You doing a beardie or uro, I'm guessing? In any event, though I had to burst your bubble, you are best off: 1) Make VERY sure that extra humidity and moisture will not be a hazard to your lizard. Many of the arid dwellers are prone to fungal infections if their home is not kept very dry -- and water draining into the soil will not dry out quickly. 2) Go with fake plants -- seriously. Attempting to keep live plants in with a herp is not an easy thing. a) If you keep conditions sufficiently arid for the lizard, the plants will suffer/die because it will be far too dry for them unless you go with some of the cacti or succulents. b) Cacti present obvious safety hazards (spines and some contain poisons) and many succulents contain compounds to make them unpalatable to animals. c) Furthermore, giving plants the lighting they require for healthy growth is not easy (and in a vivarium is extremely problematic for cacti, many succulents and even other plants). Remember, just because the light seems bright enough for our eyes, that does not mean it is bright enough for the plants' needs. d) In addition to all this, herps are notorious for digging plants up, knocking them over, or crushing/breaking the plants as they sit on them or run over them. (For the latter, think of how quickly grass in a lawn gets matted down and killed off when people or dogs repeatedly walk over it. It does not take long.) Not trying to be a wet blanket, but while I understand your desire to design a neat, naturalistic set up, the reality is that it simply is not a practical idea.

You can use any plant you like (and have access to). Invasive is only an issue if you start spreading the plants outside; so, don't do that! I don't see the holes for plants. If the plants go in the water, then they will have to like water, but if they are somehow outside the water then any thing will do.

I would plant it diagonally off the corner of the house if possible, and if you don't own enough space, then plant if straight toward the street from the house corner, expanding the bed to accommodate it. It will help break up that large wall next door as well as not blocking the low front window. I would keep the plants in the area of walkway low and far enough from the edge so visitors don't feel like they have to avoid the walk edges. I agree with the previous poster who suggested adding mulch over the pine straw instead of removing it. Just use a brown mulch so it isn't the main feature. For specific plant suggestions (for which I will be no help since I am3- 4 zones colder than you), you want to add the amount of sun this part of the garden receives and your USDA zone - you have already given us your general location. One of the issues I see with your current plants is that they are all fine-textured and of a similar color, so having a bit more variety in general plant appearance will make it look better while still having multiples of each type for visibility from the street. You might want to take photos of your current plants and get them IDed on the Name that Plant forum here on the Garden Web part of Houzz. [Name-that-plant forum[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/name-that-plant-dsbr0-bd~t_29966) It may be that at least some of the plants will be a good choice for that spot if used in combo with some replacement plants. You haven't really explained why you are planning to move all of them.

Looks like a good plan! Sounds like it will work fine. The size of the basin should be 20% of the roof area flowing to the rain garden. Or if you want to be conservative and you have clay soils, you could go 30%.