If your wife likes to garden, I would suggest not putting rock everywhere - IMO, makes it harder to plant things, move things, etc. Just put it where you never want to move it or dig into it much. I love to garden, but our interior lot CYV is enough for me to handle.
I don't do much in the front, except to weed occasionally, although I do plan to replace the liriope (I've also heard it called monkey grass) with something prettier. The rest of the front is green and only needs trimmed a couple of times a year. We kind of have 2 rows of hedge-type plants (ligustrum and a rounded shrub that is slow-growing - maybe boxwood)? Keep meaning to look that one up. Also have a crape myrtle there and a small grass patch - but that could be rock and be just fine.
In the back, we have dug all the way around so I could add more plants, including herbs and veggies. I have these beds filled with bark nuggets. But - you don't have to do that. Your wife could start small and see how it goes.
I love it, because I can see all my efforts from the lanai and the side patio. Once we moved down after renting it out for 4 years, I was wishing we had a larger corner lot, but after a few months of digging and weeding, even though I LIKE to do this, I've decided that the smaller lot is just perfect - satisfies my gardening yens, but keeps me under control. But what I truly, truly love is that it is all right there and visible - I catch every little bloom
I'm also still in the moving things around stage, figuring out how I can improve or add things without getting a jungle look.