I'm making huge progress! The whole front part has been mulched already. There are some empty spaces that bother me a bit but I have now lived in Florida long enough to know how fast those tiny shrubs will grow so it will all fill in.
Still trying to decide for a cover other than mulch for the left section behind the narrow brick path. The area around the blue pots has a covering of pink granite (not all that pink) but it's expensive and so I'm trying to decide on something else to use on the left side that will still keep the yin and yang effect divided by the little path. Ideas?