Your last decision, in any landscape design, is which plants to use. If you are a trained landscape designer, you should already know that. If not, then spend a few minutes and read this.

Asking for a list of plants, without seeing the design is like putting together a list of building materials without knowing what the final structure looks like.

This is a great start for you. http://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/publications/files/waterwise_landscapes.pdf

It is a book put out by the state and covers low maintenance plants (all kinds of plants really) for Florida. Covers palms, trees, hedges, vines all the good stuff you are looking for.

You can request the actual book or view the pdf. Not sure if they will send the book to you out of state.

Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Waterwise

Ricky you should add the link that shows your incredible garden that's really inspiring
Katie

Here you go.

Thank you for the information. Yes, species selection is the last step in a design, and that's where I am. In most cases, I can create a design independent of geographic location, and then go back and figure out what plants to use. I simply want to ensure that what I specify actually survives. Checking the USDA zone is an obvious starting point, but I know there are other factors to plant health as well. I will definitely have a look at the Florida Waterwise publication.

The client does have some specific requests that I'm trying to accommodate...
"not tropical-looking" (i.e. no big foliage)
"tuscan"
"maybe with some Japanese garden elements"

Not exactly a clear-cut task. Are there any Japanese maples that grow in zone 10b??

I've tried 3 different species of Japanese maple (at a significant cost, I might add) and lost them all.

Tuscan and Japanese are very different styles and I'd ask the client to be more specific, selecting one or the other. Tuscan, or what I call Mediterranean, is quite formal. Tall Italian Cypress, boxwood, roses, trimmed bougainvillea, oleander and lots of pottery and/or statues. Japanese is closer to ordered natural - flowing, weeping plants - Weeping Bottle Brush type trees, jasmines (any of them), ferns, ornamental grasses, and of course a water feature or two.

Giving you an exact plant list for your plan is not something you're going to get for free from a local designer. However, your client can easily find those plants he or she desires and send you digital photos.

We live in zone 10, 28 years now (having come from the NE) and have always done our own landscaping at 3 different homes,this one being our last home build, and I can tell you for a fact there is much to learn about landscaping in Florida zone 10 and many, many things to be considered for success, a few of these are, locations of plants such as north side, south side E & W etc. not over doing the planting since we live in a natural hot house and in a year's time you can end up with a jungle!!
Use a good grade of weed block or plan to do weeding every week, lot's of weeding! or plan to hire a gardener full time... plus know what to feed your plants and tree's and feed, feed, feed remember the poor things are trying to live in sand with very little nourishment, the only reason you see palm tree's with yellow fronds is because they are not fed enough, with added magnesium, also don't forget the bugs that will devour your plants as soon as you turn your back, unless you are on top of that also, and now even though we are in zone 10, we're on the way out to cover our hibiscus, ixora etc. for temps in the high 20's tonight and possible frost, yes, we even have these problems in zone 10, and hate the chore a few times each winter.

Some Medium sized trees along your lines that I would personally recommend are Podocarpus gracilior (Weeping Podocarpus) and Elaeocarpus decipiens (Japanese Blueberry). They are striking and not South Florida-y (haha!) as I would say! Podocarpus macrophyllus works here for hedging, or a cultivar named 'Pringles' for massing. Indian Hawthorn works if you are close to the water, also the lovely Ficus 'Green Island' as a very glossy-leafed lower growing shrub. Juniper groundcovers that are pretty well adapted here are 'Parsonii' and a little less hardy but more pretty: 'Blue Pacific'. All of the others mentioned above were great ideas, too!

I am no designer and a newbie Florida gardner, but I will scream if I hear the word Tuscan on HGTV one more time. :-)

Customers who ask for Japanese and Tuscan at the same same time are probably not gardeners and will not want to take care of a very involved garden unless they hire skilled help.
This said, I would go for the Mediteranean style with plenty of hardscape, all or some of the above (by people in the know) mentioned plants, and clipped hedges. Hedge clipping can be done by relatively unskilled help (I hope so), and it makes the garden look the same for years to come. At least that's what my neighbors try to achieve (up here in NJ where meatball shaped bushes are all the rage in my neck of the woods).

One of the most important things to remember if you are used to northern gardening is that few plants really like full sun in Florida. Things that like full sun up north probably would like some afternoon shade here. Also, contrary to what I thought about Florida before moving here, Florida is not a rainforest. From maybe November through June, we get very little rain. And our sandy soil does not hold moisture well. As for specific plant selection, there are several very good books on Florida gardening. Check with Amazon.com.
Peonies, lilacs, hostas, daffodils, tulips, etc... will not grow here, at least not in my area.

Please be aware _ there are irrigation restrictions down here. The plants you choose need to be able to survive our very dry winter on twice a week sprinkling. I could go on and on about the moral and environmental issues, explain that very few plants need more than that, or that many newcomers kill their first lawn by overwatering it.
But all you really need to know is: watering every day is illegal down here. Fines are as much as $500 for the first violation in some communities.

And your clients' new neighbors will probably be pretty disdainful of an expensively designed garden where the local laws aren't being respected, or water is being wasted (stupidly watering the sidewalk is the kind of thing that starts neighborhood feuds down here.)

These are all good things to keep in mind. Thanks for the postings!

A couple more questions...

Any ideas for a small-medium shade tree; something that can be 10' tall at planting but not get more than 25' at maturity?

And I'll be using a few "exclamation point" evergreens (like italian cypress or skyrocket juniper [eastern red cedar]). Can someone recommend the best species for this use in this climate?

Shade trees- pick one that does well here and will not fall on your client's house in case of a hurricane. Many county extension offices have a list of recommended trees. "Some" maples grow well here and remind me of the trees we had up north. Some crape myrtles can get medium tree sized and they produce flowers all summer. I like the white ones.