i like your pic,good design.hope you like share my ideas.

{{gwi:53349}}

{{gwi:53351}}

Here is a link that might be useful: my other some ideas

A bit too crowded for the mature size of the plants and not enough textural contrast - too spiky, not enough soft succulent growth to balance out the composition.

But it is the gravel pathways that really stick out as poor choice element for several reasons.
1. - they don't share a narrative with the rest of the landscape
2. - the arrangement of the path breaks up the small front yard space

If you want a path that leads off of the driveway and the street consider starting the path down at the lower end of the drive so that you have one path rather that two intersecting paths.
Choose a path material that shares the same existing characteristics of your existing hardscape elements. - concrete -. Used in segmented shapes of squares and rectangles you can undulate the pathway thru the palms and up to the front door.
This is a nice clean modern look that will speak to the existing hardscape elements.

In regards to the softscape layout, I'd eliminate some of the hard upright spiky plants with some more low growing spreading succulent ground covers for a more balanced and calm look.

I don't like the rocks either. Better to fill in almost completely with the tropicalesque underplanting, which expands on the theme established by the palms. Stepping stones or small, narrow paths of a less conspicuous, finer-textured, easier to walk on material than cobbles could be also be included to facilitate access to the planting.

Calling earth.. earth come in..i see my landing pad in front of the garage but tell me why i should come down?

What we have here is an automobile shrine decorated with some comic book palm trees. ideashare has addressed this anomaly in a totally impractical fashion but at least there is honesty in her work.

Are we in agreement that what we are seeking is a non lawn front?

Assuming all the specific kinds of plants indicated are suited to the climate and site conditions, the first re-do looks fine to me - except for the cobbles.

Ideashare, thanks for your input, but i would like to get rid of all lawn space. Also, re-making my driveway in that shape is impractical because of the acuteness of my yard. Also because of financial issues. I also can't grow Cuban Royal palms or Caryota species palm (except for C. Urens which is WAY too big) because our winters are too cold.

Deviant, i get what you mean. So i should consolidate the two paths into one and use some sort of stepping stones to match the existing cement?

inkognito, i'm not sure if the joke is on me or not. Anyway, yes, i would like to opt for a lawn-less landscape.

Bboy, got it. So away with the cobbles. I like deviant's idea of using stepping stones.

I was talking about large flat stones here and there, among the jungle plants, where you could perch to do maintenance. Don't put in a row of stepping stone dots, with spaces between. To use those you have to look down at where your feet are going, instead of at the garden you are walking through. In addition to producing this distraction they are also a distraction when viewing the scene from some distance, where visible a series of dots that draw the attention. If you want to use flat stones (natural or concrete) get ones that interlock and fit them together to make a solid path.

If a view of the house as it is approcahed is valued, then I would avoid having planting that hide the house's strong architectural statements like the columned gabled over the front door and the porch columns and railing.

The line created by the junction of the driveway and the yard area is a very strong visual element that in both renderings does not seem to aid in achieving an overall cohesiveness, as it doesn't lead to any real focal point or desired destination. The lawnless rendering does diminish this line by having front walkway intercepting the driveway and leading the eye into the garden and front door.

This would suggest that a garden and re-shaping of the driveway would also aid in removing some lawn and integrating these two areas into a cohesive design.

One approach used in newer houses here in New England that have larger frontages is to have a driveway that approaches the garage indirectly with a graceful curve. This hides the driveway from some views and breaks up that negative space, so that it is not a dominant feature.

..."but have yet to get rid of the lawn (doing this as my budget permits)."

So, any idea of reconfiguring the driveway is a non-starter by virtue of budget and lot size. Thus, in lieu of landscaping advice, no need to suggest you turn the garage into another family room with a loft; replace the gable vent with big windows; change out the garage doors with a bank of French doors; jackhammer up the driveway to solve the negative space issue.

Garage dominance is such a routine thing; builders build until the common designs evolve into some other common designs and people buy even though they're fully aware they're just getting a place to enter their realm minus a sweeping allee approach.

A little Black Friday rant - but back on task, I'm unfamiliar with most California plants and you've got Syagrus Romanzoffiana already in place to work around. But from other posters on other threads, it sounds as if your selections for size, texture, and color palettes are vast. I do like the idea of using random footfall steppers as opposed to clearly defined (more lines) pathways, though.

it doesn't take much imagination or budget to reconfigure a rectangle, and integration of all areas into a cohesive landscape is not beyond any design- that's the challenge. That is why this is supposed to be fun!

I get what you mean isabella. The syagrus were purposely added though to add some privacy. Our road is quite frequented and the depth of our front yard is very minimal, Although i'm not too sure the pics depict that. At most, it is about 35 feet deep. And the budget would rule out reconfiguring the drive (laying a cement driveway is beyond our immediate allowance, not to mention the demolition costs), although we would definately like to do that if it were a feasable option.

Duluthinbloomz4, after reading some posts, i think that some plants may be a bit too large (the phormium could possibly become monsters). Maybe i could use lower-growing ground covers such as ice plant and sedums interplanted with decorative aloes here and there. Since you aren't familiar with many of the plants, you could do a google search for pictures, that way you could get an idea of what they would look like.

I'll bow out since I don't want to be in the position of raining on anyone's parade.

But what I meant was - "vast" not in terms of size, bigness, overwhelming, but vast insofar as having a wide selection of plant materials to choose from when your plans come together. Surely much more variety than we have here in the Upper Midwest where hardscape mitigation, foundation plantings, etc. tend to run along the usual (boring to some) yews, junipers, arborvitae, mugos, spruce, etc. A middle of the yard tree would be a lone maple or birch. The property lines tend to run to conifers and a mix of shrubs. Bad? No, just different. Water or the lack of it is not a concern here yet, so we like lawns, too.

The pink plants repeating the color of the house is nice. Some blue flowers like agapanthus or Cape plumbago could be added for additional color harmony. If all the spike-shaped leaves seem a bit much some of it could be replaced with rounded leaves. About half spike-shaped and half rounded produces a balance.

I think what isabella__ma said is exactly right. The biggest reasonably removable obstacle to making this design work is the placement of one of the existing Syagrus Romanzoffiana so that it blocks the view of the door from the street. Since these plants are apparently not going to be as big as pictured for another 10 years, it should be possible to move that particular Syagrus Romanzoffiana right now, while it's still young. I would strongly recommend moving it. This would restore the front door to visual prominence.

IMHO (and totally amateur), I love central_cali369's plan.

If your family "instinctively" travels on the paths you've set, don't try to force something else. And forget the individual flagstone idea, it's a bad one especially if you're carrying things in and out of the house. Such a flagstone path is stylistically pleasing in the garden, but lousy as a main pedestrian access.

I absolutely understand the inability to redo the entire driveway - I don't know of any middle-class folks who can afford it, especially in these times! Your selection of plants is very water-thrifty: I have quite a few of them myself but in a cottage-garden setting (I'm coastal hills).

Phormiums vary greatly in size and growth rate. 'Sundowner', for instance, is a modest grower even in rich compost, compared to some of my others.

Normally I pay a lot of attention to the three-tier effect in landscaping, but with palms and a small front yard, there isn't much you can do except balance top and bottom layers. Which you've done, in a fun and lively way. I just hope your HOA feels the same, but YMMV.

The one thing I definitely don't like is smashing what looks like a tree fern and Tibouchina urvilleana into that small corner by your front porch. T. urvilleana is one of those plants that branches outwards and will look a lot better by itself, with something modest at its feet, like evergreen daylilies, or the ubiquitous agapanthus.

If your thanksgiving was anything like my crowded house, then you should keep the lawn just to have some overflow parking spots.

Plantings near the house foundation keeps the rest of the property free of cluttering plants, which let's it be used for other purposes. Just something to consider if space is at a premium.

Driving on lawns ruins them, unless you plant a combination of grass and pavers like the product(s) sold using the Turf-crete (I think) trademark.