I'd pick one really big tree. I love tulip trees. Depending on how much shade you need, either put it in the corner or just off the middle of the fence. Then pick a few smaller trees, and then a handful of shrubs. Aim for a rhythm in placement.

Budget Friendly Ideas because they mostly cost your labor: 1. Take a picture from the street so we can see the entire house including driveway. also add a close-up picture of the front stoop. 2. I think there is some cleanup/prep work necessary before you start on the landscaping. 3. Give the bricks on the house a good cleaning before you start planting in front of it. 4. The walkway needs to be reset so showing us the front of the house will help with deciding whether it should go straight to the street or not? It's dangerous as is. 5. The large stoop looks to be pavers with RR ties? Or cinder block? That should be addressed before you add plantings that will need lots of water. The watering could compromise it. The stairs should be wider. 6. Remove all that rock. 7. Go to a local nursery (not big box store) they usually have someone who can help you with a plan and appropriate plants for your area. Often there is a nominal or no fee if you purchase from them. Good Luck it can be great with a little elbow grease.

Those sound great (but I'm not a pro). My zone is similar, and I often recommend rosemary. It smells heavenly, has gorgeous purple-y blue flowers, it is wonderful for cooking, is super hardy (can't kill it), and comes in so very many varieties: from groundcovers to big shrubs. It is wonderful, and will look spectacular with your iceberg roses. I have a ton of those, too. I have a hedge of white flower coastal rosemary (it has a dusky slightly muted tone I think is kinda special) that grew so fast. I also love my pale pink rock roses, lavender plants, silver carpet dymondia around my concrete paver pathway in front, and bougainvillea, and tea tree plants are easy to grow as well. I also have success with blue oat grass. There is so much you can do. I haven't checked this lately, but our landscape designer had professional software through Monrovia, where she and I could log in and interactively add and subtract plants. In this way, she could add some which allowed me to visualize them, read about what their growth habits and space and water requirements are, and I could either ok or say no to each plant. I still think you may need help, or a great gardener to set up your comprehensive irrigation system. The whole thing really needs to have a plan, when you're starting from scratch. I do recommend having help, especially if this is your first time.

Fill the space with tiny stones mixed with cement it waill fill the gap and deter weeds. Any ground cover will grow and need contiual cutting. So something like this is attractive too.