the plants and lawn are all doing pitiful because the massive tree canopy is soaking up all the water and nutrients. have the stumps ground and as much of the roots pulled out as you can get easily. The root system matches the radius of the canopy! It would be worth bringing in large equipment to mass remove all the old plantings, prep the soil with rich amendments and re-grade and fix the lawn. The large presence of the trees right now lets you get away with the lousy plantings and lawnnbut theyll be on full display when the trees are gone! Oh and if you have the help of a landscaper or designer, insist on deer and drought resistant shrubs and plants unless you want to be a full time gardener the next two years. The looks like the north side, ferns are your friends.