Can't begin to make any suggestions until we know where, geographically, you are located. It is also recommended that you live with the landscape as-is for at least a year to see what emerges over the course of the growing season and what is worth keeping.

In addition to gardengal’s point about what’s there already— which you might recognize or could do some name- that- plant research— you’ll be trying to learn what areas are sun, shade, part, full, when; what’s damp vs bone- dry, what’s your watering system/ plan especially for any new planting.

Looks like you’ve got an oak tree, which is usually good, but you’ll want to understand leaf fall issues, maybe acorns sprouting into baby oaks.

And be thinking, are you an avid gardener or plant collector or want minimalist foundation planting, or do you need updated hardscape ( walkways or entryway).

Toucan drive or walk around the neighborhood also to see what’s going on tgat you like, don’t like.

Is this the same house you were working on in May?

big city name in every post when you want to talk about plants.. thats why most of us have the info in our names..

fall is a great time to work on the lawn.. so it will come up fast and strong in spring..

next.. decide and build beds.. which depends on how much gardening you want to do.. have those beds ready for spring ... lets not waste time on gardens.. if you dont want to hobby in the garden... its 2 different goals is my point...

start with the backbones of the garden.. such as trees in the lawn.. and shrubs.. be sure to discover the long term potential of shrubs.. before you plant them a foot from the foundation.. keep in mind.. foundation plants are to hide the foundation.. NOT ON THE FOUNDATION... properly sited.. means you dont have to shear the beegeebees out of it twice a year...

when we more fully ID your goals.. we can add such forums as shrubs.. perennial.. annuals.. roses.. etc ...

ken

It's a good idea to wait and see for a full year's seasonal changes before making major changes, as advised above.

In the meantime, here are a few things you can do to prepare for fall and winter.

1- Take a trowel to what looks like a curved pathway to see if you can find metal, brick, plastic, or other types of edging between the walkway and plantings and lawn.

2- Buy a bag of 50 or 100 daffodils and a bag of bulb fertilizer and plant them along the edge where you'll see them in the spring.

3- Buy some pumpkins for fall decor on the porch. Put them where you can see them as you drive up. If you use a back entrance as the family entrance, add a pumpkin or wreath there, too.

Then wait to see what comes up and what blooms in the spring.

Yes, I'd wait a year. In the mean time, try to ID everything. This is particularly valuable for those untidy-looking shrubs (maybe they are not shrubs?). If you prune shrubs, they often don't flower in the next year, so you might have a lovely shrub and not know it because you pruned off all of the flower buds. If there were realtor's pics with the gardens in bloom, that might help with ID.

While you're waiting to see what's actually in your garden, plant annuals.

Here are some general ideas:

Sorry guys! We live in Cleveland

There can be a lot of deer here! They eat a lot of plants here😂

Lol🦌🦌

Stand back and take pics of the entire house and yard.