I'm not a landscape designer, and I don't know Florida, but I LOVE your house!

Maybe some of the landscape pros will weigh in?

Lovely house! When you get rid of the bottlebrush tree, you should replace it with something that has a mature size of 1/2 to 2/3s of the existing tree. I'm not a Florida gardener so I can't suggest species, but the shade and grace of a tree at that corner are very attractive.

What is the water situation like in your area? Do you get plenty of rain or do you need to irrigate to keep everything green? If you have to irrigate, I'd look at doing a xeriscape so you can avoid that chore and expense.

Love your house. Would a palm work??

Thank you for the kind comments. If I was a better photographer, I would share better pictures of the interior. We moved here 3 weeks ago and old furniture is a struggle to arrange. I don’t have the energy to hunt for furniture after the renovations! It is a total open concept now. Here are a couple of pictures. It was taken down to the studs, piped, rewired, new bathrooms and living spaces. I couldn’t find a new home for the Mamie Eisenhower pink sink! No, I didn’t decorate around it, as the bathrooms had to be completely reworked as well.
Love the design of yours Dig Doug. Would need just a couple of tweaks. I had bad luck with sago palms when I lived in Tampa. Unfortunately the next door neighbor literally has 20+ palm tress on her property. They must have been planted 50 years ago!
I am getting some landscaping estimates next month and will definitely try to replicate your design with permission.
The bed designs are so attractive that you have designed. The pampas grass made me smile. I lived in El Paso at one time and was amazed how well that plant grew!
Any other suggestions you may have for this space will be greatly appreciated.

Powerwash the driveway. Where the tree is you could put a 3 trunk foxtail palm. Add crotons for color and easy to care for. I also like gold mound durantas as a hedge they are a lime green color. I am also 9b south tampa :-)

I love your kitchen and fireplace. Where I live now (SC), the rare, harsh winter killed almost all the Sago palms around here. When I lived in the Bahamas, I loved Christmas, cocoanut and foxtail palms, croton, hibiscus, Thai plants and my favorite shorter plants, for beds, borders and around trees were a multitude of bromeliads. The palms, bird of paradise and crotons would provide height, and the crotons were easy to care for and provided wonderful cover under the taller plants. Also what we called “bridal bouquet” and “umbrella” plants were favorites.

Oops, I meant the bromeliads were used under the other plants.

I would simplify, arrange to coordinate with architectural features and clean up the tree (limb up & shape.)

Search the box above under Photos for 'tropical landscape.' Make an ideabook and take it to your local nursery. Let them see what you like and suggest plants that can give you that look in your area and western exposure.

Thank you yardvaark. Your ideas are worth considering. Unfortunately the bottle brush tree needs to go. It is such a mess, leaves, blossoms and whatever, are dropping on a daily basis. The tree is not considerate to all of the other elements going on! I like the simplicity of your suggestions, and will keep the azaleas. The beds need some contouring and layering of plants to add a focal point to a flat, uninteresting facade. I am hoping with your further suggestions it may not look like all driveway when approached. I will be pressure washing,unfortunately pavers are not in my budget. There is the other side of the coin as well; it has had this look for 58 years and I will probably not impact it much. The back faces a rail trail which made my purchase forgiving regarding how the front of the house looks!
Please continue to make suggestions houzzers!

The driveway is a major feature of the front yard and if you could dress it up, the overall property would come up, too. If replacement not in budged. If it's in good shape with only a rough surface, one possibility is grinding the surface and acid staining. (Grinding takes a day or two so therefore it's a commitment.) Another possibility is adding a row or two of brick (8" or 16" width) to border the edge (flush.)

I'm sorry you won't keep the bottlebrush. It's a handsome tree and with some judicious pruning, would be perfect, except for the litter, of course.

Please resist the urge to overlandscape the front. Remember the hallmark of MCM is simplicity. I would definitely keep the Philodendron selloum, whatever those red things are, and the mondo grass. Indeed, I think you could replace the hedges with mondo grass and be done with the landscape.

You've done a beautiful job on the front. I have one small quibble with the porch posts. They are two craftsman-ish for this house. I think a simple metal post would look better.

Single posts:

Double posts:Full on atomic post:

This is the front upon purchase. Wrapping the posts was the only option as they are holding up the porch. This was the lowest profile I could get since one was metal and 1 was wood. Otherwise I would have had to add a load bearing beam etc. this was the lesser of the evils. The driveway may need some work on more than a cosmetic basis. One side has no lip and rain is seeping in the garage. I thought gutters would do the trick but not looking that way.
Keep brainstorming.. the ideas and solutions are welcome!

I don't like the location of the tree. If you decide to add another I would put it somewhere else.

Keep the Philodendron.

Consider ripping out the drive, regrading to angle away from the garage and installing a gravel drive.

Chris, what a beautiful house! I must say that when I saw the topic of 1960 Rambler, my mind went immediately to a big old sedan that I grew up with LOL

I wish you could keep the bottlebrush...they are so beautiful in full bloom and if you have hummingbirds anywhere near they will be drawn to it like a magnet.

Others have posted some great ideas, please keep us updated on your progress.

Rhonda

The city wouldn’t be keen on a gravel driveway. They are diligent on code enforcement. Thankful I no longer live in a HOA community though. The bottle brush is attracting a good number of bees, but no hummingbirds. I would rather plant some butterfly and bee attracting plants. What are thoughts on a blue planter somewhere to tie in with the front door? Hoping to find some smallish chairs for the front porch although that may have to wait until fall. Rainy season has arrived, meaning heat will follow and I would be chasing cushions in and out!
Anyone have experience with rain back flowing into a garage? Talking with my general contractor next week who did the remodel. I’m sure it will be on me to remedy the problem as he didn’t change the grade. A carport was enclosed, but the lack of a bump up going into the garage on the left was preexisting that they nor I saw as a problem at the time of construction.

If water is entering through the garage door opening, you may need to install a slot drain across the drive width and pipe the water to a lower elevation where it can leave the property. I'm just guessing. No one can solve drainage without knowing all the particulars.

I haven't read the other post so I apologize if this has come up but so think replacing the drive with brick/blocks. A few of our neighbors have it with square and rectangles and it makes a huge difference in the look of the home. I would line the drive with a border grass but I love that look. I would grow something vining between/around those two little windows, Mandeville jasmine, roses etc. (not a bougie roots are huge and it's thorny and pretty messy)

its a lovely reno! You did a beautiful job.

Jasmine sounds like a great idea. How would it do in the West sun in central Florida? I have had confederate jand night blooming jasmine at other homes,both were in shady locations. Thanks for your help! Need to see how much a new driveway will be. I didn’t plan on a new installation. I found something called garagdry which I am hoping will work. Talking with the GC this week.