There are 3 "seemingly dwarf" firebushes on the market, andt he nursery trade has butchered the names/ID of them all. There is a natural-formed dwarf of the native florida firebrush. I've not ever seen a botanical listing for it (although I've seen it written as 'Nana') other than a common name "dwarf firebush" and the typical Hamelia patens. Another smaller firebush also called dwarf is the African Firebush (really from Mexico) as Hamelia patens 'Glabra' (this is the only legit name). Then, there is the Firefly Bush, a forced hybrid, that grows to about 5-6' and stays compact and very flowery. It seems to have characteristics of both the African Firebush and our native, so I wonder if it is a cross with the African with the natural dwarf form of our native. Tropiflora in Sarasota likely has Aloe ferox. They too would have Alcantarea, but perhaps at a sharp price!

I would remove any furniture that is between the house and pool. This just accentuates that the space is small. I would add 5 matching pots with plants in either black or turquoise in between each of the windows/doors. This will cause your eye to follow them around. Also add rugs outside the doors. For around the pool deck maybe add a 12" bed of tumbled rocks. Can you post a photo standing at the back door looking out? You want to draw your eye out so you might need to add something with height on the back side but I can't tell from these angles. If I was dreaming I'd build a bridge across part of the pool. I'll see if I can find some photos.

When I look at the pic in the OP I assume the area we are talking about includes the wooded lot. if that is so, it is a beautiful piece of property and really should be looked after. I can only say that I would resist filling the area with plants suited only for a supermarket/filling station parking lot. Deer issues are by far the number one grievance that I hear about. I would find a way to exclude them. Does anyone here know about Garlic Mustard? This link gives the range in the US. Here it is, its blooming now in eastern US. It is a noxious weed and rapidly colonizes in areas of high deer populations. Garlic mustard is a winter annual, be sure to get all of the root when you remove it. As the native understory is vacuumed clean by the deer, a blanket of GM and Japanese Stiltgrass will move in. Looks like the OP has kids? If your place is a deer run, learn to check everyone for ticks. Lyme disease is found in areas with high deer populations.

LOL! The "wimpy ones." The photos I provided above are of plants I brought with me from Seattle that I kept as indoor plants. Many of them will not tolerate the extreme sun and temperatures here. But under the shade fabric they have all done very well here for the first summer in my garden. Looks like your pic is of the octopus agave. Those grow here, I believe. The pics I provided above are from my backyard area. I was talking about the damage to my plants in my front yard which gets south and southwest sun all day. It really bakes out there. Here is the damage done to my plants: I have two of these Mexican fire barrel cacti in my front yard. One that gets sun all day turned nearly completely yellow. It's not going to make it: The yellow you see above is the area of the plant that gets southwest facing sun for most of the day. Here is a photo of it from behind where the sun doesn't hit it: The photo below is of the same type of cactus but because it gets shade from 4pm until evening it looks perfect: A few of my solid green artichoke agaves will need replacing. But it's the lower leaves that are closest to the gravel that are burned: The photos below are of a variegated artichoke agave called kissho kan. I thought I lost so many of them as they were bleached out almost entirely on the area that faces southwest. But surprisingly and thankfully the yellowing is gone. But there are still some dead leaves on the bottom. Two of them will need to be replaced: And I have two pencil cactus plants. The branches closest to the ground were very bleached out. But today I noticed they are looking better. I don't mind as I will trim off the lower branches as they eventually form trunks and grow to 12 foot tall trees. They look amazing when they get big. My pencil cacti actually look a lot better than they did just a week ago. But you can still see the branches near the ground are yellow. They were almost yellowish-white a couple weeks ago. They have improved. My theory is that since I went with a very dark gravel that it's absorbing and therefore retaining a lot more heat and the succulents and cacti can't take it. I say this because I have neighbors down the block who have identical plants that are doing perfectly. The only difference is that they have a much lighter gravel. I'll be better prepared for next year with some shade fabric to protect them. This is what my front garden looked like when I planted it all in December of last year. All the plants looked perfect until July/August of this year when it got really hot. Nothing seems to be hurting my bougainvilleas. They're indestructible and the color is so eye catching. At dusk when the landscape lights come on. The pic below is what the yard looked like when we moved here: