Thanks all for your suggestions. We've started the work. So far, we've changed the shape of the hedge flower bed so it's not taking over the yard. It's just straight now in front of the porch and then circles out a bit towards the right side of the house to make a nice size bed for something. That circle-ish bed on the right side is about 12 ft x 12 ft and there's no window there. The ixora were pretty bad looking after the last of our freezes here in Daytona, so we uprooted them all and put 7 Lavender Formosa Azalea's in their place. (the original photo still shows the ixora) So far so good on those. Now, we bought a 4-trunk robellini / pigmy date palm and will pick it up this weekend. I just have to decide where to put it! I had pictured it on the right side of the house, but do we need something taller there instead of the robellini or in addition to the robellini? In the photos below, the only thing that's actually in our ground are the azeleas closest to the house. All else is my mockup to get opinions. That center bed isn't even there yet - just an idea. I like the Christmas palm because of it's multiple trunks, and we've got so much coquina in our area, it's not expensive to get a decorative rock for the center bed. That center bed isn't even there yet - just an idea. So, please help with suggestions for where to put our robellini that's coming in this weekend. It's about 7 ft tall from base of trunk to top frond, so it's pretty nice. Side note, we're extending the right fence so it's flush with the house and need access to the gate, so nothing can be planted in front of it, we've got 2 ft. of stationary fence right next to the house on the right, but no further than that. So, bottom line, I've got a robellini coming in and I've got to decide where to put it! Original - how our yard looks now My fav, the robellini in the back and a christmas up front, maybe a queen in the back for height? I'm not sure if we've got the room for the queen though. But it doesn't look bad without the queen Or the robellini in the front? I tried 2 queens in the photo in the front bed and it was too busy and 1 queen looked lonely. Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

The first question..."has the tree outlived its usefulness?" begs another, HOW is the tree useful? Like a giant parasol, it provides protection from strong summer sun. It even provides a little protection from beginning rains. Visually, it adds interest as a sculptural object. And it frames and enhances (or obliterates depending on how it's controlled) the view of the house/property. I cannot see that it has outlived these functions. But I can see that it could be controlled a little differently so it does a better job of framing the view. Here's a little sketch that illustrates my point. I offer it not to convince you, but in order to let you know what to look for as you observe trees in others' front yards. As you travel about during the day, notice the difference in effect between trees that have been limbed up and those with low-hanging limbs. In general, large older trees that are limbed up present a cleaner, more stately appearance. If they have been limbed up properly (with balance and without protruding stubs) the character of the trunk may be much more impressive than one which has the competition of low limbs and foliage. The tree on the left competes and obstructs; the one on the right frames and shelters. Take this suggestion with a grain of salt as it's based solely on the view shown in the next photo. I've marked red Xs to show which limbs I'd probably remove, but this is something that would really depend on what the tree looks like from all angles of view. The goal would be to have the tree be balanced from all views and get the limbs high enough to visually clear the house. Remember that limbs left on the tree will get LOWER in the future as they grow longer and heavier. (It is hardly ideal to "organize" the branching structure of a tree after trees have grown for many years without guidance. It's far preferable to prune frequently along the way. But we're working with what we have.) Keep in mind that limbing up the tree also has the benefit of allowing more light to enter below while still retaining the tree's ability to shade from the high sun. This means that one's ability to grow other landscape plants below it is improved. "Is the tree too big for the house?" Imagine a little log cabin at the base of giant redwoods. Could there not be a more charming picture? In my view there's no problem whatsoever with a tree towering over a house. But they need to work together, not be in competition. The tree should shelter the house, not obliterate it visually. The tree roots should not interfere with the house foundation. One must desire the shade. When those requirements are met, a tree can be welcome. Though big old trees sometimes do fall over in severe storms, the likelihood of this happening is small enough that one can find thousands of danger-causing conditions that can be worried about before it. I just measured the trunk diameter of an oak tree that stands 14' from my house. It's 62". But before I would cut it down (It's benefits to me are tremendous even though it can also be a PITA,) I'd quit driving or riding with others as that's far more dangerous and likely to cause me injury. Keep the new walkway WELL clear of the tree trunk. I think you must pay much more attention to the geometry (shape and layout) of the new path than what is shown in either of the proposed schemes. It is a built object that is an extension of the architecture. It should demonstrate this. Because of the tree, it would almost certainly have a curving component to it. You might need professional assistance here to come up with the right scheme. (Though it MIGHT work out that way, in my mind, it is not a "given" that best location for the porch steps is at the center of the porch. Design is often a balancing act and you'd be considering more than just the porch and the steps.) Regarding "what to plant in front of the house"...the first thing to do here is work out the shape & form of the plant masses before thinking about the species of anything. You have to do this before you can figure out what plants are capable of making these forms. Consider that a very attractive custom built section of decorative fence could be the basis of screening the AC unit. It could be an opportunity to further enhance the architecture of the house and work in unison with plants. For some brainstorming ideas, Google images for: air conditioner screen.

Dennis - Unless I missed it, you didn't say what direction the front of your house faces, and how much sun it got, that is, if it's sun is obstruction by tall buildings on the other side of the street. The other very, very important thing for you to think about, of which other Houzzers might not be aware is that Southern California goes through extreme water shortages pretty much every single year, and many areas are told to not water their lawn or do it only minimally for parts of the year. That should really inform how you think about landscaping. Admittedly, I do understand if you despise cacti and other succulents. But you might want to seriously think about eschewing live grass in favor of artificial turf. There are marvelous artificial turfs now that would fool anyone, certainly from standing height, and you obviously don't need to water it and think of all the $$ you save in gardener's fees, and none of those those pesky varmints rolling up the sod, either.! You can can still have specifically carved out flower beds, and trees and bushes with planned irrigation for those specific areas. Your area abounds with very experienced landscape architects. You want someone who has an artistic eye, and who knows hardscape and who is very familiar with the plants that do well in your area, and is familiar with the exigencies of life in SoCal and in your microclimate and can speak frankly with you about what you want to get out of your garden and how much work you are willing to put in to it. Do you sit outdoors in the front or the back? Do you want fragrant flowers on a trellis where you sit there or will a fragrance annoy the heck out of you? Will you sit outside in the morning or night, so do you need flowers that bloom in the am or bloom in the evening with colors that will be seen sell in twilight and at night? Do you want an herb garden for cooking? Do you want vegetables? Do you want several rose bushes so you can fill your house with roses, or other flowers so you can always have bouquets? Of course Dig Doug's designs look fantabulous as always, but note that his designs show significant hardscape changes to the front of the house. You might want to think about saving up some money for the hardscape work. If you get rid of the grass and put in artificial turf, you will end up saving a fortune of money on your water bill that you can put toward hardscape. If you have never owned a house before, you would not believe how much the water bill will be, and when you add in watering the lawn, holy moly!

Christina - just updated location in original post. Thank you. I knew I was forgetting something when posting last night ;). Ken_adrian - The thuja wasn't high up on the list to remove since it's doing okay. Need to remove the large tree beside it in the lower bed first since it's showing signs of age/disease. Haven't had a problem with the black mulch in the past year or so, but will keep that in mind. Can't take credit for the stone work, but thank you! I wanted to remove the railing so I don't have to use the stepping stones, however, it would leave the siding in need of patching, and it's 20 years old, so it wouldn't be easy to match. Ikayetwvz5 - thank you for those suggestions - I like the look of the dwarf hinoki cypress! Sorry that you didn't get much help. At this point, i'm just happy with getting some suggested plant names, so If i'm able to get a few suggestions from everyone, i'm good :) It's hard to make a decision. FrozeBudd_z3/4 - Thank you for those suggestions. Will look those up now!