I did lots of thinking on this and came up with this non-constructive thought. If you were to want to sell you home, you would probably ask some real estate agents for proposals (price, their way of marketing, commission, etc.). Once you determined which one you want to represent you and home, the agent will take some pictures as part of the marketing (mostly online anymore). The agent is looking out for you, but also seeking the sale. If the agent believes that something is not right with the photo taken, then you would have a tendency to listen. A real estate agent is not an artist, nor a landscape person, but a good one will have seen lots of homes and knows what works and what doesn't. Stand at the curb. Take a picture, walk to the left and right several paces and take more pictures. Walk up the drive a bit and take pictures, not just of the house, but the view from the house. What would you want to do if you were thinking about buying your home? Now for some other comments: You have many horizontal lines on the actual house. The windows and doors are rectangle. All of that is very typical. Your yard counters that look a bit, but it also moves the eye in an awkward manner. You need to negate that. In your first photo, it appears that the house is leaning because of all that. I concur on getting rid of all that grows between the current walkway and the house. I concur that you ought to not have a straight line walk to replace it. My suggestion to balance the overall look would be to create a small berm on the left side, about 20' out from the house. Nothing large, but something that would break up that falling away appearance. In the first photo, there is lots of shade coming from the left side, I'll assume that there are some tall trees there. I'm a big promoter of color in the front yard; something that complements the colors of the house. Some might think it trite, but a burning bush on the berm would look good as the leaves are changing color this time of year. Those can be pruned to shape or let it go. I would also include blooming perennials that show different colors throughout the year. Poppies might work, as might some Veronica. There are many, many options for that kind of thing. Jim

Cat is right that the typically smaller growing, more colorful hybrids do not come true from seed, and are propagated mostly from divisions. I wouldn't recommend Phormium as an indoor grown plant, as they are very prone to mealybug even outdoors under less than ideal conditions, and need very bright light to grow well. People who grow these in the PNW sometimes may take them inside as container plants during the coldest spells, but they don't respond well to being keept in the dark and semidormant such as for Brugmansia.

Actually it is a South African forum... You don't say where in southern California you are, but many of the more colorful foliage forms of Phormiums will sunburn in full sun if not near the coast, and they get exposed to 85/95F degree weather at mid-day. The forms with recurved foliage as opposed to upright are the most prone to sun burning, especially the yellow leafed forms. They usually do better in hot areas if they only get morning sun or dappled shade. I don't know why your contractor would have gone to all the trouble of french drains for these, as they are not that sensitive, but they do appreciate a moisture retentive yet well drained soil. They aren't sensitive to fertilizers in the same way as Protea family members. If you are getting lots of dried out leaves and burnt tips, rather than sunburnt foliage, it is more likely a problem of too much or not enough water. If the watering regimen is correct, they shouldn't be showing signs of dead leaves and dead leaf tips on such relatively young plants, and should have settled in after 6 months of being planted out. You'd probably have a better idea of what is wrong with how yours are being grown if you look around your neighborhood for Phormiums which are doing well of the same cultivars. I've seen them have problems with mealybug at the base of the leaves/root crown if they don't get good air circulation or are planted too deep or leaf bases are covered by mulch, and/or they can dry out too fast if the root crowns become exposed because they may have been planted too high. They should be thriving if you are near the coast, and they get the right amount of watering, as these are nearly indestructible plants in the right spot. You will need to keep an eye on plants which have the foliage revert to more boring green, as these parts of the plants will overtake the more colorful foliage.

Not at all tugbrethil from Phoenix: Thanks and actually your advice tracked very well with the advice I received from the Australian Forum. They sent me an article that you might be interested in and excerpted here in part: "Many foliage plants are tufted or clump-forming. Some evolved near rivers in Australia and their form allowed the water to flow over them freely, others are shade tolerant and some of the grasses evolved in open plains where they were accustomed to being windswept. One of these tufted plants is phormium which requires little maintenance but when the leaves become tired and dry on the ends, they need to be cut back to the base to make way for the new leaves. With the large vertical types such as Phormium ÂAnna RedÂ, remove the straggly lower leaves so that the plant maintains its attractive shape."