front yard plantings - looks boring

by Svetlana Fleming
(Evans, GA)

house

Our front yard has 2 big oak trees, weeds, moss, and overgrown plants.





We do not know if we need to cut the trees down because we want to put new sod but lack of sun would kill it again... or we should leave trees and work around them creating big beds?

I sent you 2 photos. One is of our house and on the picture the are no bushes around the house. But in the real world they are there and would stay there...we just wanted to see how the house will look without bushes and it changed our mind for now....
this link is the type we like very much!
http://landscapingideas.the-landscape-design-site.com/front-yard/frontyard17.html

This is the type of landscaping we like very much- formal and green, not busy. Our landscapers are saying different things about everything. We live in GA Augusta.
Thank you very much for your advice!!!!!

ANSWER
I would prefer to place large trees in beds rather than taking them down. Large trees are a present if they are nice ones!

I can't quite see how close they are to the front planting bed or walkway of your home. If they are some distance away, you can dig a large circular bed around them, about 5 feet in diameter. Lawn would surround the beds.

On the other hand if the trees are close to your foundation walkway, you might create a bed going along the walk, incorporating the tree in it.

As far as the lawn goes, overseed it with grass seed made specifically for shady conditions. Also, make sure the lawn is irrigated well (ouch, those Georgia droughts!). Another ideas is to make the beds quite large and add drought tolerant plants such as Sedums, Russian Sage, Caryopteris, etc. (all these plants will provide nice color). Or you might use Ajuga as a groundcover for low maintenance.

Susan