First let me say your home is lovely!

My idea would be to continue the planting bed all along the driveway right to the sidewalk using curved edges. Now you have removed the dead grass area and if you wish to put in a palm it wouldn't look like your neighbors. Just get one that is self cleaning like a fox tail. Queen palms are messy and require professional pruning after they mature. Also there are many flowering tree that would look good and give you some color as well. You need to check at a nursery to see what grows in your area. Also ride around the neighborhood and see what is growing well there.

A dwarf firebush can get 10ft tall, in my opinion it is too big for that space, you want to see your pretty house. Maybe some others will have suggestions for true dwarf shrubs for your front.

Well if your in Florida, I would get those two queens (if that is what they are) away from the house. They fall in Hurricanes like grass in a lawnmower. Right into your house. There is a disease killing foxtails, some sort of crown disease.

What about some Crepe Myrtle. Would add some needed color to your house. Your house is very nice btw, now you could add some color and shade for your cars. Carrot trees maybe?

The spot near the intersection of the sidewalk and the driveway looks like the perfect place for a shade tree: not too close (to fall on the house), not too far away (to not shade anything worth shading).

Very nice house.

First, you must understand that I am a butterfly and hummingbird gardener primarily, so you need to take that into consideration.

Dwarf powderpuffs would go well in those circles. They are in bloom about ten months of the year, attract butterflies and hummingbirds, grow moderately and are fine with trimming. They take no care once planted.

The dwarf firebushes will get big, but you can trim them once a year in the early spring and they will stay the size you want them. They are also great for butterflies and hummingbirds.

Also, consider pentas. They are hardy, pretty and again attract butterflies and the occasioinal hummer.

Good luck. I think you will have fun planting new stuff. I always do.

Fabio, pretty home you have there. I agree with Katkin. I would continue the existing bed along the pathway, then along the driveway all the way out to the sidewalk, where it will flare out. Use a hose to design the gentle curves. This will reduce your grass nicely, and create ease of mowing, edging. Then you can incorporate a couple of trees in the new bed area (if they are small like crepe myrtles linchat mentioned above, or a shade tree out in the front corner like Karen mentioned. Fill in around the trees with colorful shrubs, pentas, like Tom mentioned above, and voila, a beautiful improvement!

Be careful with dwarf firebush! As already mentioned, they're not actually small. I've read here on GW that the dwarf name refers to the size of the leaves, not the size of the plants. I bought one at HD, with a tag that said it would grow to a four-foot by four-foot bush. The tag LIES. I'm cutting it EVERY FEW WEEKS in the rainy season, and it truly wants to be ten feet high and just as wide _ nice in some places, but not where I put it. It will cut off my path by the side of the house completely. I'm ripping it out this weekend actually, which makes me sad because it does attract lots of butterflies and needs no care. But I have too much other gardening to do to be constantly devoting an hour to clipping and hauling limbs. Plus, it blooms at its best several weeks after the cutting... about when it needs to be cut again!

susannah

Thank you all for your suggestions. Looks like I have work to do

I bought the "dwarf" one and was going to put it along the front of the yard and we'ren not allowed anything over four feet tall...that would've been hard to maintain!

I'll reconsider now, not sure where to put them(bought three) but I'll find a place!

What amazes me is how little some of the people at these nurseries know, they said 4-5' tall,at most, both places, one native nursery and one regular one, and the leaves are definitely different on both and that should be known by the owners,really!

teeka

Teeka, I agree, the info we get on the plants is not always correct or incomplete at best. I can't tell you how many plants I've had to move because their orginal location wasn't the best for their size. Or how many big plants became "trees" because they took up too much room as a bush. Experience has been my best teacher and here at GW.

Well, not only the nurseries have the wrong info. In dave's garden it says for dwarf firebush the high is 24-36 in :(

Thanks again