Take the multi-trunk trees, for example. They could be camellias, crape myrtles, various hollies, Japanese maples, etc., etc. ... whatever suits your particular likes and requirements. You would need to decide which plant (of those that would work) does the job best. But before you do that (or simultaneously) you need to work out a scale PLAN of your front yard, showing where each plant (or group of plants if they are very small like groundcover) goes. If you need help determining what plants to use, others might chime in or you can show the plan and picture on your local GW forum or take it to your local garden center and get local advice as to what work work for each particular plant. Research the plants and make your selection.

One book that I have been enjoying is called Gardening and Landscaping in Central Florida by Marlys Bell. It does not tackle the Tropical look specifically, but illustrates all the issues that living in zone 9a/b has to take into consideration. Throughout the book it gives suggestions for what types of plants to put in for what kind of situation and goal. "If you want green and lush through out the year, try these..." type of suggestions. It also doesn't cover some of the more exotic types of plants that might be used, but more covers the ones that you "plant and forget" as the book tries to follow the Florida Friendly concepts of "Right Plant, Right Place", "Water Efficiently", "Mulching", "Appropriate Fertilization", "Responsible Pest Management", "Recycling", "Reducing Storm Runoff" and "Protecting the Waterways". I don't think this book by itself will help you to achieve that Tropical Look, but it can definitely help you to make sure landscape works instead of having to be replaced a few years down the road. Another book to look into is free over the internet and has lots of good information about Landscaping in Florida. The Florida-Friendly Guide to Plant Selection and Landscape Design (for some reason the Update Message button keeps adding a space at the end of this link and breaking it. If/when you follow this link, check the address bar and remove the spaces from between the d and f in pdf) was put out by the University of Florida and is chocked full of good information. And at the end of this pdf is a rather large illustrated list of plants to consider for use. But you have to read over this list with care as it covers all plants for all of Florida, so a beautiful, tropical looking palm might turn out to be Zone 11 recommended. I like this book so much that I downloaded it to my computer so that I always have it on hand instead of having to find an internet connection and to check online. If the above link takes you directly to the PDF file instead of giving you the option to download it, you can right-click the link and choose "Save Target Link as..." to save it to your computer. Those are the only two books that I have to suggest, as they are pretty much the only books I have so far (well, I also have Florida's Best Native Landscape Plants but this will definitely NOT help you to achieve the Tropical look... well... it could... but not to the extent that I think you're looking for.). But these two are so full of information to take into consideration that I wish I had found them when I first started working with my yard. Edit: And now that the caffeine has penetrated my system a little more and my eyes are a tad bit more open... I realize you never really said you wanted the Tropical Look... just you wanted a book about Tropical Gardening... Oops. This post was edited by Leekle2ManE on Sun, Apr 14, 13 at 7:52

I would suggest a foundation planting bed in front of the house and a separate island around the palm. You can see in the sketch that I opted to leave only the single palm near the center front. It seems disturbing to me to have a collection of odds and ends palms in a group because they don't make a nice group. If they can't be like type palms, I'd rather see a single specimen. The architecture already carries a horizontal visual element as the base of the house. Rather than duplicate or cover that up with a hedge, use plants to temper it, and the easiest way is a mound shaped shrub below each window. It doesn't end up looking like you're trying to smother the house with shrubs. Where the windows are low to the ground, such as left of front door, instead of shrubs (that you will need to trim regularly in order to keep them low) use an 18" height groundcover -- such as Liriope -- that won't need to be height trimmed at all. It should be a FAT (double or triple) row -- not a skinny string. Consider variegated Liriope for a brighter look. Given your location, for the shrubs below windows I'd consider Thai crown of thorns. (Not the regular small-flowered one.) It would cheer up the front of your house considerably for much of the year. At the base of Robellini, consider an island of firecracker plant. Eventually, if it gets too tall, you can cut it to the ground and make it low again for a good length of time. For the moderately low groundcover used to link the separate elements together, consider tri-color oyster plant. It is at the same time soothing and cheerful and it's easy to start from pieces. You can split a gallon of it into about 15' pieces that will plant that many square feet. In one year's time it will appear grown together. (Of course, you would need to wait until February to plant it.) Near right of front door and at garage are two places you could use seasonal color. The groundcover around the single palm could be same as the foundation bed groundcover, or different. It could also be a little taller if you wanted, since it is a limited space. I can understand your wanting to get rid of the two lamp pedestals. But for sure, I would think about how you could retain the use of the electrical supply wire that they contain. Either could gain a new use: path lights ... uplights on trees ... post lamps ... downlighting from trees, etc. I would determine how you will reuse them before you demolish them. (BTW, you can make an underground splice if you use heat shrink tubing with sealant built in. I can't say that it will be in compliance with your local code since I don't know it ... just that it works and can be done.) Again, I remind that you need to work out all the proposed changes in plan view before you do any work.

The formal clipping of the existing shrubs does not go with the style of the rambler house. Otherwise their arrangement is lopsided and not coordinated with the house facade, with large areas of blank wall as well as partly blocked windows both being present because of this. If you are not already from the region be informed that biting insects are quite a problem, hence the often unlovely outdoor cages you see around on other properties. And perhaps why this place came with a screened porch. As for low maintenance you're never going to have that with most of the lot covered by lawn. Unless you pay somebody else to keep up the lawn for you. With its greater height, broad profile and positioning on the lot so that it appears the front of it is facing the back of yours the turtlelike house behind looks as though it wants to push it into the street, definitely needs therefore to be screened out with adequately tall and dense planting.