One thought you may want to keep in mind is to incorporate more permanent plant types into the bed. While a selection of perennials will certainly return each year, they do disappear in winter, leaving the bed a blank hole for many months. Personally, I consider this a highly undesirable feature in an area that is so conspicuous and open to public view. Incorportaing a few smaller growing shrubs or dwarf evergreens would provide a far more permanent structure (i.e., "bones") that would provide interest during the off-season as well. There are a few hardy perennials that will provide a more evergreen presence also, and an assortment of groundcovers that offer this feature too. Some other ideas to consider: reconfigure the bed to a more naturalistic shape - a rectangular bed plunked down in the middle of an expanse of lawn looks unconnected and awkward. Get rid of the little strip of lawn running between the sidewalk and the planting bed - it serves no purpose and increases the maintenance. And perhaps mound the soil slightly and include a few landscape boulders to offer some context as well as permanence - small shrubs, low spreading perenenials and ornamental grasses look especially good creeping or cascading around these rocks. And don't rely solely on flowers to achieve results. Flowers - even those provided by so-called long blooming perennials - are very temporary. Look for a contrast of plant forms, textures and attractive foliage to provided much more long term interest than just flowers can provide.

Since 'Wolf Eyes' is variegated, it often develops very good fall color, leaning towards the pink and red tones. But then IME most kousas develop better fall color than other dogwood species anyway. Wolf Eyes is a smaller, shrubby form, seldom exceeding 10', so that may play into your considerations as well. I tend not to favor the 'red'/pink flowering selections much and 'Satomi' is well down on my list :-) The color tends to be washed out and the bracts are small. And in my climate, even the white flowered forms tend to fade to a rosy pink, so you get the benefit of both effects. If I could select only one kousa it would be a variety of chinensis, probably 'Milky Way' - the bracts are enormous and plentiful, virtually obscuring all the foliage when in bloom, and it is a heavy fruit producer as well.

I've been reading this one topic a lot and visiting the different nurseries online. I love edible landscaping, especially fruits and berries. I have Washington Hawthorns, Elderberries (Adams/Johns), 3 grapevines, 4 dwarf cherry trees, a mulberry tree (Morus alba), strawberries, blackberries, amber raspberries, coralberries, and blueberries mixed in with perennial flowers in my urban yard. When I stop reading the topics long enough to figure out how to post pictures, I will post some berry pics as I have two different berries that I didn't plant and need an ID. I've been looking high and low on the internet, but can't figure out what they are on my own. Both of the unknown berries were in my yard before I started planting stuff, so I know it isn't stuff I've purchased or piggybacked in with stuff I purchased. I also don't see them elsewhere in my neighborhood and the hubby worries they might be poisonous - I'm tempted to taste them every year. I planted the hawthorns for the songbirds to eat. I think I have about 25 planted and thriving since last spring. I'm hoping the birds will eat those and the coralberries more and leave me with enough of the other fruits that I end up with stomach aches from eating too much. Next year, along with doubling the amount of grape vines, I'll probably plant 5 more blackberries (3 different varieties tbd this winter.) I will also plant at least 2 varieties of red raspberries. If you haven't noticed, I like plants with thorns. I used the Hawthorns to create a hedge on the north and south sides of my front yard. But I will move them all to the north side and put a blackberry hedge on the south side. I have to do this to keep the mailman, neighbors and felines out of my yard - I have to protect my flowers also. I want my yard to be a sanctuary for the birds, but cats keep visiting and stalking the poor birds because I have several neighbors that let their cats roam the neighborhood as they please. After my thorny plants started growing, my yard hasn't been the neighborhood litter box it once was. (I just hope I don't accidently sit on my thorny babies like I did many years ago on a rose bush because I literally could not sit for weeks!) I also haven't had to worry about my indoor-only cat being worked into a frenzy from the cats taunting her at the windows. Anyhow, I realize now that there are many many serviceberries but I can't find good photos of them. I've found a lot of information, some drawings, and a few photos that looked like wilted flowers. I also haven't seen any mention of thorns - do any serviceberry plants have thorns? Where can I find clear photos of a few different types alongside good descriptions? (I'm planting thornless fruit away from the property borders.) I still need plants for my edible hedge along the front/west side of my front yard - hopefully thorny and growing at least 4' -6' high. Otherwise, I'll continue to use the Washington Hawthorns for a hedge but add 2 Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus 'Aphrodite') bushes for the butterflies on each side of the front gate. After all that, I still have a couple spots left for either serviceberry, or maybe currants. A few photos of the serviceberry growing in your gardens would help me choose.

@Yardvaark @decoenthusiaste Thank you for your inputs. Will surely think about the palm tree placement. Also, my bad, I should have specified earlier that the door in the picture is not the front door, but the door to the spare room on the 1st floor. The front door is the one with the grey tiles & 2 windows beside it. Here are a couple of better pictures (Photo 1- brown door on extreme right) Photo-2 Front Door No HOA so we are sorted on that front. Any specific kind of pavers you would recommend for the space keeping in mind that we don't have a very big budget yet want to add value & make the space usable. Also, the yard has an automatic slope- what would we need to consider on that front while hardscaping? Also, any views on artificial turf?