We don't live in Texas nor do we have wet soil to deal with but we do grow some of the plants on your list. Bougainvilleas are frost tender and in zone eight ours dies to the roots every winter. They also are supposed to bloom much better if they are grown on the dry side during thier bloom period. We water ours in spring but then back off on the water once it has vined up from the roots and is ready to bloom. Don't know how well it will bloom with constant moisture and hope you are prepared to chop the spiny dead vines back every winter. Ligustrum is quite large so hopefully you will be able to prune regularly because your space doesn't look very large. We don't grow azaleas as they would hate it here but my understanding is that they like moisture retentive acid soils with good drainage. I know a lot of texas has alkaline soils but maybe not your area? Also hope that with all your moisture you have drainage and the sun isn't too strong for the azalea. We don't have Katie ruellia but the more common R. brittonia which is a bloom factory but it dies to the ground in the winter. Some moisture lovers that you might check out are calla lily (Zantedeschia), Siberian Iris, fiber optics plant (Isolepis).

Karin, it's interesting and enlightening to read what others think of our house and landscape, even if we may not agree or take up some suggestions. We live in an area where we don't have a large number of options for landscape/garden design, unfortunately! So no worries about me being offended by criticism/suggestions, etc. We appreciate the help and we will work to think about each decision in terms of its purpose. We originally had purposes in mind for each bed in our backyard, though it may not look like it now - with the exception of the hydrangeas along the back fence. They were originally planted behind our garage (where the pool equipment enclosure is now). When we put in the pool, we moved them to the side bed (which didn't exist before the pool) along the fence, but the neighbor's black walnut tree hampered their growth. So rather than throw them away, we made a new bed along the back, sort of a temporary spot until we figure out what to do with the rest of the beds. I won't bore you or anyone else by enumerating the purposes of the other beds in the back, but just want to add that we also did have more visual interest and contrast in flower, foliage, and form - but many of those plants didn't survive. We've been in a sort of holding pattern back there for a couple years - and I'm looking forward to improving that landscape. But back to the front yard/landscape. One of our goals for changes remains to revise the long bed along the drive for the dual purposes of easier maintenance and including more variety in its plants to provide more interest in months other than July. Another goal is to revise the small bed near the side steps to make it better looking (instead of a hodgepodge of plants, as it is now) and as a memorial garden for our daughter, with beautiful plantings. We also still want to improve the visual impact/visibility of the front door. To me, that is a separate goal from emphasizing the front entrance, if by entrance one means the wide front steps (which aren't truly the entrance to the house, but visually they do give that impression). We understand the goals of Laag's ideas about beds in front of the steps and a wide path from the driveway to the steps/porch. But in terms of practicality, we don't want people to stop midway up our driveway and walk up the path, because then they block the entire driveway. Also, the steps are covered with snow for the entire winter (it's too expensive to pay to have them cleared each time it snows), and a walkway would also be covered in snow, so the practical function of a walkway beginning partway up the driveway wouldn't apply during those months. I've been bothered for a while by the sense of imbalance between the long driveway bed and the expanse of grass on the other side of the drive, so another purpose of making changes is to see if we can balance that. Laag's suggestion about a grassed area in the long bed was so helpful - I just don't know whether that is enough to achieve balance, or if we will need a bed under the birches. A new purpose resulted from a number of comments here, and that is to soften the impact of the veranda wall. I think we are just so used to how our house looks that we don't see it for how it really appears. You all have opened our eyes to this issue! I haven't been in the back yards of the houses above us (in the back) to see what they can see of our back yard. It "feels" private in our back yard most of the time, probably due to the fence, but I still don't do any skinny-dipping. ;-) The front feels very public to me (it's a busy street and in the spring/summer/fall, a very busy golf course), with the exception of the veranda. On the rare occasions when we are seated there (it's usually too hot/buggy/raining/cold), we have at least the illusion of privacy behind that fortress wall - though with close neighbors, we have to watch how loudly we talk. My sister mused aloud a few years ago about the idea of putting a hedge across the front of the yard (on the lawn on the house side of the sidewalk, if you're facing away from the house) to screen the street and provide more of a sense of privacy. A neighbor a couple of houses down has a partial bridal wreath hedge in the yard and she was noting that at the time. I'll update as we get further along in this process; meanwhile, if anyone has more comments/suggestions, we're very happy to have them.

Bringing in dirt from anywhere means bringing in weed seed. The dirt can be sandy, silty or clay, but it will have seed in it. Expect to pull weeds for the first year and possibly more. Many soils (especially clays) in Texas are calcareous, that is derived from limestone, chalk and limey marls. They are naturally high in minerals, but need lots of organic matter to unlock those minerals. This information comes from a book—Gardening Success With Difficult Soils by Scott Ogden. Plan to add composted plant matter and manures to these imported soils. Sandy soils need compost primarily to hold water and nutrients that naturally leach through. "Garden soils" are mostly composted tree trimmings. In fact, potting and garden soils don't contain soil at all. Even the minerals perlite and vermiculite found in potting soil add no mineral nutrients. The addition of major and minor mineral nutrients is important. Dillo Dirt is a product of Austin's waste recovery efforts that combines sewage sludge with tree and lawn trimmings that are composted together for several months. In my opinion you should start with real soil and add 20% compost to it—1 container of compost added to 4 containers of soil. Overfill the beds you make, and water them well to settle the soil. It may settle by half over the next year; wait to plant shrubs until the soil level stops radically settling. Expect to top off these beds next year with more compost-enriched soil. Each year after that 1/2 inch of compost should be added as a top dressing to maintain soil fertility. My advice is long term, because that is, IMO, the better way. Too often people buy plants and bring them home without knowing where to put them. One really should consider what the plants need in the way of water, sunlight, soil and climate before digging a hole and plopping them in.

It's a fact ... you'll not be able to get rid of the mess until you create a permanent, hard walk where there is now mulch. The magnolia roots are going to make it harder, but it must be done if there is to be a cure. I agree with others that something like concrete (simplest and cheapest) or pavers/brick are suitable. A walk laid out to acknowledge the tree will look and work better than one that doesn't. The bench only makes sense if there is a way to get to it ... i.e., use it. But because of Magnolia roots, it would add a lot of difficulty extending the walk to the bench. Therefore, I'd recommend using the bench elsewhere and having only plantings at the front of the house. Consider using a groundcover like Asiatic Jasmine to cover the magnolia roots.