Sense people have already hinted on the grading, I thought I would throw in some ideas. I would see if I could get a climbing vine for the neighboors fence to the right, obviously checking with the neighboor, something like confederate jasmine. I also would look into some red roses to echo the red theme, and check into the new bright red stunning crape myrtle, it would give summer red to the house. I would plant four 2 on one side near the back hiding the siding on the side and 2 on the other kind of staggered with the first one at the front of the porch and the next one behind it. That would hide that hole and add depth making your house look bigger as well as complmenting color. I know you cant get ride of that chain link, but the more you can hide of it the better. Peronsally I think repainting chain link is tedious but worth the effort with oil based rustoleum. I just got through painting a slightly rusted vegtable garden fence in white and it looks insanely good for chain link. I am not recommending that for the front, but possibly for the sides and back, black wouldn't draw your eye to it as easy. You don't have room for shrubs to cover it so thats why I mentined a climbing vine. Keep whatever you plant in the front yard low. Personally I would bring in some bags of soil, about 30$ worth of composted manure, 1 10$ bag of peat, and 2-3 bags of loam, and would plant annual flowers all across the front the 1st year, and then slowly add in perinneal. Its such a small area that wedding would be easy. This would save you from having to mow the weeds. Also 3-5 bags of mulch would go a long way. I mean for under 100$ you could have that entire front bed looking amazing and it would do tons for curb appeal. Maybe its just me but I think a dark purple with hint of red picket fence around the front would look great, You could get a vinyl picket fence and custom paint from lowes. http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=202842-77007-73000930&langId=-1&storeId=10151&productId=3159825&catalogId=10051&cmRelshp=req&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1 Its 3ft by 8ft. Guessing you would need 4 pieces & gate x26 a pice so thats 140$ish with gate, then about 30 in exterior paint. That would take are of the entire front for 270, new fence, annuals, soil, mulch, and 120 for 4 red really nice crape myrtles and a couple weekends of time. So for about 400$ you could have the entire front street view, side view, front beds, and side beds done with great soil and tons of color/seasonal interest. I am currently doing an area twice that size for about the same price :)

I adore the Gulf Fritillary butterflies! My neighbors had 2 passion vines on the wood lattice topper on our shared wall. Both ornamental, no fruit. One was the classic purple flower and the other was a red flower that was more bell shaped and produced nectar that meant it was always full of ants. Well we always saw butterflies flitting about but never caterpillars. I think the ants ate them as soon as they hatched. Well the lattice was rotten and new neighbors moved in who sweetly asked if it was OK to remove it. We were more than happy since we wanted to replace wood with steel topper. But then I seriously missed the butterflies. I saw zero for a year. I missed them so much I planted a passion vine on the shared wall of the other neighbors. Just the purple flower that doesn’t have nectar so it won’t attract ants. Well for the first time in a year, I see not only butterflies but larva! I plan to cut it back to the “trunk“ each winter so it doesn’t get out of control this time. This vine is incredibly vigorous and could completely cover a carport if you let it. I don’t care about the flowers which are always there or the look of the vine, which is always green with chew holes, but my heart sings when every day I sit in the patio surrounded by the fluttering of beautiful amber butterflies. Usually 2 or 3 but sometimes 7 or 8 as I also provide nectar flowers for them. For me, the whole point of the vine is the butterflies.

I'd like to know as well. The fruit trees that I have chosen only require 150 chill hours or so and I get fruit. My scarlet beauty plum was loaded with fruit this year. There's no way Brooksville could come close to 400 chill hours. Can someone list low chill varieties of kiwi. Also, what about when it gets down in the teens and twenties ... are there varieties that folks are having success with concerning those issues? I want to grow kiwi fruit so badly, but I have killed far too many plants and don't want to add to the list. lol I agree Ken ... Lowes (and Walmart) is so horrible with that. I am always trying to tell people in the store that we don't have enough chill hours for a particular tree or that those varieties of avocado will not survive the winter. It's too bad the big box stores don't have educated buyers for the region they are in.

Re the star jasmine: too much sun maybe? I'm in the Pac NW but summers, even here, with relentless sun, are not kind to star jasmines. There is a lot more humidity on the east coast in the south, and things do well there because they generally have plenty of rain and humidity in summer. Jasmines also like shelter. Windy situations are not the happiest for them. You did well to mulch them. After this growing season they should be well established. One thing about the brown leaves: sometimes leaves do this on evergreen things just as the plant is making a branch there. Look for signs of new branches and more leaves - that is a natural occurance then, and nothing to worry about. how wide is your bed by your fence? you mentioned planting catmint (Nepeta). That plant sprawls when in bloom, and can get very wide - so be sure you don't buy the giant nepeta, which sprawls 4-5 feet. You do have to cut back nepeta when it's done flowering each time. What other flowers are you considering and what is your color range that you like? i think you mentioned white, blue, and purple. What other flowering perennials have you considered? you said you wanted low maintenance so ideally, that would be something you don't have to deadhead constantly. . There are some amazing salvias that would do well in your climate. Salvia patens has pure royal blue flowers; ' cambridge blue' is sky blue, rare colors in flowers - not sure what zones they need but worth checking out. Hummingbirds love salvias. Salvia guaranitica "black and blue" is stunning! Or you could plant asclepias and attract butterflies. i adore lantana, which here is an annual but in the Caribbean grew as a woody shrub and bloomed constantly - i guess they are considered invasive down south so it may not be the best choice for your area. Here's a nice article about salvias: https://gardenerspath.com/plants/flowers/how-grow-salvia/ As other have said, until things are established you will need to keep them watered. i used to live in the carribean - no water there - we used our dish water and bath water, bailing out the bathtub, to water our plants! nothing was wasted.