My husband suggested this plant in front taken from Houzz pic

Since you don't like succulents ( I do ) , French Lavenders, Russian Sage or something like the Kangaroo paws above,

Since your beautiful boxes are constructed of ipe (you must have won the Lottery) have a pro landscape firm decide on the best plants and install same. Most pros have a one year guarantee on plants they provide.

Horsetail reeds or bamboo (non invasive type).

Ha! The Ipe didn't come cheap for sure-- esp the 400 sq ft deck in our backyard! So now you know why we couldn't afford the designer -- it blew up our budget 3x! But im hoping it's worth it. Now that you mention it, I also need help for plants in our backyard but I'm willing to live with the ones I have for now. We initially have roses and bougainvillea in that front yard with some bird of paradise. Nothing matched so I had them take it out. The landscaper gave me some options but i couldn't figure out what color flowers I want let alone what type plants.

Bailey, I like those French lavenders! Do they attract bees? Im not particularly fond of bees and I don't want them close to my front porch. I think purple will work great with my gray house too.

Here's my backyard-- the plants around it grow a gorgeous orange in the spring and summer. Also the roses are peach and orange. Do they need to match what is in front?

Here is your deck with clematis which will grow over the roof trellis in time. The other flowers are dizzy Lizzie's, an annual. In front of the deck are simple boxwoods and salvia, a perennial.

Sorry forgot to attach the photo

Hey I like the idea of letting plants climb over the pergola! Thank you! Although I'm worried about those rotting wood in time. I would still need some tall plants on the planter instead of hanging ones. I also like the purple salvias for the ground cover you added.

No need to worry about Ipe rotting. I'm very familiar with this wood because of time spent in South America where it is used extensively. An absolute bear to work with, craftsmen go through so many drill bits and saw blades that you'd swear it really wasn't wood. Are you going to let it go gray or do you want to keep the color? Either way, you need to apply a coat of Ipe Oil now. One coat and that's it for gray, a yearly coat to retain the color. You made an excellent choice when selecting Ipe.

Staying at a resort, the room key was attached to a hot-dog sized piece of Ipe. The watercraft overturned (in shallow water, thank you Lord) and that wood sank right to the bottom.

Omg! Thank goodness for you. Yes the installer wanted to charge more money when he found out what wood I wanted to use-- he quoted me for redwood and not ironwood according to him, I told him I will pay for all the blades ( he went through 5 of them!) and extra for having to seal all the cut edges. My hubby sanded the wood with very fine grit and we both did the ipe oil in the backyard-- have to wait a little bit for front porch because of the 10% chance of rain -- but yes we want to keep the color brown until we both get sick of maintaining it which I honestly don't mind the gray since my house is all gray.

Off topic-- This is the before and after -- using ipe oil from deckwise for the backyard-- I purchased my ipe wood from Advantage Lumber --

I would do snake plants (also called mother in law's tongue). They are tolerant to many conditions. You'll need to water any plant to get them established. The snake plant is very popular right now in contemporary design and it would look great in those boxes.

Sorry just re-read the part about not wanting something too modern... snake plants may be too modern for your style? Lavender would be fantastic, but it does need water, especially in the beginning to establish. After you're confident it is established, it will become more drought tolerant. The kangaroo paws from your Houzz picture are also great. They do get very tall, so just read the label before you buy (they come in a variety of heights, as does lavender).

You could also do annual vines for the trellis that way you would not have as much worry about wood rotting as you could treat it as needed every winter. There is a large choice annual vines letting you change leaf texture, flower color etc as you desire. FYI did you know that scarlet runner beans are edible and that many "garden" pole beans are fairly decorative...

I'd visit a local nursery. They would be glad to help.

This is helping me a lot! I have narrowed down the color I want now, at least! Yellow and orange kangaroo paws and French lavender are in there now. As well as the ground cover salvias or any ground cover with purple. I might just redo my entire front yard because the stuff I have on the side-- some big shrubs with yellow flowers and peach roses are not going to match? Or should I leave it since they are in same color family?At this very moment my entire driveway is being hammered down to be paved and the landscaper was telling me to weigh in on the flower selection after they are done-- not sure why. My paver color is sandstone mocha. I will also try to visit my local nursery today to look up all these plant lists you guys have given me so I can touch and feel in person. John, we want at least 2ft height on the planters in the boxes. The kangaroo paws seem nice even if they grow taller than that because the stems are skinny.

Old photo of our house when we bought it a year ago--I have those railroad track ties as landscape wall-- I'm planning to keep it because that's the look I'm going for... except of course the wood is darker than my existing pergola -- driveway is currently being demoed. I wanted to show you plants that are in front of the house.

Ok my hubby was playing around photoshop a bit and now he wants to paint the pergola white dove same as our window trims or same color as our front door which is Chelsea gray from BM. I also had him add some plants. He hates the dark brown on pergola. The pergola is made of treated wood and redwood and it's not matching the ipe-- what do you guys think?here is the finished pergola now and then the idea he has in mind. I like the way it looks right now but agrees it is a bit too dark.

Update: we decided to use yellow kangaroo paws on the boxes planters and French lavender on the bottom front-- my landscaper says in two to three months it will get fuller. We also finished applying ipe oil on the porch. What do you think? I'm still planning to add ground cover-- I didn't really like the brown mulch we added next to lavender.

Don't paint the pergola unless you want ongoing maintenance. I like your plant choices, and they will fill in, especially the lavender. You can plant thyme or alyssum with the lavender while the plants are small.

those look really good! and yes the paws will get fuller and taller. Lions tail is also a good choice. Would compliment the paws. I've had mine in a container for over a year. just cut back the flowers after they've died to encourage new growth.

Yes we have decided not to paint the pergola. It matched the railroad track ties we used to retain the front yard and it is starting to grow on my hubby, we noticed after the ipe got oiled -- pergola complimented it.

Beth those look gorgeous! How tall do they get? Also do I just trim the buds or including the stems.