I also like the river of mulch idea under the trees, and please don't surround your trees with circle stone edging. To me these circles always look so contrived and artificial, unless you find a way to make them blend in and look like they belong in the landscape.

Floral has a good point -- how much maintenance are you prepared to do? Shrubs are low maintenance, especially evergreens. But if you add roses, vines, flowering perennials and edibles to the mix, you have to be prepared to spend a lot of time watering, weeding, pruning and fighting pests.

If you want something low-maintenance, you should focus on installing nice hardscapes, and fill the rest with grass, small trees and shrubs.

location.. big city name... helps us.. help you ...palm tree comment not good enough ...

personally.. is stay away from colored mulch ... you end up having to replace or top it every few years.. because the color fades ... just go with natural.. and let it fade to its usual natural grey color ... we paint the inside of the house.. not the mulch ... lol ...

understand this thoroughly ... FOUNDATION PLANTS ARE PLANTED TO HIDE THE FOUNDATION ... NOT ON THE FOUNDATION ... all the beds touching the house are too small ... usually ending up with you having to butcher plants that quickly outgrow the space ... most trees/shrubs/conifers[if thats an option]/etc .... do NOT stay those cute little plants bought ... and basically NEVER stop growing at some magical height.. given the years and decades ...

i simply dont understand that river of mulch across the front yard .. especially in that color ... i would guess its there because grass wont grow under those trees .. can you verify that .... and what might we plant there instead of that ugly mulch ... is there landscape fabric under that lawn mulch.. remove it asap if so ... it could harm the long term health of the trees ...

and who thought brick red mulch went with that blue house.. crikey ... that was so bad a decision.. i suspect they just decided to move.. lol ...

also.. in my MI august heat ... black mulch nearly baked all the plants in the sun ... holding and retaining said heat late into the night ... and many plants suffered ... so i would never use black mulch again ...

also.. i cant tell if the house is sided or painted... if painted.. plan your plants.. so painting can be accomplished every few years ... [though i not the foundation is painted to match.. and btw.. i do like the color of the house]

and i havent even gotten to your ideas yet.. but i have to run right now ...

ken

oh.. and stone... GIANT PIA to install ... and even a greater PIA to remove when you decide its not what you wanted.. or in my case.. when the next owner decides it was a bad idea .. meaning me when i moved in ...

also.. that hill might be best left in lawn .. with plants spaced thru out ... think of mulch as a job every few years to replace ... it becomes a very expensive proposition ...

of course checkbook gardening takes care of all that ....

ken

You have enough going on you should think about hiring a local consultant or designer.

Wow! I didn’t expect such comprehensive replies, thank you all!

To answer the questions:

—I live in Charlotte, NC

—I’m considering something like a Windmill Palm, but I’m open to other varieties of cold tolerant palms

—I like to garden, but this house will eventually be turned into a rental when I build my next home, probably about 3 years from now. So I would prefer the landscaping be low to medium maintenance - Rose bushes are pretty, but I would probably need to do some research on how to care for them.

—I do plan on starting as many flowers as I can indoors from seeds to save $, I have an indoor greenhouse with grow lights and such.

—The river idea was a bit too much for me in the front, and yes the color of the mulch was terrible. I’ve removed a good deal of it, and will be sowing grass in the areas where it’s gone. I’ll be putting down quality soil in the sandy areas so grass will grow.

—No stone circles, got it :-)

—JoJo - I love the picture for inspiration, ideally I can do something like this, but maybe a couple of flowering beds that aren’t too much to take care of.

—Mulch: I know black mulch can retain heat and tends to lose color quickly - what about rock? I like the look of River rock the best something like this maybe? : https://contentgrid.homedepot-static.com/hdus/en_US/DTCCOMNEW/Articles/decorative-stones-types-of-landscaping-rocks-section-8.jpg

—Landscape fabric: there isn’t fabric around the tree’s, but it is under the mulch in the beds

—House painting: I’ll be painting the house this spring, so I will plan accordingly. Thanks for the tip!

--On the hill/slope in the back, I’m thinking about putting a layer of pine needles down, watering it so it compacts, and then placing another “pretty” layer on top, that was the guidance I found on another post for mulching a slope. Thoughts?

--Local consultant: thanks for the advice, but that’s the point of Houzz. My budget isn’t tiny, but I’d rather do the work myself so I can invest more in the plants and landscape vs paying someone to do the design.