Thanks for the comments and links, guys. If I get enough baby-free time that isn't spent in the garden, I'll try to post a pic. I have a 1969 straight brick ranch. It doesn't have any nice architectural features and looks exactly like most of the houses in my neighborhood that were all built together. Because it's a starter neighborhood, few people have spent any money on landscaping, so I see a lot of what doesn't work (overgrown yew foundation plantings, box trimmed junipers, no care at all, etc). The former owner of my house tried to spruce it up and added a large raised curving flower bed with rock borders in front of the house and filled it with too-closely planted lilac shrubs and some vinca. The curving lines, large rocks and raised flower bed actually help the house's look, making it one of the nicer fronts in the neighborhood. The hell strip originally had a tree circle lined in rock border to match the house, with various bulbs and lilies inside. The rest of the strip was grass. We removed all but 5 of the largest rocks when we replaced the scrubby city oak with a prettier kwanzaa cherry. My hubby's answer about best mowing line would be 'straight' or no mowing at all!! Second best would be the widest angle possible since the strip is so narrow. I have been trying to think of something that would have straighter lines but give the illusion of curves. Thanks for all the responses.

A photo of the whole front yard and house would help as well to get a feel for how the whole property works together. What type of soil do you have? Moist or dry, clayey, sandy or loamy? Acid or more limy? For low maintenance, plan to edge the beds where they abut the lawn to keep grass out and mulch with an organic (not rock, rubber, etc) mulch that you will renew every year or three, depending on the type and how deep you have it. Wood chips, bark mulch, cocoa bean hulls, pine straw, etc. - you can choose what appeals to you, but put it on thickly enough to discourage weeds. Don't use landscape fabric as it will make things harder in the long run. Actually, if you don't have mulch down now, put some down ASAP so that weeds don't get started now in the bare soil. If you put cardboard or several layers of newspaper under the mulch, it will work even better. You'll be very glad when it comes time to plant that you took this preventive step. To be perfectly honest, plants aren't static. They grow and get bigger. Most perennials will need some dividing down the road, though some will be quite happy for ten years or more without dividing. When you put in the garden, place plants with their size in 10 or 15 years in mind and fill in the gaps for the first several years with short-lived perennials, annuals, or pots of plants and ornaments that can be moved as your long term plants get larger. That will save you having to remove or move plants as they get larger but keep the garden from looking too empty for the first several years. Some sunny perennials I have that don't need frequent dividing and are disease free for me: - Peonies, especially Japanese or single ones. If you get ones that specify sturdy stems from a peony specialist, they won't need staking. Be sure to remove all old foliage in the fall for disease prevention. - Many sedums - Thyme, which will crawl around among other plants. - Veronica 'Georgia Blue' or 'Waterperry' which will also crawl around other plants. - Clematis, type 3 pruning are easy maintenance - give them a structure such as an obelisk with narrow bars to climb on and cut to the ground in the winter. Don't like dry soil. You may need to mail order from a reputable clematis nursery like Brushwood, Silver Star Vinery, Hummingbird Farm, or Joy Creek. - Cranberries will grow in normal moisture, acid soil and have shiny everygreen leaves and low vines that wander among other plants, tiny pale pink flowers and large decorative berries that move from pale green to glowing red and persist all winter (if you don't harvest them.) Some easy smaller shrubs that are low maintenance for me: - Some of the smaller weigelas have colored foliage as well as flowers - Deutzia 'Nikko' and 'Chardonnay Pearls' have a short, neat habit, white flowers in spring that cover the bush and CP has chartreusey foliage. - Low bush blueberries (if acid soil) have small white flowers, berries for you or the birds, and turn red in the fall for a long period. - There are small forms of Rhododendrons that are small and slow-growing if your soil is acid and doesn't dry out. Use the link below (or the multiparameter search link) to search for height, flower color, hardiness, etc. There is also a search page for azaleas: http://www.rhododendron.org/searchazalea_intro.htm You might want to wander around areas near you with nice gardens and stop to ask questions about plants if the owners are in the yard. Most gardeners are happy to talk about their plants. Take your camera and if they don't mind, photograph plants you like. Get books out of the library that have labeled photos of gardens and look at the styles. Would they look good with your house in your opinion? If there are garden tours or open gardens in your area, try some of those to get a feel for garden styles and what plants and plant combinations you like. (Here's a link to the Garden Conservancy's Open Days schedule, $5 per garden you visit. http://www.gardenconservancy.org/opendays/open-days-schedule) Here is a link that might be useful: rhododendron search

One thing to grass strip does is provide a (mostly psychological) barrier between 'public' and 'private' space. I think you'd miss that if it was gone. Mind you, a low picket - or ornamental iron (whatever is vernacular to your area) - fence would provide a physical barrier while leaving the garden visible. We have a deeper front yard than yours but have a large garden open to the street there. There is also a ditch between the road and the house which, of course, acts as both a physical and psychological barrier. We add to that with 'the moat bed', a narrow bed at the top of the ditch. So, from the road to the house, there is grassy ditch, narrow 'moat-garden bed', grass path, large planting bed, grass path (mostly invisible from the road), narrow foundation bed, garage wall. From the street the garden appears open and welcoming, but there are clear lines denoting the public/private boundary. Friends and neighbours will step across to speak with us if we're out in the garden, but strangers stay on the street if they stop to speak to us if they're passing by when we are working in the garden. So think about that issue of a public/private line of separation before you remove the grass. I suspect you'll want something there and, if not grass, what?

You have a good amount of space and lots of options. You have space for a big tree. Unfortunately, all the suggestions your nursery made were terrible. Avoid that nursery. Not many large trees in your zone have both flowers and good fall color. Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) and Yellowood (Cladrastis kentukea) have flowers and a decent yellow fall color. Sourwood has white flowers and good fall color but it is finicky. My favorite red leaved tree is copper beech (Fagus sylvatica), but they grow slowly and are finicky. Redbud has pink Spring flowers and some cultivars have red leaves, but the fancy cultivars have trouble surviving Zone 6 snowstorms. Also a bit small. There are some crabapples with pink flowers and red leaves but they also are a bit small. I find people get needlessly paranoid about septic systems. I've never lived in a place that didn't have trees growing on the septic tank. It can be a problem but usually isn't.