Where do you live?

South Carolina

I would start by giving some consideration to what is outside of your yard and whether or not you want to see it. If there are neighboring houses/roofs that you'd rather not see, screening plants (small trees/large shrubs) are something you'd want to incorporate into your plan. Likewise, you've got a tree in the center of the yard and its low branches cut off some view of your own yard. Consider if you want the tre to be like a ceiling for the yard, or like a wall. (IMO, it's a mistake to let limbs that begin low down on the trunk become large and part of the canopy, because it is almost impossible, psychologically, to remove them later. If you remove them as the tree grows, the tree will still form a normal canopy higher up, and the trunk will look cleaner ... if you want a straight single trunk.)

A simple, basic general solution is a landscape border around the yard perimeter, about 6' depth, with whatever screening material incorporated in it, and groundcover below. The groundcovering portion can be one type of groundcover, or it can be subdivided into various groups of perennials, depending on how much work you want and how busy you want it to look.

For your green fence, I suggest a row of aucuba bushes planted a couple of feet inside your wood fence. These shrubs are attractive and keep their leaves year round with almost no maintenance. I do add miracle grow occasionally, water them during extended dry spells, remove any large obvious spider webs that appear on them and will remove any leaves that may turn yellow. That is the limit of the maintenance I've done on them for the last decade.

If the aucuba has a particularly low lying limb -- at or near the ground -- then, in spring, you can weigh the limb down with dirt with a stone or board atop the dirt to h old the soil in place, and the buried limb will root, enabling you to transplant the new bush ( I usually wait until the next spring to transplant them.)

I'm in North Georgia, Planting Zone 7. Should work well for my neighbors in SC, too.

Thank you suezbell! We work so much and don’t have much maintenance time.

Yardvaark Thank you. We do want the tree to be higher. We have one in the front that the kids climb so that’s not a concern but do want to keep this one as it will be our only shade in the back.

We definitely do not want it to be busy. We are in a neighborhood but like the privacy fence. Don’t want the plants to replace that. Just want some spaced out plants to have more color instead of just brown. We plan to light it up with floodlights as well. I’ll see if I can find an example of something similar we are looking for. Thanks!

https://pin.it/ofmoxvdvbgcigu

Thought about something similar to this but instead of water feature, putting a hot tub (maybe).

You need to create a measured base plan on which to explore ideas. The base plan is as simple as possible, showing fence (and any gateways), house and outbuilding footprints, existing tree trunks, paved areas ... anything that will remain in the final plan and nothing that won't. Once you have it, you can work out circulation (paths) and placement of any hardscape features, such as hot tub. You can get help with it here. Once hardscape is set, you can work out the beds and subsequently, any planting.

For getting help, you'd need to make your yard better understood by standing at a place where you can see everything within the scope of the project. Then, without moving from that spot, take a series of slightly overlapping pictures (the camera merely pivots) panning the area. If the house is to your back, include it in the first and last shots. If it is to your face, include it all as part of the series of shots.

I would create some zones.

Thanks for all of the ideas!

Your neighbors already have tall trees and shrubs that give you privacy, so I would use shorter, more ornamental plants on your side of the fence. Go to a nursery and get some combinations that will give you color at different times of the year.

Beware of landscaping for low maintenance.

Over the years, quite a few of my neighbors have replaced their front yard grass with ground covers and shrubs "for lower maintenance". To them, that means a garden service coming twice a year to cut down perennials in spring and fall when they die. They also cut the tall weeds down to ground level (e.g. a large patch of wild goldenrod reached 8 ft before it was cut to the ground.) The original ground covers and perennials are a mess since they're never weeded, and some like Bishops weed and lily of the valley, are taking over. Some areas (e.g. low sedum) are so covered with weeds that the original ground covers are not that visible. The shrubs are overgrown, hanging over the pathways and sidewalk. Overall a very messy look that cost them more money than they would have spent by just hiring a lawn mowing service and keeping their original evergreen shrub foundation bushes.

If I were you, I'd concentrate on some hardscape improvements like that hot tub idea and leave much of it as lawn for the children to play on.

Thanks, partim! We difinitely need room for the children to play and already know we are not going to be good at all with the maintenance (just being honest)!