Help with some landscaping ideas?

[my_secret_garden]

Reposted from another area...

The longer it rained, the more ideas I came up with for my yard. I decided that I want to dig up the whole area between the street and the front sidewalk. I bought some really pretty flowers today and decided that I thought I wanted to dig it ALL up so I wouldn't have to mow it anymore. Now I just have to figure out how to lay it all out and... I need a LOT of landscaping bricks to get what I had in mind worked out. The cost is making my mind boggle, however, so I am trying to think up some alteratives. I want to turn over the whole area so that there is no grass there, then plant my flowers and two bushes, and then maybe just put mulch down. Here is an idea of what the area looks like and where I want to place things. And then there is a picture that sorta shows the front area. I bought about 24 Hawaiian Blue plants and a couple of Fuchsia shrub plants. I don't want to worry about mowing around stuff which is why I want to get rid of the grass. Would it be a good idea to surround the shrubs and maybe put an edging around the outline of the area where the sidewalk is? I want to either fill it in with mulch or maybe a ground cover plant. The Hawaiians are blue (of course) and the Fuchsias are the purple and pink ones so I don't know what kind of ground cover would work well there. Any suggestions? Maybe I should have started a new thread...

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v705/thedustyattic/frontlawn.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v705/thedustyattic/sideflowerbed-backview.jpg[/img]

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v705/thedustyattic/rightstairflowerbox.jpg[/img]

[opabinia51]

Anybody?