If your going to have a swing set and foot traffic, St Aug is out. Bermuda needs lots and lots of sun, so thats out. Empire Zoysia does well in part shade and handles foot traffic very well. I have some growing well on the side of my house where it only gets about an hour of sun a day. You can sod the entire back yard with one pallet. Depending on who you by from and if you can pick it up your self or not, it will run $80 (direct from the sod farm, you pick it up) to $250 (delivered and installed). You will need to water this grass once a week during the dry season. Where did you say you live? Im in Lee county.

Great advice already, I just wanted to give support as a fellow renter (regarding landscaping). We sold our house and decided to rent for a while ... I went from having a yard that won awards to having a yard with not one plant. No way could I live that way! We’ve been here two years now and it looks really nice. Neighbors compliment us all the time. The biggest challenge has been: How much do we spend on a house we don’t own? I think we found a good balance for us. We definitely heard lots of, “WHY are you spending time and money on someone else’s house?!” Well, right now it’s our house and we’ve enjoyed every dime spent. :) We’re well aware we won’t get it back financially, but the investment has still been worth it for us, because we love landscaping and have a passion for it. I totally understand not everyone feels that way. I did things a bit different than if this was our “forever” home. I keep future renters in mind, so have planted with more drought-tolerant plantings, small to mid-size shrubs (so that nothing can get overgrown with lack of care), smaller beds, easy care perennials, native ornamental grasses, ground covers. I’ve used bird baths, yard art, etc, to fill in some areas. I do annuals in pots and hanging baskets, rather than in beds. We found free rock to use as edging and boulder art (check your local trade pages online and/or ask around for plants, hardscape, anything). It’s tough for me to not go overboard, to not to do exactly what I want .... it’s been a lesson in restraint. But very rewarding! Our house looks loved. And you have more to start with than we did, it’s really going to look nice! Enjoy! (PS: We aren’t in an HOA, great advice from Denita about checking on that.) ETA: Just noticed your hell strip. IF you can plant there (and even want to!), I wanted to share how we did ours here — one side is quite long, so I just dug up a bed around 4-5 ft long on each side of the driveway. I planted a few drought tolerant perennials around Mexican Feather grass in the center of each one. I used stone as border in between the beds and grass. We have lots of dog walkers and they always express appreciation at what we’ve planted. :) This was in spring, by summer they’ve filled in completely. I broke this side up with a stepping stone/rock and Asian Jasmine. This was the smaller strip that meets the neighbor’s, you see we left grass on the other side. Even doing just a small section at least breaks up all the boring grass (and uses less irrigation). It’s made a big difference in curb appeal. Literally. :D

What is the railing for on the left? is it against the house or is there something in between? Lovely house and I think a trellis or pergola with beautiful flowers over the garage would be nice and are you putting some tropical plants in the circle up front in the driveway?

@flopsycat1 Bay window, picture window depending who you talk with lol. I was thinking placing the numbers on the wall right side of the front door. I have hurricane impact windows and doors those are not shutters, it's brick painted dark grey. It's been a hassle trying to find someone to remove all of the brick from the columns and on the sides of the window. Definitely can use some landscaping Thank you!