You need shade or partshade plantings. What do you like - more greens and small amount of blooming plants or more blooms and less greens? formal or informal?

Sorry no photos that I can offer but I'm sure i can point you to sites in westcoast settings to provide you with ideas.

Ianna

Thanks Ianna
I get hot afternoon sun only on this spot. Do I need shade or partshade because of the number of hours? Definately informal and yes, greens with a small number of blooms. Thanks.

Hello Blanche,

I'll try to gather a few sites for you to check out and submit it later.

Before you do any serious planting, ensure the bed is well tilled with organics. The deeper you have tilled the area, the more planting you can cram in the spot.

And before we get into the specific plants what you should consider are the shape of the foundation plants. for a narrow planting bed, you have no choice but to look for vertical plants. This can include trellised vines like climbing hydrangeas, clematis or honeysuckles (aggressive). So for the focal plants you could choose ever green trees (japanese false cypress, cedars, - something that wouldn't grow too large. shrubs that have a spreading crown like azaleas or rhododenrons, dogwoods, japanese maples, rounded boxwood or yews,

and add foliage interest using ferns, hostas, grass like Hakonekloa (spelling?) iris. (If the area is of a dry sort, hostas may not like the spot.) You could consider using hydrangeas, bleeding hearts, daylilies, astilbes -- the list goes on.

The point is, play around with the shapes first. Tall columnar narrow, rounds, brush forms. -- these should be your trees and shrubs. The added bonus is that these trees and shrubs will provide further shade in case there is strong sunlight. Once you have established these skeletons of the bed, you can begin to fill in the blanks with perennials, ornaments or the like. Since the strip is narrow, you'd like plants that can fan out or spill over like sedums or to spill over, like creeping thyme or dead man's nettles.