http://www.floridayards.org
Check out this site and find something similar for your location. The "right plant/right place" concept will minimize your maintenance requirements. Using natives helps keep the need for fertilizers and pesticides down. And plant the more water hungry plants closer to your hose with the more drought tolerant farther from the water sources. I am against auto sprinklers only because most people don't monitor them and they wind up wasting a lot of water. Consider habitat gardens too. Butterfly gardens are the most popular. http://www.nsis.org/butterfly/butterfly.html
Familiarize yourself with the IMP (Integrated Pest Management) and BMP (Best Management Practices)in your area.
I recommend the Master Gardening program to all homeowners. There is one in every state, look up yours and consider taking the course.
http://www.ahs.org/master_gardeners/
Remember that exotic invasive plants are a huge and expensive problem in all of N. America. And to this day places like Lowe's and Home Depot continue to sell these plants. They are destroying the native habitats and directly responsible for nearly half of all the species on the endangered list! http://www.invasive.org
Most of all, take your time, nature does. Enjoy it!
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