It's going to be impossible to know what things are unless the plan can be made readable. In spite of that it, more or less, looks reasonable. (Personally, I'd far rather have a yard that needed a little more added than one which needed a fair amount of culling down the road.)

What surrounds the back yard ... neighbors' properties?

I'd be inclined to want some minimal "edging" plants along the pool screen, but actual screening to occur at the property line. There's no point in cutting off your your from your own view, especially since it's a small yard.

It looks like there's enough at the front for it to not be "blah." More than likely, you need to wait for plants to achieve size. I would not enclose the entrance walk with plants along the outside. (An 'island' at the beginning of the walk is OK.)

Thanks for your response, @Yardvaark. If you click on the image, does it let you pinch and zoom?

I am happy to hear you say that about the front walk. My gut instinct was the same thing.

We’re on a small waterway, so we have a fair distance to the homes on the other side of it, but we do want to plant something large as a centerpiece to block the home directly behind us (I think it’s a hideous color). I have been looking at various grasses to plant back there along the screen. Not sure about the pygmy palms. That feels kind of overdone.

When I expand the plan, the print becomes blurry and is unreadable.

Nice that the pool is screened in. Same zone, different states, but Citrus is neat and will block things as will avocados and mangos with the added benefit of something good to eat. I know, not too landscapy, but we love our citrus and mangos. They are evergreen and not messy which is awesome.

I sincerely hope that you care about FL natives, and that you care about pollinators. Do not let the landscaper wiggle off those as the guiding principal, (No, not necessarily natives exclusively.) If landscaper is little informed in those areas, then you will be served poorly unless you get a landscaper who is well informed.

I would not want a bed to line the walk to the door. I wouldn't even want the little corner section.

I am also wondering about what appears to be a deep bed of ground cover to the right of the entrance. I cannot read any plant names but I wonder if just having lawn there might be better.

Florida has it's own style of landscaping and barricade beds and random lawn beds seem common. What is that growing in front of the Study? I'd want to be sure none of the plantings were going to block windows as they mature.

The plan expands fine on my iPad.

Hi there. I am not a pro so take my advise with a grain of salt. I live just south of St. augustine on the east coast. My pool is screened and the orientation is very similar to yours. I would never plant any ornamental grasses near the pool. I made that mistake already. 😜 I planted muhley grass all around the pool cage. So lovely until the little seeds clogged up the screens and pool filters for months. What a mess! I see your plan calls for schefflera. That I would NEVER plant unless it is contained in a pot. It is very invasive in Florida. I do like the red sister and the other plants in your plan, however they are very common, which you may want. Crape myrtles are excellent flowering trees that come in all sizes and colors. I’m surprised there is not one on your plan unless I missed it.

if you are interested in planting for the birds, bees, etc. ask for suggestions on Florida natives. a couple of my favorites are Firebush (Hamelia patens), American Beautyberry, coral honeysuckle and Turk’s Cap (native hibiscus). All hummingbird and butterfly attractors. Mostly all evergreen and everblooming. Hummers love this one.

oh, and I agree to keep the front walkway minimally planted. And consider citrus. Meyer lemon does not get too large and the blooms smell heavenly. Excellent for lemonade.

good luck!

coral honeysuckle :

Powder puff: this is new. A hummingbird kept coming to it as I potted it. It can become a 10’ shrub if I allow it. 😊

turks cap:

firebush:

beautyberry

@JF1174 (Tampa Z9b) Yes! Garden variety. I’ve found most of the other lots pretty underwhelming, but I realize most are so new, they may be adding more down the road. I’m pretty confident a credit will not be an option. That said, this landscaper is open to our suggestions, and we can swap out things for items on his pre-determined list, but I don’t know enough to do that on my own. Hopefully he’ll listen to my wish list and come up with alternatives. I’ll look through your links right now!

Why don't you post pictures of the actual house? Yardvaark usually suggests to back off to a central point and without moving your body, take photos from left to right, moving only the camera. Start with showing some of the house on the left and moving across, show the house on the right. Repeat from standing at the edge of the water showing the back of the house and the pool area.

I think you can do much better with a different plan. This one looks too busy and very blah, as in, groundcover, check, normal shrubs, check, etc.

It sounds like the house is not built yet.

In my experience working with landscapers that work with builders, they order plants that they can get in large numbers very cheaply. If they have to special order plants, they will either charge more or take something else off the plan. There are stock plants that they can get in large quantities, so they try to fill in the plant with those. Most of them are boring plants, just meant to fill in and make the yard "acceptable" to HOAs and such.

Do you have an HOA? If so, you'll have to get approval from them to add anything not on the pre-approved list. That's probably where he got his list.

I'm on a laptop, and can't expand your plan, since this site is set up entirely for mobile.

Update! Posting a photo that should be readable this time. We’ve gone through one round of revisions with our landscaper, and I’m now posting the further revisions I’m suggesting.

Questions I still have for all of you:

1. Is there a better place for the pink trumpet? I worry about it blocking the view of our large front window (not the view out of, but the view of our home from the street). The county requires two hardwoods, which we’re fulfilling by using the maple in the back along with the pink trumpet.

2. Is the border grass a good choice for ringing the pink trumpet?

3. The Gold Mound Duranta around the Wild Date Palm. Good choice? That one feels kind of generic to me.

4. White African Iris around the pool equipment? I have no experience with it — the landscaper suggested it. Seems like it might make it difficult to get to stuff.

Open to any and all suggestions about everything else!

elise, Welcome to Florida and Florida gardening!

Somethings we don't know about you:

a. How much will you be involved with your plants?

b. Will you live here year-round?

Your #3:

Some plants are particularly susceptible to nematodes - the invisible killer in FL soils. The plant may need to be replaced after a couple of years. Duranta is one of those... but it does give a good visual "pop" if you want to draw the eye to a ring around the tree. Liriope would be a darker green, and perhaps live longer.

WHAT I DO:

If your answer to "a." is at least "somewhat involved", here is what I do that supplies me with "pop" and ever-changing scenery: I have the Florida equivalent of cottage gardens in two small areas, one in shade and one in sun, located outside my best viewing window and door. The shade garden does not require much care. The sun garden, since it gets some hours of overhead sun, by June needs watering almost daily.

In the shade, it's mainly a red and green palette (bromeliads, crotons, red shrimp plant, coleus, and orchids). These do well planted or in pots with a saucer under each pot so it does not root into the ground. (Google: tropical plant images and names)

Azalea is happy in shade, but best when planted; comes in white, pink, purple, or red. It blooms for a month or less, so will not affect your color palette all year. I love my dwarf azaleas sold at Publix around Valentines Day: easy to plant because so small, they bloom on and off on when the weather tells them to, as opposed to large azalea which only bloom once a year.

In the sunny garden I have a different look each year. Since most plants bloom best when given sun, the care and watering are worth it to me. I buy a few small annual bedding plants when they start coming into nurseries when cool weather begins: snapdragon and pansy - which will die first, pentas, etc. - whatever is pretty to me. They provide color and surprises until the hot days and nights diminish and maybe finish them. I aim for butterfly attractors, but also slip in some "just for me". I'm poor at growing from seed, except for golden cosmos and zinnia; these transplant well for me into this garden. I planted a 10-pack of Mexican heather (Cuphea) to edge my sunny garden, last November; it was very fresh at the nursery; it is still lush and I think it will still look good next year (if the nematodes don't get it). FL annual plants - images

As others have suggested, consider butterfly attractors - both hosts and nectar plants. Having butterflies and bees bring a landscape alive. They bring a vibrancy that is not seen in most of those green but "boring" yards where nothing more happens than a yard service coming in to mow every two weeks.

The plan doesn't enlarge for me without becoming too blurry to read. (Except for handwritten notes.)

If by "pink trumpet" you mean Brugmansia, even though a tree form, it's short so not a plant one could easily maintain a view beyond. If you mean Tabebuia, it would be fine as you'd limb it up correlating to its growth and height, thereby maintaining the view beyond.

I see Duranta commonly used as a border/edging plant -- like one would commonly use boxwood. But this seems all wrong to me as it's a large, fairly fast growing shrub, so I would consider that to be a very high maintenance application. One of the Liriopes, either green or variegated, would work much better in the 18" to 24" height range to create a solid bed (not a ring outline) below a tree.

Thank you so much, @Yardvaark. That is really helpful. More questions!

1. The Tabebuia is part of the county hardwood requirement. We don’t love it. What if we had it planted in the backyard where the future lemon tree is designated? We’ve learned that once we get our certificate of occupancy, if say, the tree was stolen in the middle of the night, we’re not obligated to replace it. So, thoughts on whether our front yard “needs” it?

2. I’m really confused on mondo grass vs liriope. I like both. Which would ring our wild date better?

3. Landscaper keeps using mammey croton. What about Petra? I am clueless which would be better under that front study window.

4. Since we’ve decided to use clusia around the fence/property line, we’re thinking about a narrow rock border around the pool cage. Any ideas on how wide that should be? Especially if we decided to plant some low grass-like plants there down the road?

FYI, the mammy croton is directly under the study window, and then foxtail ferns are in front of those. A couple of false agaves thrown in there. I don’t want a grassy plant to take over, so do we request some type of edging to keep it contained around the palm?

BTW, I would consider removing the portion of bed directly in front of porch (enclosing the walk) and reshape as shown. These usually give a hemmed in feel and visually obstruct the entrance or path to it. Would also move the palm diagonally a little farther from the house, Create a path (stepping stones, mulch, whatever you want) through the bed for access to the side yard.

I don't think you need the pink tabebuia.

If around the pool cage will be planted later, I would not use rock but use mulch instead. Rock is OK and will work, though, if that's what you want.

Liriope is taller and many of them have a bloom. I would use that. But not in a "ring," but as a solid bed.

I can't advise on croton as I don't usually like the look of and don't use.

If you mean lawn grass invading, that is usually a function of maintenance, but edging helps. For looks and function, my preferred edging is a brick/paver mowing strip 8 or 12" wide, embedded flush.