Placement is as important as (if not more important) than what the objects themselves look like. Placement, here, looks haphazard. I'm not speculating as to what you could have had, but I wouldn't be happy with what you have now. Could it be correlated to cost? Nice lighting tends to be pricey.

hard to say without seeing it in person. Your best bet with any grading/drainage issue is to get the guidance of a local pro. Photos can be deceptive, nothing beats someone with knowledge of your local soils standing on site and looking at it.

Pinkmountain, Thanks for your input about roses under trees. I don't know which plant zone you're in, it sounds like you're in a warmer/hot zone. It's always good to know the tips from other experienced gardeners from different locations. I am in a snow country, in zone 6a and zone 5b (two rose gardens) by the Great Lakes, I get a lot of rain here, about 2-3 rain days in a week. I don't normally water my landscaping roses, mother nature does her job very nicely. I do hand water David Austin roses and HTs and old garden roses a couple times a week during a few weeks of hot weather (80 F-90 F) . My rose garden are more than 10 years old, they don't grow as big as they should be due to the tree roots are everywhere on this property, so I didn't need to space them far apart. Thanks goodness they are doing well after more than 10 years, and there are enough air flow between the roses. What were the symptoms of yours near the end? I'd be interest to know more about that. Now things round this garden might start to change a little since I had tree services to cut down all the trees about 1 growing season ago. The 70 years old ash trees had emerald ash borer damage became a safety issue, and the 4 pine trees and a maple tree were about 35-40 years old, I was tired to worry about them from falling during wind or snow storms. The roses might start to grow but they shouldn't grow too fast since the tree roots are still there. I saved 8 tree trunks for the climbers and ramblers to climb. I think it will take 7-8 years for the tree trunks to declay, The pine trees have already stopped growing, the trunks should be gone in a few years, the ash and maple trees are still trying to grow, but I have been trimming off the new growth. They should be dead after 2-3 years from my experience with another old ash tree. After all the tree roots are dead, the roses might grow huge, then that can be a problem, I will have to move some to the country garden, there is room for a few thousands which is a blessing. I know it's not the best place to grow roses under the trees, but it's not the worst. I am sorry yours didn't last long for you, I hope they did bring some great fragrance and smell to your face. That would be priceless. Now days a lot of roses can take the shade. A lot of David Austin roses are doing great in my garden, but they do like water. The ramblers love to climb on trees, I will move some ramblers to the country garden and let them climb on 5 over 100 years old maple trees. That should be a sight after 5-6 years. I am a rose collector, I collect both old and new. And I am also a new caregiver for an orchard. gardengal helped me to identify a fruit tree before, that was a great help. But this time she sure freaked me out on this Japanese maple tree. I thought Japaneses maple is worse than my 35-40 years old big maple tree, can't take a lot of plants, but It turned out it's much less aggressive than my old maple which it's a great news for OP. It's always great to hear from other gardeners' real life experience on trees, plants and roses. I have learned something from this thread. Experience can be all different on the same object due to location and weather conditions. It would be great if you could input your plant zone next to your Houzz ID/user name, that would be more beneficial for all the readers. But you don't have to do it if you don't want to. :-) Thanks again for your input on plants and roses.

From a design perspective, widening the rock bed on the lawn side to the same width as the bed against the house is going to give the front entry more of a courtyard effect as well as balance the rock bed against the house. Lawn or a groundcover up to the walkway would make the front entry look half finished in a way. The previous short hedge in front was ok and I wouldn't be opposed to separating the lawn from a wider rock bed with another. The much more open front without the hedge is nice though and a very short block wall would be an even better dividing line to enhance a courtyard entry effect. Block from the big box is an affordable DIY project you may have time and money for one day.