Beginner Gardening: Help with front yard landscaping, 1 by pammee62

pammee62 wrote:
We've just purchased a new home, and there is an area in front of the living room windows that I'd like to remove, and start from scratch. I'd like plants or flowers there that don't need a lot of attention.
The house and the yard wasn't taken care of by the previous owners, and we haven't even moved in yet, but that is one of the first things I'd like to work on, while it's summer. As you can see in the picture, they've built kind of a little raise area there, I'd like to get rid of that, and have it more level to the rest of the yard.