Hours of yardwork

Looks like, weather permitting, I will be doing yardwork this Saturday. An April project. The yard needs to be raked, sticks and limbs need to be removed. My husband wants to dig the evergreen hedge from the front of the house. It makes me sad because for years, each December, I have decorated the bushes with colorful nets. However, I know the bushes are woody and barren in some places. I guess my fear is that the front of the house will look empty and colorless. We have rhododendron in front of the porch, but the bushes do not add much. Fear the same will happen to the other side of the house. I also need to be proactive and kill the ground ivy which is threatening to take over the poppies that we got from husband's grandmother. We talked about building up a garden bed by the back deck. We would like to plant successive blooming plants...daffs, tulips and hyacinths for early spring, lily plants for later, and summer plants. I generally plant begonia and impatien in my planter boxes. We have a huge silver maple which needs to be cut down. My husband would like a garden of yellow marigolds.