This is a new home. One you plan to be in for some time?? I would go forward with the amount of plants you can afford now. Space them accordingly. Mulch heavily in between then let them grow. Faster than you can imagine now your plants will have grown and you can divide them to fill your planter. Where you live, zone orientation of that fence line-N/S/E/W would need to be known for anyone to give you specific suggestions. Also try facebook, local garden sights--plenty of people there are dividing and giving away plants...

Thanks!! We are in Southern California and the fence faces south and west. I wonder how far apart I can spread plants for it not to look sparse. I understand things will grow.

Buy the same plants you originally wanted but in a small size if they grow rapidly. Splurge for a couple big things (for instance Japanese maples are notoriously slow). That said landscaping is a major determinate of curb appeal and sales price.

First, landscaping generally IS thousands of dollars. Normally, it's spent piecemeal over the years. It's more painful when you try to do it all at once, but the effect can be impressive. Generally, growing things requires time, patience and expertise which is what you pay for when buying a plant.

I can't tell how wide that planting area is but it looks pretty damn narrow from here. Also, have you considered how you would water these plants?? You will likely need to set- up a drip irrigation system.

My first thought was to use low growing sedums (they can be easily propagated by breaking off a piece and sticking it into the soil) or buying 20-30 6 packs of wave petunias every year and calling it a day.

You may be fortunate and have access to a local grower who normally sells wholesale but may provide retail hours one day a week. You will need to do some digging to figure out if you have something available near you.

Whatever you plant, I would keep it low. Actually, one of the small nepetas would be nice.

And for folks to give you any plant advice, you need to provide a growing zone or your nearest city.

I am guessing that you live in a Mediterranean climate - California? do you know your planting zone? Bougainvillea would look great cascading over the wall if it grows in your area, and you can get 1 gal starter plants for about $7 at the big box stores; it grows fast. You could mix up several different colors to avoid monotony on the long wall. If it's too cold for bougainvillea, think about evergreen flowering vines such as honeysuckle or passion flower; they also grow fast, and your local nursery can recommend the right species for your area. Quick fix for the first year: morning glory grown from seed while you wait for the more permanent plants to fill in. Also I would put two bigger accent shrubs on either side where your front walk begins. It looks like a great house, and will be even better with some greenery to set it off!

1. You don't need 5 gallon pots. Find out the cost for 1 gallon pots.

2. Check pricing both online and at local nurseries, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes.

Often it is the same plant / same grower but at many different prices depending on where you buy.

Postpone buying this year because you will not be able to water everything in your yard due to the drought restrictions. If you feel you have to do something, just before the first rain, sprinkle nasturtium seeds along the area to be planted.

Deer grass (Muhlenbergia Rigens) is a low water use grass that would look great along your fence. If you can find it in one gallon cans it would be a lot cheaper but if in five gallon cans you can use an old bread knife to cut the root ball into sections and plant those at the normal 3-4 ft spacing and they will fill in.

Are you wanting to develop the area on the public side of the fence between fence and wall or on the house side?
On the public side, maybe some grasses that fill in and have nice movement. Do check that you don’t select any that are considered noxious weeds in your area. Or maybe some ice plant, that succulent used along So Cal freeways? Or other sedums?
Walk around your neighborhood and see what catches your eye.

You don't want mature plants in pots, you want what is called "plugs." I usually only see them mail order from certain nurseries specializing in them. I also think landscaping companies get them wholesale, so you might consider looking into the cost of having it installed, might be cheaper, which is somewhat counterintuitive. Also, you could decide to do it in stages, just mulch the areas you're not doing, and start the plants from seed indoors. We have a small seed starting shelf unit at your house, you can get them relatively cheaply at lawn and garden centers, on sale at the end of the planting season usually.

Yes , landscaping is expensive , i had my new home landscaped a few years ago in a very modern, xeriscape style, not an especially large space, it was over $25k, but that included labor. . i suggest you rethink the plants if you can’t get them in a smaller size, buy 1 gal. plants, they will grow very quickly in your climate. i live in So. Cal also. Yes, landscape companies get their plants wholesale.

Why did you build the planters? Why not just a wall I can see it being a spot for people to drop their garbage when they walk by whatever you do. Go to your local nursery and see what they recommend.

We're also in SoCal. It can be expensive. We had a very small landscaping job done early this year for about $10K. Home Depot and Lowe's can be less if they have what you want. There are wholesale garden centers around. Depending on your location, this is one we've used but there are others.

https://www.garden-view.com/nursery/

if you're in SoCal, you also have the added conundrum of water shortages. even drought tolerant plants need to be watered a lot more in the beginning until they're established.

for the long planter wall, go for spaced out plants with filler. I love the look of succulents or blue fescue with small rocks or wood chips. for a long plant bed like this, I also really love symmetry -- a row of the same plant all along that wall. it looks nice with this kind of architecture, and it makes it really easy to plan out.

nice river rocks can be expensive, but you could save money by going for pea gravel or the smaller crushed stone, and I think it would look fine since your garden bed is skinny. of course wood chips will cost the least of all.

for large planters that don't break the bank, I just ordered these on amazon and I'm really happy with them. they're big (16" cubes), seem like good quality, and were only $50 each:

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. We went with our original plans of Mexican feather grass and Dwarf olive bushes for the front. All the plants (except for the ficuses - paid for by our contractor) were $3,200 (not including labor). I think it turned out great!

Who is that character of a tree in your front yard? What kind, species?

Looks like an old magnolia tree-popular in SoCal tract planting in the 60's.

That is what it looks like to me as well, but...it's so sparse.

Yes, that "character of a tree" immediately caught my attention too! What a branch structure. I thought too that its leaves look Magnolia like but I have never seen a Magnolia looking like that. I wondered if the house is a new build & they protected tree to save or if it's an extensive remodel of existing home. The neighborhood looks established.

In LA a lot of lawn crews “prune” trees by flat-topping or just hacking down the branches. It’s rare that trees are pruned properly. This one looks decent compared to the butcher jobs you usually see.

Here’s the before

Great improvement on the original property. As you probably know, roots can do a lot of damage to sidewalks and walls. Keep your eye on them.

@Nicole Tirosh wow! What a nice job on the remodel/ rebuild. And, thank you for telling us the story of your poor tree & satisfying our curiosity. I do hope the Magnolia survives - it looks like a strong feature in the streetscape of neighborhood… it would be sad to lose it.

Looks nice. i like the tree, hope it survives. Note: keep an eye on the feather grass, it can become quite invasive if unchecked. I recently had all of mine removed, the tiny seeds were blowing everywhere with plants popping in unwanted areas. They are attractive though. i really like dwarf olive trees , a neighbor has used quite a few of them in their beautiful front yard landscape. .

Yes, the Mexican feather grass is invasive. There are lovely California-native alternatives to consider.

Google— some lovely alternatives, though you have my sympathy since you already did the landscaping.

Good to know especially since our large front lawn will all be grass. I guess I’ll expect weeds until I have enough $ to replace 😩

it looks really good though! nice work.