Help on the Way?

A friend has a neighbor with a lovely, interesting, leafy yard.  Turns out he's a landscaper.  We met at a party and he came yesterday to give us some thoughts about our sloped, weedy, bald-as-an-egg back yard.  He can help me with cutting beds along the back fence to reduce the mowing and raise the leafy, twiggy, sheltered, birdy factor.  Fingers crossed I can afford the help.  I am emboldened by my modest success on the side, but 100 feet of fenceline x 8 or 10 feet depth represents a lot of cardboard.

This shows my bit of garden in May-- Monarda thriving as ever, Jupiter's Beard and catmint well-behaved and reliable.  The pink Knock Out rose is huge.  I cut it back but it may just be too big for that space.  The Heritage is rather daunted there... never really amounted to much, though the blossoms are so wonderful.

Yes, that's a dogwood more or less inadvertently underplanted with Shasta Daisies (Becky).  I know, I know.

I need to think what annuals I want to tuck in... I put in some tall snaps already.  I'm thinking Profusion Zinnias at the edge and blue salvia scattered through the middle, maybe some pinks and whites too.