If you're going to retain the gravel as the driveway material, then it would be good to install a band of something rigid to separate it from the turf. Since the space is large and wide open, it would look better to have a fairly bold edge to the gravel. I would suggest using a band of concrete that is about 15" wide (like a skinny walkway) at both the inside and outside edges. It should be perfectly circular, not faceted or irregular (so forming would be important) and nicely finished. It should sit a couple inches higher than the gravel, but flush with the lawn grade (you could add topsoil to make that happen.) You're not going to plant within 3' of house wall so lack of light there is immaterial. As far as what could be planted where I show blue flowers ... I envisioned it as a large perennial mass, 12" to 18" height (though bloom could stick up higher.) A color range of hybrid daylilies could be one solution. Possibly a shorter Veronica, if you can find such. Or Ajuga. Explore what grows there that would qualify. Maybe someone else will come up with a suggestion. Be practical and find something that will GROW well and is AVAILABLE. (Find a sunny place in your yard to grow some Russian sage as it is so pretty.)

I love the front porch! The brick walk is nice. With the tulips (I think that's what they are), I'd go with 1 or 2 colors/types and do them in more concentrated masses. You want them sited in a way where they fade into the background and something else (like a repeat blooming daylilly) takes over once they bloom. It's rare that I see juniper as a ground cover that actually looks good so I'd be excited to blow that out of there.

A few general considerations first. IME shrubs are less work than the majority of perennials as long as you look up the mature width (rather than just what the tag says) on a reliable site such as the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Plant Finder and plant accordingly so pruning isn’t needed. Regardless of what you choose, have repetition of at least some of the plants to provide cohesion, either by repeating a particular large plant several times down the row, or having large grouping of several kinds of plants, or even having a fronting row of a lower perennial such as Nepeta/catmint (sun) or an overall groundcover such as Veronica ‘Georgia Blue’ which is happy in full sun or full shade. I would also make the bed deep enough so that there is a gap between the plants and the fence at maturity for ease of maintenance. If you allow enough depth for a couple of rows of plants such as one of shrubs and one of bulbs and easy care perennials, you can have a really long season of interest. Here is a winter photo of one of my beds that is a mixed shrub bed , though much larger and denser than you want. It shows the first type of plant repetition, with evergreens that really stand out in winter, each kind in several spots down the bed. Some of the large perennials that repeat can also be seen in their winter shades of gray and tan. Here is a link to a perennial garden that repeats, both groups of the same plants as well as repeating similar flower colors in different plants. It would take more maintenance to do this with perennials as illustrated here, but the concept of repetition will work regardless. [https://www.houzz.com/photos/clamshell-alley-rustic-landscape-portland-maine-phvw-vp~20985226[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/clamshell-alley-rustic-landscape-portland-maine-phvw-vp~20985226) The link below repeats the same 4 plants in a pattern down the whole row. [https://www.houzz.com/photos/garden-spaces-traditional-landscape-new-york-phvw-vp~3417617[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/garden-spaces-traditional-landscape-new-york-phvw-vp~3417617) For plants, Consider some of the panicled hydrangeas such as Little Lime or Little Quickfire, both of which will get to around 5’-6’ in about 5 years in good soil in my part of the US, though I don’t know where you are. If you want something larger or smaller, there are other varieties such as Limelight which reaches 9’ or Bobo which shouldn’t exceed 4’. Bloom is long with the QF and Bobo starting in early July and LL and Limelight about 3 weeks later and continuing for the rest of the growing season here. In my NH garden they are fine in all day sun, though at high elevation or farther south than New England they prefer some shade in the hottest part of the day. If you want some colored foliage, ninebark/Physocarpus has some smaller types such as Tiny Wine with deep reddish foliage and pinkish-white flowers and ornamental reddish seed capsules. They all have a somewhat weeping or mounding shape but vary in size and foliage color- red or green or gold. Gold foliaged ‘Ogon’ Spiraea has white flowers and a slightly weeping shape. if you will be viewing this from indoors in winter, add at least a couple of plants with winter interest such as a the red twigged, variegated leafed dogwood shrub Cornus Ivory Halo or a smaller evergreen that won’t exceed about 6’, perhaps one of the smaller cultivars of false cypress/Chamaecyparis. One option to consider for fastening to the fence is the climbing rose Zephirine Drouhin which has scented pink flowers and is virtually thornless. Mine has had healthy foliage for the 5 years I have had it in my garden with no maintenance other than a spring pruning and fastening it to its trellis. I have emphasized summer interest plants, but you can add spring flowering shrubs that have fall color which as one of the smaller Viburnum plicatum such as popcorn or Newport/‘newzam’ or Fothergilla. You could also underplant the shrubs or perennials with spring bulbs such as Crocus or daffodils.

Don't listen to the guy above about ditching the arches, use them to make a new orleans style courtyard out of them, google "new orleans style courtyard". Put a small water feature on the patio. I would then drill in some eye ancor bolts directly into the brick and use some wire to train 5 bouganvilla "20$ each large", Purple, Red, Purple, Red, Purple going up the brick and espalier them off to the brick. "est 150-200$" Take that windmill palm to the left, remove the ciruclar pavers, take the bed about two feet wider, replace with a tan rock to match your house and use fabric underneath "est 50$". I will also say something, so many people put shrubs and trees right up against the house and its a huge no no more often than not. You can use stratigic stuff like cannas, dwarf promgranite, ginger, etc to get the same look of whatever your going for without blocking your view from the house. In saying that, I think you need to have something that gives your house some mystery. That large tree is a huge focal point. I also don't like the hedge in the front which kind of looks like legustrum. I agree with the bottle brush row between the neighbors house out the right side as I think it would be nice to have the privacy. I would go from the large tree to the black driveway and take the grass out from there to the street. Then would add in daylillies, coleous, sweet potatoe vine, birds of paradise, amongst other things. I would also put a couple of orchids on the iniside wall of the arches so you could see them from your house.