide enough to get a truck down but curvy.  Also I have started a plan to slow down the erosion. What is this amazing plan Carrie, you ask?

MONDO GRASS...and lots of it.  This place is covered in this Stuff.  And it is one tough plant, you can plant it anytime of the year...no matter the condition and it thrives.  This bed is in the front yard at the top of the waterfall slope, we just planted it.  I will be moving some shrubs and separating some hostas to put in this bed.

This bed is an established bed of mondo that has helped slow down some of the erosion.  I have a few azaleas that were moved from another part of the yard in this bed.

And here is the top of the hill where it all starts at.  At one point Crape Mertals were planted, good idea, wrong spot.  But they will stay, and I will transplant and move Mondo Grass, Lilies and Irises up along the road.  I would like to get some Hydrangea as they have an incredible root system...but the cost.  What is a girl to do?  Any suggestion or ideas would be greatly appreciated.