Welcom, Soxi! Thanks for posting the photos; they really help. I would agree with those that suggested that you plant on both sides of your entry sidewalk. Your walkway will go through the garden instead of being the edge of the garden. Over the years, I've yet to make a garden too wide, but I've often had to widen them. I've also had to whack things away from the house so it could be painted, so I'd suggest leaving a minimum of 2-3 feet between where the plant's width will be at 10 years (the usual info given for mature size, though most will get larger) and the house. I also don't like the look of plants lined up - I prefer having layers of plants, and I include bulbs, shrubs, vines and perennials to provide a longer season of interest, so bed depth is needed for that. I try to include at least some hardscape (like a trellis, birdbath, etc) or evergreens in most of my gardens so that there is some visual interest between when the first frost kills most of the foliage and when everything is buried in snow (or in years like last year with little snow, for most of the winter.) As Mad Gallica mentioned, often this period is several months of the year, so anything I can do to make March and November and any other snowless months less dismal outside, is all to the good. This isn't a foundation bed, but this could be done on a smaller basis in a your beds. A good chunk of its interest is year-round, and the evergreens and trellises add interest as background and support for the flowers in the growing season as well as providing all the interest during the 6 or 7 months in the non-growing season. From December 2010 In laying out the shape of the beds, be sure that they are easy to mow - don't make those inner curves too tight. I use the black plastic edging buried up to the top bead just outside of the bricks which edge my beds; the grass hides it and it keeps the grass from growing between the bricks. The lawnmower wheels run on the bricks and the blade misses the plastic edging, so a separate pass to edge the bed isn't needed. While I don't find the plastic aesthetically pleasing, it does reduce maintenance without being too obvious. Here's a photo of a bed edged this way, and you really can't see the plastic. From June 5, 2012 As a relative beginner to gardening, it's easy to get caught up in just the flowers, but also try to think about foliage. Varied leaf shape, color, and texture will add to the appeal of your garden even when there isn't a lot in bloom. Check to see if any of your plants have nice autumn colors. Try to plant so that you have at least some plants in bloom all through the season as well. The annuals will help with that, but also try to spread out your shrub and perennial bloom.

Given the shallow depth-to-rock you are facing, I would strongly consider raised beds. Do you compost? If not, start a compost heap and start scavenging composting material from neighbors etc--that'd be the cheapest way to go, though it will take some time. Use compost to fill the beds. You probably don't need them that deep--depending on what you are growing. Maybe 6 to 10 inches? Also, have you heard of Lasagna Gardening? Check it out if not...it might be something you like. You might look around for fill dirt for sale in your area--sometimes people moving earth will sell the fill dirt cheaper by the truckload than by the bag at the graden store. Just be sure you don't get any more of that orange-red clay!! ;) Growing up, my folks used RR ties as fenceposts and for use in landscaping/raised beds. I probably wouldn't use them for a veggie garden, or any treated lumber, but for flowers you would be okay--amazondoc hit the nail on the head about the rail salvage places (don't know of any here though). They may be a cheaper & faster route than rock. IMO, I like rock better for looks & toxicity issues. And depending on where you are, you may have other resources to draw upon (downed timber, construction materials, etc). Patience will definitely be your biggest asset...The soil texture will change with your persistence and over time in planting. Too bad we can't change where top-of-rock is in parts of Middle TN without heavy equip or dynamite :)

You can add 10 photos per post, and then add additional photos in follow up comments. From my perspective more photos are great. Consider repetition. Look at how the repetition of white-flowered plants along the top of your formal rock wall gives a rhythm to that part of the bed. Right now your listed plants have one of this and two of that, and some of them aren't plants that will be happy with your growing conditions such as your hybrid tea roses. Having some plants with a year round presence that repeat throughout the garden will give it coherence, even in a garden that tends to have a lot of variety. So choose one or two plants that you will use in several spots around the bed such as the evergreen heather and Dianthus listed below. Alternatively, if you can make yourself limit the variety, plant large masses of a few kinds of plants, sort of like the mass of annuals in the lower right corner of your photo above but with perhaps a half dozen types for the entire bed. Picture a mass of bloom covering a 5' diameter mass of Dianthus or creeping Phlox. Stunning! Choose plants that suit the conditions. At one point in my life I lived in a house with a similar chunk of ledge with shallow, acid soil. I found that planting a combination of evergreen, blooming heaths (Erica) and heathers (Calluna) along with a variety of low-growing plants that are tolerant of low water and sun worked well. Some of them were thyme, perennial candytuft (Iberis), Sedum, Hens-and-chicks (Sempervirens), low growing pinks (Dianthus such as D. gratianopolitanus), and basket of gold (Aubrietta). There are some low bulbs that will do well here also, particularly some of the species tulips, crocus, and small daffodils for really early flowers. Even though the plants I used were tolerant of low water, I did need to water this area far more often than the rest of the garden because it had so little soil and it was fast-draining. Post in the Perennials Forum and the New England forum for ideas on other specific plants that work well in this type of setting. Create a bed elsewhere (perhaps along the top wall of your parking area) where you can create a bed of deep, fertile soil for plants like your roses, lilies, hydrangeas, etc. that won't do well in this bed. Celebrate the rock. Folks often pay a lot of money to create natural looking rock gardens where rock doesn't occur naturally and you have it for free! In my garden I used some very short rock walls but not many to level soil in a few spots and a few large rocks or lines of single rocks placed in conjunction with plants to do the same. Rocks will look most natural when placed partly buried. Where there was bare ledge, I didn't try to cover it up or dress it up with pots like your 1/2 barrels, I just left it bare and over time it did start growing some moss and lichens, and some of the Sempervirens and thyme crept up over the edges. I liked featuring the ledge because it's such a classic part of the New England landscape. In the planted areas, I mulched the soil between plants until it filled in to keep the soil in place, discourage weeds and help keep soil moisture more even. Keep winter interest in mind. Choose a few shrubby evergreens like the heather or evergreen perennials like the Dianthus and Iberis so that you have year round foliage to complement the rocks so your garden has winter interest. It's easy to get caught up in the flowers, but in New England we have many months of winter, and having an attractive garden view helps alleviate winter blues. On a practical note, don't rip out the grass next to your ledge garden until you have a plan and a general plant list of rock garden plants, and also have found spots for those plants you've already bought but not planted so that you don't get overwhelmed by too much bare soil. This area has potential to be a stunning show piece, and it's obvious that you have already put in a lot of work. If funds are limited which is often the case with new homeowners, several of my favorite rock garden plants can be started relatively easily from seed such as the low Dianthus and Iberis or one large pot can be divided at planting time and then redivided a year later. Often heaths and heathers can be found at big box stores as seasonal color plants, and since you have such a perfect garden spot for them (unlike almost everywhere else in the US) take advantage of that and snap up a few.

Only 2-3 hours of direct sunlight will definitely limit what you can grow successfully. I would eliminate any of those that require more or even full sun - no roses, lavender, baptisia, etc. Hostas may not be the look you prefer but they are well suited to those growing conditions!! If you want to add perennials or other flowering plants, look for those that are much more shade tolerant - hellebores, ferns, brunnera, ligularia, heuchera, dicentra, etc. The container/raised bed is not deep enough (width from the wall) to do anything much in the way of layering. Not sure what the vine is you have growing there but it appears to be doing well, so I'd be inclined to leave it. Just keep it well trimmed to reveal the fountain. And if the smaller evergreen shrubs are doing well also, I'd leave them as well. Often just lush greenery - without flowers - will provide a very soothing and even year-round tidy appearance. Since like most folks, I would assume you spend most of your time in this outdoor space in summer, so containers of colorful but shade loving annuals will help to brighten things up - begonias, impatiens, coleus or plectranthus, caladiums, fuchsias. Pansies and violas can extend the season well into fall and primulas can start it out in early spring.