Congrats on your home purchase!

#1. Where in Texas are you?

#2. Which way does your front door face? I'm guessing its South?

#3. What kind of tree is that in the front yard?

Thank you! We are in fort worth, TX and yes the front door is facing south. I have no idea though what kind of tree this is.

Ok.. now we have more info and can proceed. :)

Are you interested in expanding those front beds?
What kind of plants do you like and how much time and money do you have to spend?

Do you just want to plant some annuals and change it each season or do you want to plant some serious plants? :)

To get you started check out the site below. Most photos won't be what you're looking for.. just ignore them.

Create an account and save the ones you really like.
I say to start with Dallas then move on to other locations in Texas and see if there's anything that grabs you.

We can help with naming plants in photos, and tell you if something will or won't work in that location.

One of the first things you're going to want to do is pull out anything that needs pulling out, and amend the soil. You can get started on that right now.

Here is a link that might be useful: [Houzz landscape site[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/dallas-landscaping-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_728~r_45)

I think the first thing I would do is break up that sidewalk and use the pieces as future pavers for a new curved one that has a garden on each side. Its a big "what the hell?" I've seen this done and its a good way to recycle a material that looks good. Or, you could leave it alone and use it to lead out to a gazebo, patio with a garden around it or some other kind of structure for visual interest.

First you need some definition. Outline some beds, in curved shapes. Don't do straight lines just because the house and sidewalk are straight because curved is more visually pleasing in the garden. Start out with foundation plantings around the house and some shrubs or small trees for "bones" in other areas that have been marked out and cleared of grass. This will give you something to work around so its not such an intimidating big blank space. In other words, break up the area. You can use a garden hose to lay out possibilities to visualize. When you decide on something you like, you can spray paint the shape and dig the borders and then clear it out with either digging or herbicide like Roundup or cover it with plastic until its dead underneath.

As time goes by, you can keep adding other plants for color and texture and expand the size of the planted areas if you want. You don't have to do it all at once. Start small and work up if need be. Remember to consider how much shade area will be created by the tree if you plant to keep it. It looks like a fairly large one that will cast a lot of shade, even if it is a south exposure.

What everyone else said plus, I would add shutters ... watch Desperate Landscapes for ways to build these cheap and window boxes under the two smaller windows ...of course none of that may be your style at all :-)

A nice pergola over a patio just outside the front door would be another way to change the overall first impression of the house. You have a honking big yard, love the space!

Ditto on the honking big size. I would consider large drifts of ornamental grasses. Its perfect for it. In winter they could be backed by dark evergreens for contrast. Planted on large mounds would be even better. I saw this at a housing project that had huge flat and boring lots and the house with a large rounded mound planted in all one kind of O. grass stood out from the highway like a work of art swaying in the breeze. This would be a good way to fill a large space fairly cheaply. You could start your own plugs from seeds for peanut$.

Some well placed fruit trees would be a definite possibility and some small ornamental types.

Theres plenty of room for a vegetable garden. Maybe that "no destination" path could lead to it.

You might consider finding Rosalind Creasy's book Edible Landscaping. She has some wonderful ideas and an amazing sense of design. It's a very helpful book with ideas as well as practical how-to information. If your library doesn't have it, you can search it on Amazon.

Ditto for what has already been said-- especially with starting small and with breaking up or adding to the side walk and using that side walk to create defined planting areas.

Here's two cents worth of other suggestions! ymmv.

Don't forget low-water use plants! aka xeriscaping plants. This may be especially important in the coming year, the weather experts think we're in for more dry months. Even plants with low water needs usually need more water in the year or so they are trying to get established.

You might start yard definition at the street, and work back towards your house, or start it at the house and work towards the street.

Pathways, of whatever material, do not have to be all of one material, or even of permanent materials.

If your house is on the blasted shifting soils so prevalent in north Texas, make sure you put foundation watering and or stabilizing stuff in before you put in the landscaping. It's disheartening to have foundation maintenance kill beautiful plants. (Since foundation watering is often regarded as necessary to keep slabs from breaking, often people put plants that need more water near the water zone for the house, and keep the really low water use plants away from the house.) I am no expert, but I -think- if your house is at least 15 years old, your dirt will be well settled and you might even consider pre-emptive foundation maintenance. Don't know if this is a good idea or not.

Love your huge yard, too.

If you decide to keep us posted as to your progress, it will be a treat to see what you do. It will be beautiful, I'm sure.

Thank you all for all the suggestions as I was completely clueless. All I knew was SOMETHING needed to be done! Very good ideas. I am new to all this home landscaping stuff so I've been having to google most of the ideas I've read lol...We shall see how things go, wish me luck! Another thing I also don't know anything about gardening but I do LOVE lilies, how are those for Texas gardens?

No shutters, they will get in the way of tall shrubs . Arbors would be good for small controllable vines (clemantis) or climbing roses. That big yard screams for a vegetable garden. I would get some trees on the west side going to give you future shade in the afternoons.

Jan-Feb 2012 Texas Gardener has a short article about lilies. I think it said that lily look-alikes tend to do better than real lilies, but the author doesn't live in dfw. He did name names for both the better and the poorer. I only remember day lilies, crinum lilies, milk and wine lilies as being better.

My advice to you would be...."do not rush it"!!! Gardens are always a work in progress. I visualize for a time, get ideas from gardens I pass by, and eventually, come up with something that is pleasing to me. We can offer advice, but you are the one who will ultimately live with your choices, so do what is pleasing to you.

Yvette,
Carrie is right. Take your time, develop a plan that will constantly change as you learn.

Look around and see what other people are doing. Take pictures of what trips your trigger.

In the Spring the Denton County bunch is planning another garden hop. Its a good way to meet other gardeners and see the kinds of gardens they have and get ideas for your own.

There are at least 2 plant swaps in the DFW metro area as well. You'll meet people and be able to pick up a few plants to get you started.

You are either going to do a few things and quit or you are going to be thinking and working on this for a long time.

Or you could hire some company to take all your money. :)

You can never go wrong with Texas Super Stars and most hummingbird and butterfly plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas SuperStars

Maybe use paving stone to create a half circle walkway from the street to the existing walkway.
The half circle area could become a large flower bed with xeriscaping plants.
Add flower beds on either side of the existing walkway and around the house.

Another suggestion is to start wintersowing now and watch for Spring plant swaps in the area.
Will be cheaper than having to buy all your plants.

Melvania, are we going to do a garden swap this spring, along with the garden hop? I sure hope so!!

Yes. That is the plan.
Carrie and I both think a Mid May Swap is best for our area.
But we're gonna want to do the garden hop before that.
Nothing is set in stone just yet.

Before you go getting rid of the sidewalk or pulling up a lot of stuff, take some time and actually notice how you use the yard. Where are your natural walkways? Are you wearing a path in the grass someplace? If you are, that is a huge clue as to where you might put pathways that will make sense. When you decide where they go, you can outline the exact locations using garden hoses. See what that looks like and, if it is correct, then you can put in your walkways. Once you have those situated, you can work on beautifying the areas around them. Before planting a lot of stuff, do yourself a favor and note the location of your faucets. Dragging hoses to something way out in the yard gets pretty old after a couple of weeks of 100 degree days.

For the record, I'm not a fan of shutters (especially if you notice yellow jackets around your house).

Congrats on the house!

Carla in Leander

First, do whatever you can to highlight the front entry. I would put a large patio in front of it, going out and maybe 3' around the corner of the room that's on the left as you face the house. If you can afford it, build a roof with a gable covering it.
Next I would balance the yard with a large growing tree on the left as you face the house, half or 2/3 the way to the street, on the line of the existing path. This will give you a 'reason' to build a new front path that curves around the tree.
Then I'd start creating and filling beds with low water use plants. I have a large and very low water use landscape in DFW. These are the plants that survived last summer on almost no water: Red yucca, Agave, Silver germander, Lantana, Some antique roses actually, Salvia greggi, Iris, zexsmania, Powis Castle Artemisia.

It is hard to tell how large a front yard you actually have. The first thing that hit me is there is no way for anyone to get to the from door. As mentioned before a sidewalk may do, but it still looks like a long walk.
If you just put in a sidewalk then there has to be a place to park.
If it is in your budget I would put a parking area in front of the tree. This will invite people to go there rather than the garage.
If it is not in the budget put in the walk but also add some screening in front of where you are parking the car.