Question
I am looking to design the area in to the right of our door under the living room area with a low-maintenance design.  When we first bought the home we bought some beautiful flowers that died within a month.  The HOA has plants in the area that seems to be all year round plants but are not too appealing.  We would like to plant a low maintenance design that is eye-catching.  

The other issue is that we have tree in the front year that is surrounded by a circular path.  We would love to plant something in addition to the tree (that only blooms in the fall) to spruce up the area.

Last question is the we are planning to turn some of our back yard into a play area for the kids (including swingset and sandbox).  We still want to reserve an area for ourselves especially when we BBQ.  Once we fence the yard the HOA will not longer do landscaping maintenance to our property.  Is there something that you can suggest that will still be appealing with not a lot of work since my husband and I both work and go to school and have two very active boys (meaning we do not have a lot of time for yard work).  

Sorry for the long questions.  

Answer
I don't mind long questions, if you don't mind looking a little deeper than a few plant suggestions, and a 10-second response.  You've discoverd the REAL secret of a "low maintenance" landscape; have somebody ELSE do it!

Creating a "low maintenance" landscape takes thinking and preparation.  So maybe thinking about what a "high" maintenance landscape is and avoid it, would be a good starting place...lots of fussy items like roses, annuals, things that need trimming, pruning, or mowing - avoid these.

Right now, I have a client whose home is designed around a "low maintenance" theme, which means lots of hardscape pavers/patio work and exposed rocks, dry streambeds, bare dirt, and large boulders.  Within that, we plant a few selected larger trees/shrubs that pretty much take care of themselves with little to no trimming...Sometimes called a "naturalized" landscape.  

They also have the luxury of many acres to work out their plan & fit it in to our high-desert region - plus the financial resources to have somebody ELSE maintain it for them (it's a third home for these absentee owners).  

If you live in a community with a HOA, then most of your neighbors would not really want to see a collection of rocks and boulders through their front windows while the rest of the neighborhood is "country club" manicured.

Here are a few articles on this subject of "low maintenance" from around the US:

University of Vermont:
http://www.uvm.edu/extension/publications/oh/oh48.htm

And from the University of Missouri:
http://muextension.missouri.edu/explore/agguides/hort/g06902.htm

And finally from Mississippi (with some suggested low-maint. plant varieties):
http://msucares.com/lawn/landscape/types/maintenance.html

Question 2: fall blooms under your frontyard tree: Here is a list of fall flower selections that may work in your area - check for your zone, or with your local nursery to see which will grow in your area:

http://gardening.about.com/od/gardendesign/a/FallBloomers.htm

Finally, a Play/Low maintenance backyard:

See above links for suggestions, but the best for my western region is a "hardscape" approach - you don't have to water, mow, or prune a patio and any plants used can be confined to a relatively small area along the edges. Cost is a lot more - from $6-10/sq. ft., versus $3-5/sq. ft. for plants & dirt, but the long-term savings in not reflected in the initial installation cost differences.

Another method, usually done in the Midwest, is to just butter everything in turf - it only works if you get over 20"-25" of rain/year.  Here in the West, water is too precious to use such a method...plus, in warmer areas (Florida/Texas/California), the lawn doesn't go dormant, so you have to keep mowing it year-round!  Sad, but folks move here from other areas that do this and expect it to work in our high desert...Worse, we have communities here, developed by larger national builders that MANDATE it!  Ugg! Very frustrating.

Sorry for my little rant.  I hope these links give you some good ideas on how to lower your landscape maintenance time.

Happy planning! -Marc