From a distance, it doesn't look so bad. But you see it up close. Are you unhappy with the small detail, or scale and proportion, or bare ground near the pot? Do you have "no-no's" such as certain colors you'd never use? I'm not a pro, but playing with ideas is fun, don't take it too seriously. A water feature is certainly an option. Another would be a small tree with interesting shape - I don't know if corylus avellana "contorta" can be grown where you are. Googling "architectural plants" might turn up more ideas. Raising the pot up from the ground and planting something that cascades over the edge would be interesting as well. For edging, plants whose foliage covers the ground (you seem to have plenty of those in the outer circle, it's OK to repeat). Just kidding - a marble Venus half dressed in ivy?

Maybe you could define - for yourself if for no one else - what "special" means to you. There are so many ways that shrubs can be special, especially from a close-up perspective. Let me give you an example. I know that I am a foliage gardener first, and I am also a plant minutiae gardener who likes to see things changing every day, and always having something to anticipate. For example, my favourite plants next to my front steps are Anemonopsis macrophylla, a perennial that takes months to form these little ball-shaped buds and then another eon to open them. Maybe I'm an easy mark, but I watch and enjoy that plant all spring and summer, same with a fern on the other side that unfurls huge fronds one at a time all summer. So for me, no matter how wonderful a flowering display might be (say, lilacs), the undistinguished foliage and (lack of) form of the plant makes it dull for me, especially because if something like that is next to the deck, by the time you can sit out there, there is nothing more to look forward to with it. It's done for the year. Your preferences may be totally different. You may be focussed on fragrance, or bloom colour (I go plant shopping with a friend who is into pastels. We never fight over a plant. If it's pink and fragrant she buys it, if it's orange and has great leaves, I do). Let me start by asking if your rhododendron diagnosis means no rhodos in that spot again? I fortunately haven't had to learn that. But if not by the deck, then perhaps in the other spot? There is a plethora of Rhodos with fabulous foliage and good form, but you have to hunt them down (such as the legendary Sir Charles Lemon that never blooms but with leaves like that, doesn't have to). I personally avoid the ones that turn into green blobs, have undistinguished foliage, and bloom in trusses (I'll flex on the last point to get the first two right). Now, here's the trick. If you know what you want, you may be able to get it from quite a common shrub. My little laugh at myself is that I have spent probably thousands on special shrubs (not kidding, I'm afraid), but of those that have survived, few have given me the enjoyment that a garden-variety blue hydrangea has - one left behind in a pot by the previous owner; I don't even know what it is. Similarly, because mock orange takes a long time to get its act together each year, I actually really enjoy it (and that might be good for the spot beside the deck but some do get huge... and maybe they can in that spot). I'm not going to check zones for you, but here are a couple of shrubs I have enjoyed that might work by your deck: Disanthus, Loropetalum fire dance, Fothergilla, and unlikely but true, Rose of Sharon/Hibiscus - in my case, Red Heart. Love the branch structure and grey trunk of my hibiscus. On that note, you might also consider one of the smaller special bark trees, like an Acer griseum or Japanese maple with the stripe bark attribute. Yes, the maples are OK in part sun/shade. And you probably can't grow Edgeworthia, but if you can.. Beside the deck too you might consider specialty conifers. Once you get into them, there are some to die for. Tougher to find one that would work in more shade. Of the shrubs mentioned so far, I have to say I was all excited about getting an Itea, but in real life: deadly boring. In particular, in my climate it needs good sun to get its famed fall colour. Kalmia too, I just couldn't get too excited about it. Final word, I promise: by the wall, anything deciduous will lean for the light. I would recommend evergreen for sure there - rhodo if you can. Alternative: put a big focal point container there with something in it that you like. Karin L

Maybe Cercis occidentalis. If you are down near where Torrey pines are native try visiting the San Diego Botanic Garden for inspiration and ideas.

I always wondered why anyone - even those with Wolf ranges & fancy cooktops - made their range the focal point of the kitchen... Easily explained. It' a primal thing...fire and all that. Home & hearth. A cooking range replaces the campfire, the open fireplace. And it's hard to imagine a cooker like an Aga, some of the French ranges, a Chambers or even an Okeefe & Merrit NOT being a focal point. It's not like they can hide away (unlike an induction cooktop). Conversely, I can't imagine a refrigerator--not even a Big Chill nor a glass front SZ--ever being a focal point--without it being disguised as something else, like say an elaborate armoire. Even though a refrigerator contains Life's Blood (food!), it's just cold and doesn't have the ambience of fire. All that aside, perching a huge plastered hood over an induction cooktop does seem a bit incongruous...kind like wearing a Ten Gallon hat with ballet slippers... I vote for something sleeker and making the island the focus.