In my opinion, shrubs are the best for low maintenance, I wish I had used more of them when I started some of my beds. I love nandinas, esp firepower which are small and colorful. Lorapetalum which is purplish with pink flowers. I am having much success with hydrangeas, the ones that are looking good are Lady in Red, and Limelight, but I hear Endless Summer, and some others are great too. I love oakleaf hydrangea (shade) and mahonia, also called oregon grape (shade). I find hostas very easy (also shade). The Knockout roses can't be beat, they are very hardy, disease resistant, and bloom ALOT, and come in many colors. For low maintenance and great performance I don't think any other rose can beat them.
I used to live in N.O. zone 9b, zinnias did very well in the summer. Also lantana, altho you have to prune it becoz it grows pretty fast, but I enjoyed keeping it in shape and in bounds, so that didnt' bother me. My mom on Gulf Coast has great success with gaura, knockout roses, and baptisia.
Hope this gets you started, you can google some of these and see what you like and what conditions the plants like.

As you consider plants, do your research. Look for plants that are drought tolerant (less watering), and slow growing (less pruning). These characteristics can make a big difference. However, you need to realize that there are not any NO maintenance plants.

Trees are very low maintenance in general. They need lots of space, obviously, but if chosen well, they give more bang for the buck than any other plant.

Liriodendron (tulip poplar): great shade tree, very fast grower to maturity. Attractive year round. Drought tolerant. Minuses: the roots grow shallowly, so it can be somewhat difficult to grow other things under them, like ground covers, for example. Still, I think they're one of the best.

Oaks: Some are very fast growers like Pin Oaks. Some are distressingly slow, like White Oaks.

Crepe Myrtles: Disease resistant (except mildew and that is easily prevented by choosing the right varieties). I have never known them to be attacked by insects. When pruned well (PLEASE! prune well! :) they are one of the best for the south. They have an extremely long bloom time, and are VERY drought tolerant. Their winter form (when pruned well) is as beautiful, if not more beautiful than their summer form. minuses: BUT, they do require a fair amount of pruning to keep suckers cut off at the base, and to train them into a graceful shape, especially their first 2 to four years of life.

Vitex agnus: beautiful, blue blooms, lovely foliage. They need a fair amount of pruning, though less so if you grow them as large shrubs instead of in tree form.

Shrubs are, as louisianagal said, far lower maintenance than perennials, but again, they are not No maintenance.

Raphiolepis indica (Indian Hawthorn): A great evergreen shrub. When given adequate space, (They easily get five to six feet wide. Give it to them) They are very close to no maintenance. They are neat and tidy all year long. Mine only need a light shearing once a year. Even less in dry years. The spring bloom is nice, but short lived. These plants make great bones in the garden.

Encore azaleas: other than deadheading and a yearly feeding, these are very easy and reliable. They take more sun than the traditional azaleas, and their late summer to fall bloom is long and invaluable.

I second the motion for Nandinas. They are one of the most under appreciated shrubs, in my opinion. They look wonderful in every season: beautiful lacy textured evergreen foliage, white spring blooms, drop dead gorgeous fall and winter color, and then there's the gorgeous clusters of red berries in winter. What more could you ask? On top of that they are drought tolerant, disease and pest resistant, and grow in full sun to full shade. Their one flaw? Most of them sucker. Some more than others, the old fashioned, large ones being the worst. I like Firepower too (no berries). I also love Harbour Dwarf because it makes berries. Compacta is a lovely larger form.

Hydrangeas are fabulous for shade in the south. Endless Summer is particularly wonderful. I have Blushing Bride too, but it is being temperamental about blooming, so the jury is still out for me. I just purchased Twist and Shout. We'll see if it lives up to the ES name. I am also growing White Out for the first time this year. The snow white blooms are amazingly beautiful. I can tell you that it scorches if it gets more than a few hours of morning sun. Too soon to say for sure, but so far, it's a winner. Other than deadheading and watering, hydrangeas that are planted in the right location are virtually maintenance free.

Korean Boxwood. This is a great plant that hardly anyone uses. I don't understand why. It is slower growing in the beginning, but that is a real advantage after the first three years or so, as it only needs shearing once a year. It will also grow in full sun to nearly full shade.

Other really good ones:
Hollies: there are so many good ones!
Viburnums: look beyond snowball bushes. They are great shrubs.
Arborvitaes (Thuja): the one called Emerald is excellent. Tall, skinny spires are in short supply here in the south. This is a great one.
Camellias, both japonicas and sasanquas,
Roses (all these are self cleaning, a very important attribute) Knockout Roses, Oh So Easy Paprika Rose, Nearly Wild Rose (very thorny), Cassie Rose, Carefree sunshine. All roses do best with a light pruning after each flush of blooms. Typically, I prune 3 times: in February, late May, and Mid July to early August. None of these are ever sprayed at my house. They all bloom from early spring to hard frost.

Perennials require a fair amount of work, but some less than others. The trick is to find plants with good looking foliage, a good bloom time (anything more than a month is great), a moderate speed of spreading, and that are disease and pest resistant. REad in the forums. You can find all kinds of lists. Just be sure to pay best attention to the lists that are generated by people in your zone. Perennials, more than any other, vary wildly in their performance from one zone to another. Keep in mind that although the Pacific Northwest has the same winter hardiness zones as the Southeast, summer performance is dramatically different.

Note: Daylilies are one of the most dependable, and longest blooming perennials for the south. They are also the ones that require the greatest amount of maintenance to grow them well. Three feedings a year, division every 3 or 4 years at least, daily deadheading and deadscaping during bloom season, and deadleafing after bloom time. I grow them. I love them. I limit how many, so I can care for them.

I highly recommend that you get a copy of The Southern LIving Gardening Book and read it carefully. Don't buy anything that this book doesn't say will grow in your zone. It has detailed info on nearly any tree, shrub, perennial, annual, fruit or vegetable that you can think of. If it's not listed, don't even bother. It very probably won't grow anywhere in the south.

And speaking of books....I'm done! (Can you tell that I love plant passionately? :)

Thank you both so, so much!! I now have plenty of choices to look up and read about. I have a couple of gardening books (both are the Home Depot project books) that outline a lot of the plants/trees/shrubs you both mentioned, so I'll get to researching.

Again, thank you! :)

Dear Bopa:

I live in Central Texas (near Houston) and we recently redid our yard. The shrubs around the house that take least work are Clara Indian Hawthorne (no work needed) and Ligustrum (these need to be pruned after a couple of years or they will get very tall). The Clara Indian Hawthorne is a little smaller than the regular Indian Hawthorne, which needs to be pruned to keep it looking good. The only other difference is the color of the flowers - one is white and one is pink. The Clara will only grow to about 4 ft. and needs no maintenance.

As far as flowering plants for shady areas, hydrangeas do well. Even though Lantana is supposed to be a sunny plant, mine do better in mostly shade. Plumbago's also make pretty flowers in blue or white, and will do better in mostly shade. They can grow to be quite big over several years.

Bushes/trees: Crepe myrtles do really well in this area, are very pretty and don't require much work. Vitex (chaste tree) can be trained as a bush or a tree and is very pretty. It will bloom all summer long if you prune all the spent flowers about every 4-6 weeks. Bottlebrush (especially lemon bottlebrush) is very hardy, attracts butterflies, hummingbirds (and bees) and takes no work. You can train it into a bush or tree and it lends a unique look.
Oleanders are also pretty, flower well and take little work, but should be pruned in the early spring if you want it to flower well. Take note, the leaves and flowers can be poisonous (children and animals) and the smoke from burning prunings can cause severe irritation. On the other hand, they are not particular about soil and don't need much water once established. They make an excellent screen or border and an attractive contrasting look is one white and one red alternating along the border.

Another bush that will do well is a butterfly bush (buddleia davidii), but the spent blooms must be cut off (they will NEVER fall off) or it can look a little shabby. On the positive side, it is almost impossible to kill these and they attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

For sunny areas, hibiscus moy grande is a very hardy plant that gets quite tall, has beautiful 12" flowers and will attract hummingbirds and butterflies. In this area it needs plenty of water, but will survive the winter outdoors. It does not start blooming till June, but will continue the whole summer long. Another hardy flowering plant is "Yellow bells" or Tecoman stans. It can become a fairly large shrub. Much of the wood will die back in the winter, but it will make a quick recovery and bloom from late spring till winter if the faded flowers are cut.

The knock-out roses now come in various colors and even in double sets of petals, so they almost look just like hybrid tea roses. These do well in full sun, but need plenty of water in the early morning or late afternoon. Otherwise, they need no work.

Fences/trellises: My neighbours have done well with coral honeysuckle and passion flowers on their fence, which grows over on mine and is pretty and smells good. Another plant that grows well on a trellis or fence is confederate jasmine. Only a few of these need to be planted and will grow along a whole section of fence. You have to be careful, to not get too much growth, as they can start to pull down a wooden fence. The solution is just to prune them. They will grow back very quickly.

Hope this helps.

You have received some great suggestions here. Just a couple I think were left out:
Carpet roses
Gardenias (regular and dwarf)
I have the 'bay breeze' hawthorne and love them
Azaleas were mentioned, but I gave up on mine as they never bloomed (and yes, I fertilized)
Salvias and Cannas are easy, and I don't think they were mentioned either.
And I love moonvine (not morning glories - they will seed everywhere the next year).

Wow, audrey_gardener, you're lucky! My two confederates are the same size as when they were planted 2 years ago on either side of my arbor. What are you doing to make them climb? I live in Vegas and they're out in full sun (which bakes them in the summer) but they don't die, just stubbornly refuse to grow.

Native plants to your area = low maintenance

Dear audrey_gardener,
It would be a good thing to strengthen your warning about the poisonous nature of oleanders, which are among my favorite plants. If ingested, oleander can easily kill humans of any age and, no doubt, animals, too. Many decades ago, smoke from an oleander bonfire, set innocently enough by a South Georgia roadcrew, was inhaled by some members of the roadcrew, who subsequently died from the toxic fumes. In general, human children should be taught not to eat randomly chosen plants of unknown toxicity or nutritional value; and they should, therefore, survive to adulthood unless something non-horticultural kills them.

DWF has great advice. Native is always the best way to go. For flowery plants, many of the "hardy" varieties tend to be pretty invasive. Go for a nice American Wisteria as opposed to basically anything from Asia. Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Native Alternatives to Exotics