There were some big changes here today....

 My front "garden", and I use the term loosely, was torn out today, to make room for a new tree and some plants of my choosing.  Here are some before photos: 

Can you spot the nearly dead trees;  a rosemary plant, a rose bush, and some others I cannot name?  Here's another view, where the damage to the trees shows up better. 

You can't see these in the large photo, but this is the first time in the nearly nine years I've lived here that they have bloomed:

It's too bad we could not save the bulbs.  Believe it or not, there is/was a peony plant there too.  

This pink tree (I don't know the name of it) is half-dead, and it is blooming better than it ever has. Seems odd....as if it knew its days were numbered!

 

And here is the area now:

The crew is coming back tomorrow; they will plant a Japanese maple and I'm not sure what else....

but I will post how it looks later on.

Any suggestions for what to plant?