Question: Garden Bed Refurb Ideas Wanted – What would you do?

As you can see from the pictures below, this garden bed is in pretty said shape. Over our 16 years here, it has been in fairly steady decline. I have tried to add a few shrubs to this area, but nothing seems to take. So, this is where you come in. What would you like to see in this area?

This bed is on the south side of the property, but as you can see, it is almost entirely shaded by my neighbors fence. There is also quite a bit of shade provided by the mature trees, although we recently removed a large, diseased, pine from a position just off camera behind and to the right, so this should offer a bit more sun for part of the bed. The height of the sun in Summer yields a bit more sun on a daily basis, although I don’t think it is ever in truly “full sun”.

Starting with the foreground there is a lonely, leftover morea plant (fortnight lily), and a few sword ferns. At the far end (more visible in reverse angle picture below) is a large gardenia bush that does very well and blooms frequently, a yellow hibiscus that suffers from whitefly and is constantly reaching over the fence to get to the sun and a camellia bush that seems to thrive, but never blooms.

Irrigation is through the soaker hose you can see among the leaves in both pictures.

From this angle you can better see the gardenia, hibiscus and camellia bush.

I am in Zone 10b here in the San Fernando Valley and this means it can get quite hot during the summer with probably 30 days over 100 degrees each year. I also prefer low maintenance, perennial plants that I can nurture over time, rather than annuals that need to be replanted each year.

So, what do you think?

I would love to hear your ideas! I think that all of us are smarter than one of us (namely, me!)

Add you ideas to the comments section and let’s discuss among ourselves.