Leslie, You didn't say how much you would like to raise it, but from what you say, it sounds like more than a couple of inches. Your only option at this time is to dig everything out, place the soil in the bed, and replant. When you do this, make the level a bit higher than what you really want as the soil will settle. To keep the level up, make sure you mulch/add compost a couple of times a year. I just redid a shade gardena and will be working on a full sun perennial bed this summer. In the full sun area, I will have to bring the soil level up by at least 6 inches in some areas, so I will be going at least 8 inches with compost mulch on top. This bed was established in 2001/2002 and I never realized how quickly soil seems to disappear!!

Since you are going to do some soil amending I think your choices can expand. Remembering that this is right at your patio, I would imagine you want things that are going to look good ALL the time, and that would indicate to me using annuals for seasonal color with some "backbone shrubs". How about sweet almond bush Aloysia virgata (can get big, but can be kept smallish) with wonderfully fragrant blooms. Bird of Paradise (forget the botanical name) Most perennials especially native can look kinda of ratty at some time or another, so pick carefully there. I love Forest Fire annual salvia - and it will keep with your tropical theme and reseed nicely. A note - if you use butterfly weed you will have butterflies, sure, and you will probably be fighting orange aphids ALL summer long. To me, butterfly weed should be an "enjoy from a distance" type plant. How about crinums?

Look at the layout and see the coverage and the size of the of rotors. What do you prefer to live with. Bigger rotors reach distance with less count or smaller rotor reach with bigger count. Also look at brands and lines of brands. One might be home quality or one might be commercial quality. Ask the companies about the what quality they are providing. Yes a third quotes is optimal. Get a detailed description of the what they will do and provide as equipment. Post it here for comments. aloha

Eileen, three years ago (up north) my favorites were--large tree, red maple; small tree, Japanese maple or panicle hydrangea; shrub, Diablo ninebark, black lace elder or bridal wreath spirea; ground cover? wild ginger; perennials, too numerous to mention--Asiatic lilies, Husker red penstemon, trandescantia, Shasta daisies bee balm, rose campion (a biennial), hostas, rudbeckia, and so on and on. Hostas!!! Now, large tree, oak; small tree, Japanese maples (not that I've had one--they're SO expensive), crepe myrtles; shrubs, crepe myrtles, snowball hydrangeas, mock orange; perennials, I make no distinction between perennials and self-seeding annuals now; not interested in ground covers now. I had many favorites up north that would not do down here at all. But have discovered many new favorites--unfortunately have not yet zeroed in the sure things for my yard--so much depends on microclimates, soil, shade/sun. Dawn and many others have had several years, as have others, to discover that. I haven't yet, and so will keep experimenting. I know what isn't working in my yard after 3 summers of gardening: crazy though it seems, I have about had it with morning glories--bugs (aphids) eat the heck out of the leaves; zinnias, rudbeckia, and bee balm get bad cases of powdery mildew; phlox, that was a non-starter--began with a couple lovely pots; mildew attacked instantly. I'm a bit paranoid about crepe myrtles now, with the crepe myrtle disease circling the state (a virus, right, guys? ditto with rose bushes.) By far and away my favorites now are my four o'clocks, datura and brugmansia (thank you, Dawn), and nicotiana--more for their fragrances than their actual flowers, though all have great flowers. Brugs most likely are not hardy in your area, though on the FB OK gardening network, many folks in 7 have said theirs come back well each year (with proper placing in microclimates and mulching.) I'm hoping for that, but even if it doesn't come back, I'll have cuttings to begin new ones next spring. They can grow from 20 inches to 6 feet in one summer. I still love tradescantia, and it does well here in partial shade or mostly sun. The ones I've mentioned are not picky about the soil, or sun/shade, and most, drought. I babied the brug and kept grass clippings piled around it in the well amended soil and provided plenty of water. One I love but haven't planted yet--but will as soon as I get my sunny rock garden going is autumn sedum. Can hardly wait, I'm going to plant it everywhere there. Another one I can't kill here is yucca. They get enormous (they'd take the place of "shrub") and produce a single amazing stalk of beautiful white flowers. Hyacinth beans did an awesome job for me this year, and I'll be growing mostly them instead of morning glories now. There are just so VERY many to choose from down here, Eileen, that you would do well to focus on what is lovely to you, and then to decide if it might do well in your yard, based on your soil, your zone (cold AND heat); the amount of sun vs shade you have, if there are lots of deer or rabbits in your neighborhood--then go for it. You will have some failures, and you'll have some successes. One of my big surprise successes was endless summer hydrangeas. I'd never grown them well up north, but would get some blooms each early summer. I lucked out and put a row of them in the PERFECT place here, apparently. Although they did turn pink instead of the exquisite blue (alkaline rather than acid), they are monstrously big, and for the first time ever, have actually bloomed all summer since May. I am astonished. It has been a big big big learning curve for me, and doubtless it will continue to be until I die or cannot garden anymore. But so fun and worthwhile. Hey Dawn, I don't know if you remember, but where I lived in Wyoming, I mentioned that we could have made pottery! Actually, had I stayed in that location forever, I'm sure I would have tried it. A funny aside. I have adored climbing hydrangeas. . . has been a longtime dream to have one. So got one my first summer here, put it strategically against a large oak nearby that I wrongly assumed got a lot of dappled shade--nope--gets full hot sun from about 3-6 pm. Poor thing's oak-climbing tendrils shriveled up and died. Second summer, I planted a nandina in front--fast-growing, thought it might shade the hydrangea--but it didn't grow tall enough fast enough and tendrils again died. Imagine my laughter this year, discovering that I had many new growing vines/tendrils growing on the NORTH side of the tree. Deader than a doornail on the west, but new ones growing happily on the north side of the tree! We may have lift-off with blooms yet if I live long enough! LOL It's all a crapshoot--but the more we study and learn, the more the odds will be with us--right?