We've taken out the old, contractor landscaping. Very little is remaining including a sago palm which we have decided to remove after a landscaper mentioned that copperheads like them (apparently due to the smell).

We want things to be NO or LOW maintenance and also detract the deer and snakes as much as possible. We live in zone 9A (SC). I don't mind cleaning beds out about once a year but that's about the extent of what I want to do. I had not planned to put much back but due to drainage issues we feel like we need some plants to help the sand/soil from completely washing away.

We had priced it out but it's too expensive to get anything done professionally. We have done a lot of updates to the interior and there is no way we would get the 20k out of the house if we had the landscaping done professionally.

Here are a few pics of the front. We hate the bed but due to cost it's going to stay. My thoughts are to 1) remove everything and put in pine straw OR 2) put the 3 grasses in one corner and a grouping of something like 5 philodendrons in a group and maybe another group of pincushion flowers. I like the drifts/groupings versus rows.

Similar to the front of the house. Thinking some combination of pincushion flowers, maybe a fountain, spiky grasses. I love the tractor seat plants but again worried about maintenance and it being low to the ground. I also thought about a large agave since those seem to do well in this area.

I had considered traditional looking plants (like boxwood along the front) due to the house style but a lot of people around us use a lot of tropical plants and I like the look because my preference is very modern, simple, clean design.

Any ideas around plants or design is appreciated. The weird area around the front (where the small window is) is very odd and no one in the neighborhood that has this house plan has done anything that makes this area look right and that is where I am really stuck.

I also have this planter that I would love to use (it was used in a previous house) but can't decide where I could put it. I thought about just putting a few grasses on the corner and placing the planter in that area.

You can also see the large drains but they basically have to stay. We got quotes and it was a lot of money to put in french drains and there isn't that much washing in that area.