Thank you. It's a wonder that it looks as good as it does due to the fact that it has pretty much been neglected for two years due to health problems. I have to admit I hired a high school boy to help me weed and put down mulch. I lost a lot of my WS plants and didn't WS this winter. But as you can see I have plenty of room left for next year!

Echo about building soil with compost & mulch. For everything besides annuals don't bother with fertilizing so much as adding soil conditioners as mulch, as planting pockets, or layered on top of cardboard for new beds. I've never purchased soil for new beds, but made plenty of compost in place or in the vegetable garden beds early spring or late fall. Gather up free materials, use lawnmower to make smaller pieces, or blender for kitchen scraps to speed things up. -used coffee grounds from St*rbucks (ask your family to pick up when they're driving by) -manures - composted 1st unless rabbit or llama/alpaca -dried grass clippings -fall leaves (collect while fresh so you're not gathering up slug eggs...) -household papers (used napkins, tissues, junk mail, etc.) -homemade compost as much as you can make in a few different places in the garden...under shrubs, behind tall plants, in holes or pits dug directly in garden, in vegetable garden in fall to use as mulch for perennials in spring--once enough materials build your 3' squareish pile & turn with garden fork every 2-3 days. Keep moist & covered for best results. We dug & removed grass for an expansion one time years ago & decided gardening that way hurt too much. Now we just do the layer method & everything grows well. All that organic matter holds moisture to help plants settle in & I don't have to do much weeding to keep up! Another tip: use free hay sweepings from a feed store for a bottom layer in new beds or as bottom layer of mulch. In my area it is a blend of alfalfa, grass hay, & straw as they collect it over several days of business, so sometimes wet or dry, but it doesn't really matter for gardens. ** As long as you top the mix with something else you won't have sprouting weeds. I wear a dust mask, coveralls, & gloves. I bring my own garden fork & pull it out of a dumpster they use to put into garbage cans lined with bags, then tie them shut to put into my Suburban. If you only have a car, just reduce the size of your containers or use bags to make them fit inside the back.

Nice garden, too bad the privacy fence did not keep out the ivy. Next picture, show us what is off to the left, where the pathway leads. Every path needs to have a destination, not always visible, so it leads us onward. Like your arbor too. Hang a cheap string hammock over there to the right where the three trees create a triangle, might never use it, but it puts a people spot into the picture. Are you using big limbs to border your beds? It seems so anyway, and a great idea in a woodland setting.

I would be shocked if hosta liked LA period. First thing - For the love of all that is holy and good in horticulture - Remove the landscape fabric before for you do anything else. It is bad for your soil thus bad for the plants you are wanting to grow. Landscape fabric does not, never has and never will prevent weeds. It only causes harm to your plants. Remove it. You do not have room for three or four rows of annuals or perennials. You have room for one row. Something showy that comes to mind is lantana. Comes in lots of colors, likes hot and dry and sun. Fill the whole planter box with something short and long blooming like lantana. Then add a specimen vertical element with spiky/grass form of leaves. I don't think you need another pygmy date palm for balance from what I can see now. I'd have to see the whole front of the house to decide if another palm is called for.