How about Jasminum humile 'Revolution'? It has been one tough plant for me--taking some very hot, reflected heat locations and tolerating shade. The canes do get long, but they can be heavily pruned--even taking to hedging. Espaliered on the wall, it would cover a good-sized section. The foliage is a nice, bright green. The yellow flowers are nice without being gaudy, and attract hummingbirds.

I hate those kinds of spots. Why can't the trees let sun through in the winter and shade it in the summer? Hmph.

I have a Euphorbia that is growing in the situation you describe, and I like it. Sorry- no name. Here's a photo.

Euphorbia would look great in that spot, and I've heard that some are gopher resistant, sounds like a winner!

I'll have to check out the Jasminum 'humile', it says 'semi-evergreen' which usually means that it will defoliate in a cold winter around here.

Oddly enough it's raining today, so I was able to get a picture that shows how the eve causes a rain shadow on the bed. I was thinking that the line between dry and wet is as close to the house as I should plant. The far end of the bed is completely dry, there used to be an agapanthus there and I don't know if anything else will be able to tolerate those conditions.

The pic also shows the unattractive access hatch to the subfloor, something I'd like to screen from view.

Off topic, anyone else watch the lighting last night? It was pretty exciting.

So I'm thinking of planting a pomegranate in the sunniest spot and then abutilon for the rest of the background shrubs, with some euphorbia and carex in front. Possibly a potted dwarf meyer lemon in the triangle where the two paths merge.

Sound good?

Maybe a dwarf pomegranate. They get so big and ungainly.
I didn't know abutilon would take summer sun. It's a shade plant here.

Have you considered "Icee Blue" podocarpus? My mom has a stucco wall like that, and she used to grow nandinas there, but she switched to the podocarpus for height and she really likes them. She planted variegated abelia 'Kaleidoscope' and Little John callistemon under them. It's very pretty- the lime green with the blue greens and red flowers. Another possibility is Tolleson's Weeping Blue Juniper. It gets tall, can be controlled with judicious pruning, and it is very pretty.

I forgot to mention that the northern half of the bed is sunnier than the southern half, which is the side farther away in the photo. The trees to the south give dappled shade that migrates from a little more than halfway up the bed in winter to down near the end in summer. Abutilon was the only thing advised by the folks at the nursery down the street, but I didn't get to talk to any of the more experienced employees. If I get a pomegranate I'll go for Parfianka, it's listed as growing 8-10' tall and wide in the bare-root catalog from the nursery where I get my trees, and then I will espalier it to keep it in shape.

I was hoping to find some sort of broad-leafed evergreen with dark, glossy foliage and an open, loose branching habit. Something structural, that could be shaped into a sort of living art piece that doesn't entirely hide the wall but makes it a background. But in all of the lists of plants that thrive against a western stucco wall I haven't seen anything fitting that description.

I think podocarpus might get too tall, I want to preserve the view of my garden from the bedroom window. I love the look of weeping blue juniper and had considered it for this spot, but I would rather have a shrub that could be trained into the form I have in mind without the need of any support structure.

Thanks for the help!

This post was edited by peachymomo on Thu, Jun 13, 13 at 10:50

After some more googling I found a few possible candidates and I'm wondering if anyone has had experiences with these plants that would lead them to say 'yay or 'nay' to their suitability for this spot.

Clerodendrum nutans, Abelia x grandiflora, Carpenteria californica.

Any winners?

Carpenteria is a great plant. In very hot areas it will prefer light shade during the hottest time of the day. The abelia is very adaptable. In the coldest parts of its range, it is semi-evergreen. Parfianka pomegranates are deciduous.