I do not want to add significant additional maintenance costs that goes along with having shrubs and bushes that need to be trimmed twice a year, does anyone have any experience good or bad with using artificial plants bushes flowers etc.

We actually have garden apartments and our issue is tenants leaving kid's toys and bikes in our newly landscaped flower beds, crushing the plants. 

@Michael HambyAny advice for house hacking near Flower Mound or nearby?

Full update, neutral colors replaced flower child colors What was the outcome?

buy and hold (15-20yrs)and just starting outfresh newbiemy aunt has rented a couple of her homes beforeand she also has owned/operated a flower shoppe for many years and then sub-leased it to some other folks before she sold it outright.

The story I am getting is that the man who hit the other tenant was mad about flowers getting planted in a common area.

And almost $300 at lowes on blinds, light fixtures, bulbs, cleaning supplies, mulch & some plants/flowers for landscaping and a few other odds and ends. 

Do they still have the Flower Festival?   

It has flowers planted in the lawn while the other side had brownish grass and lots of weeds.

My live-in maintenance guy (finally found a good one) has been excellent & took it upon himself to plant all sorts of flowers, get free mulch etc that he grabbed from a nursery they were tearing down.