If you decide to use Incrediballs (which I love), know that they seem to want to be BIG. I have some in my front yard, eastern exposure, that were planted in 2010. Last year I left them unpruned (just deadheaded in spring and cleaned up a bit) to see what they'd do. It ended up that I had to cut back some of the new stems (the new growth from the base) at 36" and sacrifice their flowers just to keep the shrubs somewhat symmetrical. Some new branches looked to be heading toward 5', but they weren't spread evenly over the Incrediballs I have planted together. Love your house - it's really very attractive! And Yardvaark, I've been lurking here a lot lately, and always appreciate your designs. You've helped me see things in my own yard differently. Unfortunately, that means that a couple things leftover from my 30-year-old landscaping bug me even more than they used to, but hey, when I'm ready to replace them, I'll be better prepared. :-)

I've avoided offering suggestions for a couple of reasons: first, because of the concrete borders you've already installed. My gut reaction is that if those spaces are planted in a typical way, instead of being an asset they would be a detriment to the overall appearance of the house and property. What compounds this and makes it worse is that one section of the walk is so darned skinny and the turn toward the house is so sharp! it cheapens the overall look of the house and should have been fixed before the borders were added. Second, while you've got a lot of pictures, the information they provide is limited, as the pictures are from all different points of view. What's missing is showing the whole scene from the most important -- front and center -- point of view. The second-from-last picture attempts to do this but it is incomplete and from too great a distance. Hate to be so picky about the pictures but they are what makes the property understandable to us and one of the best vehicles for us to convey suggestions back to you. I suppose the most probable fix is to do a foundation planting based on what the house needs (temporarily ignoring the bordered areas) and then plant primarily low groundcover in the bordered areas. (I would definitely consider perennial peanut for them since you are in Miami.) If you want help for how I think you should arrange a foundation planting, you would need to position the camera in line with the center of the house and midway between house and city sidewalk. It would stay in that position for all pictures, but pivot The series of pictures would span 180*. Begin by aiming far left, and finish aiming far right. We would see neighbor's properties at the beginning and end of the span, and your property at the center. If you look at some other threads, you will probably find examples of such pictures. They can be put back together to show the scene almost as if we were standing there seeing it for ourselves. Also, you might mention if you have any overall goals that are beyond the typical.

Congrats on the new home! It is definitely looking better with your current work. Here are some random thoughts that occurred to me while looking at your various photos. I'm interested in seeing the photos Yardvaark requested, and also one that clearly shows the entrance from the sidewalk, when standing directly out from the door. I am another who wouldn't paint the brick since it involves increased maintenance, especially since you have chosen low-maintenance hardie board siding, but you are the one who will have to deal with it. However, I would wait to do this until you have worked out a planting scheme since it may turn out that the current brick color makes a better backdrop for the plants than the light color. Once you have a plan, then if you still feel it will look best, you can do the whitewash before actually doing the plantings. As others have said, I think one of your biggest challenges will be to find a way to make your almost hidden entrance easily seen by visitors. So you will need to keep that in mind with whatever you decide to do with landscaping. For instance, planting an evergreen at the left house corner may hinder the visibility of the entrance from some angles. IME, planting along the driveway edge won't prevent folks from driving off the edge, it will just mean that your plants get driven on. It also presents an issue with where folks walk when they get out of the car; if you have plantings lining the drive, and the cars fill the drive, there isn't anywhere to walk, so grass or a walkway from the street to the door might be your best choice for the driveway edge. Soaker hoses on a timer or with you turning them on as needed will help with keeping things watered. Since they go under the mulch, they won't be visible. Getting the timing right will need to be worked out based on what you plant and your soil, but here (with similar rainfall) I usually don't need to do much if any watering on established, mulched gardens. Rather than just getting plant ideas on line, go to the Chicago Botanic Garden, which is world class and grows research plots specifically to figure out what plants grow well and look good (disease free, etc.) in your area. Go often, like every 2 weeks so you can see what looks good at different times of year. Take photos of plants and their labels so you know what to look for when you have a plan. As for the mulch and paver edging dilemma, I might just add a light layer of a mulch color you like for now, with perhaps some annuals for color, either in the ground or in large pots. Your ultimate plan may have a bed that looks quite different, and once you have a plan of what the planting area will look like and what types of planting and hardscape changes you will plan to make, then you can remove mulch and edging. It just seems a bit of a waste of your time and energy to do much with this area for now. Early fall is a great time to plant, so if you don't get things planned and planted this spring, you can do prep this summer once the plan is in place and plant in September. The annuals will add interest for the summer so it doesn't look so stark.

I've noticed that whatever size is printed on the tag or is claimed on the Internet, is about half of the real final size. In their desire to see quick results people are prone to getting fast growing plants that soon get out of bounds. I think it's better not to rush it as time seems to pass quickly as soon as one focusing on other things. With water and fertilizer I find most plants to grow reasonably fast. There are always exceptions but as a general rule, they do.