Roses along our front boundary deter wandering people and animals.

Sure, there are so many kinds that you can achieve a more formal look with all the same, or an informal cottage look as here

A couple observations.

a. a widening of the path where it meets the sidewalk, like the radius of a street, or some flagstones (if that is the correct term, not slate though) to widen the entrance here and at the front steps, perhaps with a little plant bed or containers of seasonal flowers.

b. perhaps a lamp post with your house number, maybe a white iron chair or small bench.

Something to say welcome to my home.

c. between the house and the street, place small, horizontally branching trees to filter the view from your house to the street, and give the feeling of being more set back from the neighborhood.

d. from your photo, there does not appear to be a single major tree in your world. How about one to the right of the front, and two or three in the rear, to help define some activity areas, and screen undesirable views.

As they say, he who plants a tree, plants hope. Enjoy

Magnolia's are beautiful & there are a huge varity of cordylines which are stunning. Gardinias are pretty too. https://www.google.com.au/search?q=cordyline&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=pRWVVYuuAZft8gXGnra4DQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1440&bih=751

Perhaps if you look at your outdoor spaces as outdoor rooms, it may help you personalize and organize the areas. What I see in the photo is a small front yard divided in half, and a tree placed exactly in the center of the other half, within a little square of bed.

I expect you would not do that with an interior room. A visitor will be compelled to race down the hallway to the front door, and probably not even notice the tree, since it is not part of a composition, a furniture grouping. You enter your living room to a welcoming composition of a furniture grouping, lamps, pictures on the wall, drapes (I hope) on the windows.

You get the idea. Would you put a post lamp in the middle of an empty room? It would tend to diminish the size of the space and it's usefulness as a space. Would you put a carpet down the center of a room? -- only if you were creating two separate scenarios of equal size.

You need some on-site advisers, whether they be landscape architects or interior designers, someone or more than one who will offer their experienced suggestions for you to consider, but not immediately act upon. You need to live with your new spaces and walk through their ideas for weeks, or months, before making a decision on how to proceed.

Perhaps it would help you to read the thoughts of some international designers like Bunny Williams, with her book, On Garden Style, where you will get the feeling that the views of the outside rooms from within the house are as important as the views from the street.

You will want to move the maple out of its central location, remove the central path, - and the conifers scare me. You really have a very small space up front here. Take a look in the park at the size of a mature conifer. They will occupy your yard and that of your neighbor, as they develop as nature intended. They are very beautiful, a work of art, but space-consuming. You may have room in the back yard, but be careful when blocking the magnificent views from within the house.

Perhaps you will provide an entrance to your outdoor room over to the right, near your property line, with the tree, the lamp post, a small chair or bench, a bed of small plants that have beauty and fragrance throughout the seasons - a space you would like to sit in yourself, perhaps have coffee with the neighbor, or the kids hang out with a pal.

Then have the walk work its way over toward the entrance area - not the door, but the welcoming area before the door, slow them down to enjoy the sequence, while providing a most pleasant view of this area from within.

Make the plantings permanent, with no soil or mulch to show, after two years, as the groundcover plants mature and cover the beds. Keep all the annual plants in containers, to be stored away if empty, so the views of your spaces are not distracted by an open area in the bed where the annuals have departed, or an empty pot.

Consider excluding your auto from your outdoor room, your welcoming area. You don't have room for a real screen, so just a suggestion, as a small hedge or plant bed to stop the eye before it gets to the drive. Perhaps the view beyond the drive is attractive, so all you need to filter from the view is the driveway pavement itself, as the car belongs in the garage, yes?

Sometimes a little perimeter fence with a gate says welcome to my special space. In your case perhaps a darker color, not the typical white, which would be a high contrast to the house and not appropriate here, grabbing all the attention.

What I have offered may be of no use to you, however, the intent of my words is to provoke you to analyze first, then plan. Consider alternatives from all viewpoints before deciding how to proceed, as these spaces and plants will be a part of your life for many years.

Good luck to you. Continue the process at the tortoise pace, not the hare.

Well-said telperien.