[I apologize if you saw the old thread in the before/after forum. I'm not sure how to delete that post when I realized I posted it in the wrong forum. Sorry!]

My husband are not a fan of what is currently in place of our newly purchased 1907 Victorian. The previous owner was an investment property owner and there was nothing done during the time he owned it. Everything has pretty much died back and in the back it's an overgrown jungle...but that's for a different post.

The bed on the left is literally about 12' deep, so we will be bringing it back. There is a circular bed on the right side about 7' wide that is oddly placed and filled with mostly dead flowers that did not come back, some smaller bushes (second photo) that are very small, about 6-8" wide and have green leaves with a little bit of yellow in them and a ton of old mulch.

Although this could have been an attempt by the owner before the previous to mimic a classic Victorian garden to stage the yard with the age of the home, we want to remove the right bed completely. But we're not sure what to do with the left. We were thinking maybe something 'safe' like hydrangeas with a mix of a few other items. The house faces the east and gets great sun throughout the day but is in part shade due to some 100-year-old dogwoods in the front of the property. I personally hate hostas of any type, so if you have any suggestions other than that please share!

The third photo is our biggest problem area, it is mostly shaded and we are going to focus on trying to bring some grass back to the area as it is very patchy now. The swooping tree (not sure what type it is) bleeds sap most of the summer which goes all over the ground so I think that is heavily contributing but not sure how to work with that. Any ideas?

We are in Nebraska and are zone 5a.

Thank you in advance!