jesscal's Profile

Do not do grass seed or even sod that main area unless you want to spend every weekend pushing a mower around. Especially in an urban garden the way to go is to do pea gravel with larger pavers interspersed. Check out "Eden Makers" blog and her lawnless front yard. Attractive and low maintenance. The other thing that is great about pea gravel yards is that if you decide you want a vegetable garden all you have to do is plop a raised bed or two on top and you are all set. Or a few large potted planters with lavender or catmint for color.
Keep the existing beds on the right and left. Looks like you have some pretty good shade on the right, so plant a selection of different Hostas and you will be all set. On the right I am not sure how much sun that area gets but 4 or 5 hydrangeas will do well in part sun or part shade. The Endless Summer variety are easy but the traditional Annabelle are spectacular though take a little more time to come to maturity. Hydrangeas will look great against the hedge on the left and are super low maintenance too.
I second that the bamboo screens have to go.
Good luck! It is a great space and the landlord should be thrilled with you!

Molly NYC -- While I appreciate the sentiment (really, I do) I think it is a total misconception that these small midwest towns are xenophobic. I grew up on the East coast, have lived in Philly, Boston, San Francisco, San Diego and London and I am now settled in Ames, Iowa. It is a small town that often gets on these "Best" lists. Really, it is a fairly diverse place because people come from all over the world to study or teach at the university here. In just one of our elementary schools there are 58 countries of origin represented in the student body. And it is fairly progressive. I mean, it's Iowa afterall. We pretty much elected Obama and we were one of the first to have same sex marriage. Yes, when I was single I loved living in big cities and going out every night and not saving a cent, but now that I have a kid it just makes life so much easier to be in a small community where everything just comes really easily, you can bike to work (when there isn't a blizzard of course) and people are super nice. I think that is what these lists are getting at.