Since I've only gardened in Florida for almost three years I'm not the best person to give you advice. I'm sure you'll get lots of help here. Just wanted to say Welcome to the forum and to gardening!

My advice is avoid rubber mulch, unless it's bonded into a mat. It does nothing for the soil & migrates & becomes unsightly.

Besides, 9b, where exactly do you live? In town, cold area outside of town, etc. What you have is a landscape facing the hottest, and in the winter, coldest direction. They have put in things that can handle both of these things. Schillings in front right, Washingtonian palms. Ground cover junipers, liriope, and a nandina. Iris and magnolia on left side. Can't tell the back round bushes on right side. Suggestions, depends on your area, put its going to have to take the heat. You can tell by the liriope that the plants are dry, and the magnolia doesn't look like it has ever been fertilized. We can get you figured up though. Welcome to the group.

Personally, I would rather have the plants pop rather than the beds, but again, that is just personal tastes.

You are already a little ahead of others in your situation as you have figured out your Zone and taken time to illustrate the facing of your house. Exposure to things like sun, wind and rain will affect what what will thrive where. As your front yard faces NW, I am guessing your neighbor across the street is facing SE, what works in their yard might not work in your yard because their yard will be a little more sheltered from winter winds.

Currenty, it looks like you have pretty standard, run of the mill plants that I have seen in many newly built divisions. Almost everything in the pics will thrive on neglect. That is not to say there is anything wrong with any of those plants. If you ask for the opinions of people here on what to plant, you will get plenty of them, but it will all boil down to what style you like. I would suggest visiting your local public library (yes, they still exist!) and check out some Gardening in Florida books. Peruse the pictures and decide what look you want to go for. One thing about our plant choices here in Florida, is that when it comes to adding color, you aren't limited to just flowers. There are a lot of interesting foliage plants that you can grow for color, crotons are usually the first people go with. Just keep in mind that while you are in the warmer area of zone 9, you are still susceptible to frosts and the facing of your front yard makes it particularly exposed to winter winds. If you decide you want to push your luck with some slightly tender plants, under those palms will be your best location at the moment. I could keep going on and on with tips, but I think if you check out some books and read through them, you can get a good idea of what you want, visually, and then we can give better advice on choices you can go with.

Welcome to a new addiction that has very few.... I mean no side effects.

Hi Michael

Welcome to the forum! you got some good advice from the posters already, I can add that you look at other houses in the area and see if you like the landscape and the botanical gardens to see the plants fully grown, ask specialized nurseries for advice on plants, prices and how to take care of them. You also have to decide if the look that you want falls into the category, easy care, hardy, beautiful, rare, needs special care, really tropical and tender, looses the leaves in winter, etc,etc.

And when you decide on plants that you like, ask questions in the forum and you can get answers from posters that are already growing the same plants.

Silvia

You evidently have a sprinkler system, since the lawn is beautiful, but the liriope is dying of thirst. It may perk up when rainy season hits, but right now, it looks really parched. I'd get rid of the nandina (5th from top), personally. They're o.k., I guess, but they're sort of invasive. I agree with finding a locally owned nursery and letting them suggest plants. I don't like "Yards to Go" landscaping, but I can understand why people do it.

Oh - and NO RUBBER MULCH. It's been proven to actually kill beneficial organisms in the soil. Do you have a HOA in your development? You'll have to ask them before you go planting things. They're usually pretty strict about what can and can't go in.

Hi Michael! Congratulations on the new house. Looks like you have a Magnolia tree (maybe Little Gem) on the left, along with some washingtonia Palms and an oak tree (swale) on the right. Also some juniper, lirope, maybe some jasmine, maybe some Africian Irises on the side. I don't think it looks bad. You have good bones. I think you can add some more flowering plants and some no-float mulch and keep looking at it awhile while you see what you really like and what can go. I would definitely go with no-float mulch over the red. Red just fades away and floats all over the place. If you want real color most of the year, nothing really beats annuals but you have to be prepared to plant them out at least twice a year.

Helen

I know it can seem as overwhelming that people are almost chanting, "No rubber mulch, no rubber mulch", but please try to understand that there are reasons for this. People who aren't 'in the know' think that aesthetically-speaking rubber mulch is the way to go, but mulch is supposed to do a number of things. For one, it helps trap moisture around the roots of plants and prevents evaporation. It also normalizes the soil temperature, which puts less stress on the plants. The mulch brings a sense of cohesion to the entire bed. And the mulch also feeds the soil, breaking down over time, which, again, helps with moisture control. Finally, mulch helps to suppress weeds.

Rubber mulch does some of these things, but I do not believe it is as effective at temperature control as the rubber can get quite warm itself (could be wrong) and it absolutely doesn't feed the soil. It will have to be replaced just like the organic mulches. Whereas the organic mulches pretty much just need a new layer each spring, the rubber mulch needs to be raked back, disposed of and then completely replaced. So really you are just replacing one inconvenience for another and unlike the organic mulches, the rubber mulch doesn't go on to do anything beneficial. While both rubber and organic mulches suppress weeds, the organic mulches have a slight edge here as there are many weeds that thrive in poor soil. An organic mulch will improve the structure and nutrient content of the soil, making some weeds less likely to thrive and all weeds are easier to pull. As others have mentioned, rubber also has a tendency to float or move during our summer storms. I find that large pine bark, like the type the builder used here, also tends to move about and escape the beds. I personally have had better luck with smaller pine nuggets or, even better, shredded wood.

My hands-down favorite purchasable mulch is Florimulch. Florimulch is made from Melaleuca trees (a weedy invasive tree from Australia that Florida has been trying to remove from the Everglades), has a very nice golden color that doesn't fade all that quickly, lasts for a good long time (even on my paths that I walk on frequently) and is, so far, the cheapest of the bagged mulches.

Thank you all for the warm welcome.

Plantsman, you're correct in that the magnolia tree has never been fertilized; nothing in those beds have been. The soil here is nearly completely clay so I've been looking into how to remediate the lawn using organic methods. I started a couple compost bins when I moved into this house and just recently started making aerated compost teas for the yard and house plants.

Whgille, I most certainly intend on visiting the local nurseries and getting some advice on them. I'm going for hardy and easy care, but hoping there are some attractive plants that fall into that category.

Dirtygardener, we are very fortunate in my area to be on reclaimed water so irrigation is not much of an issue. Yes, I have an HOA and will make sure anything planted is permitted within their rules.

Wanna_run, I had never even heard of that no-float mulch; thank you for telling me! I've always hated these bark nuggets getting onto the grass and smothering it. I'm hoping when I get gutters installed it will help to prevent the mulch from washing away so much.

Michael, I have no predispositions toward any type of mulch so I don't mind everyone voicing their concerns about using rubber mulch. I'll check out the Florimulch.

You all have already given me plenty to think about. In fact, after being told what some of those plants are and looking up what they CAN look like if properly taken care of, I may spend some time to amend the clay soil and properly fertilize everything to see how it looks while I figure out what my options are. Right now I'm a blank slate and look forward to learning more from everybody here so I can make the best of my new home.