Landscaping in New York is not one yard with a state border drawn around it. City outdoor space is a rear court, a roof, a tree pit, or a small lawn in an outer borough. Upstate outdoor space is a real yard, trees, a driveway, and soil that heaves. Buffalo snow sits on shrubs for months and then melts toward the foundation. Upstate weather is not the city, and the planting plan should admit it.
Water is the first design question. Grade that runs at the house will find the basement, in a city court with one drain or on an upstate lawn with a low corner. A roof garden that ponds is a structure problem wearing a planter. A bed piled against siding holds moisture on the wall. Say where water goes in a hard rain and where it goes when snow melts. That sentence is worth more than a list of shrubs.
Maintenance is seasonal and local. Upstate has a short, intense growing season and a long period when the work is snow, salt, and broken limbs. The city has heat reflected off masonry, shade from the next building, and dogs, foot traffic, and tiny beds that dry out. A weekly mow means one thing on a Buffalo lawn and almost nothing on a Manhattan court. Say which surface you actually have.
Say mow, cleanup, new beds, trees, or drainage. Say whether the ground is flat, a court, or a roof. If a tree is over the roof or the service drop, say that before you talk about flowers. If you want irrigation, say whether winter freeze is part of your year, because a system that cannot be put away will be a burst line. Plant choices can wait until the site is clear.
Do not import a suburban lawn script into a city court, and do not treat a lake-snow yard like a stoop planter. Landscaping in New York is the soil, the water, and the length of winter where you live. Describe that yard. Call the number on this page.