Don't know anything about growing euphorbia, the penta will take a bit of water, especially the first year.

There's an invasive sword fern that is attractive and easy to grow (thus the invasive part). It should be available free from any of your neighbors who have it. If it gets out of hand, it's real easy to pull up. It grows in the shade but can take a good bit of sun too.

Lantana is hard to kill. You can get the bush type or spreading. I have the spreading in my parkway. I watered it a few times when it was first planted and then a couple of times as it started to come back from the freeze this year. It doesn't usually die back in the winter and is blooming its heart out right now. It should do okay with the 4 hours of sun.

With the lantana, be sure to get the single-color plants from a garden center, not a free multi-colored one from a neighbor. Those make unattractive plants that are invasive and hard to get rid of.

I also quite neglectful of my garden...certain things have doen very well with no care at all on my part. Ruellia (purple and pink) they spread, very invasive unless you get the sterile kind from HD....those if you want to spread you can just take cuttings and stick in the ground...its what I did. Also any type of cactus does great and need little water. I have prickless pear that is very cool looking. Firespike and brugs also seem to do well in my yard with no additional care. Oh and salvia...they require serious hacking to keep them looking good...but they spread, change colors. Oh also 4, o'clocks do well, and grow very easily from seeds. And they have such a heavenly sent. I think planted next to the deck would be nice. I cut mine down to keep low to the ground and they look much better that way to me...otherwise they can get leggy. Agave is another one but it is prickly. And Bromeliads seem to do great by themselves, the only thing that has survived my strawberry pot is the broms.

What a nice area to create a "beauty spot". Have you thought about a theme? Or perhaps starting with a striking central plant or object like a piece of garden art (statue? purple garden bench? throne?). And plant around it.

I'm a little confused about whether the tall brown fence is staying. If it is you could put a framed mirror on it(frame should be outdoor material). Mirrors look great in shadowed areas and make a really atmospheric area. I would also put something viney on the fence like ivy or another shadelover.

Good luck

Denise

I like your idea with pentas- the pink or red tall ones last longer and need less. I have some in their third year. You can also propagate them with a little effort. Trinigemini mentioned salvias- they always look pretty with pentas, and are both Florida friendly. If you can, try to amend the soil before planting anything. If it were me, I would start out with laying down cardboard (right over the grass- don't dig or disturb the soil), covering with leaves, coffee grounds, grass clippings, compost, anything organic. Next mulch, then make a hole through it and plant whatever you'd like. The care will be easier and the plants will thrive for you with less water.

I also like Denise's idea about the statue or garden art. Did you see the beautiful lady statue Flowerlady has in a cozy spot in her yard? Talk about focal point!

Anna

Thanks everyone for the great responses so far. I was so nervous about posting but am really glad I did.

cjc45, I'm pretty good about watering plants while they are new so the watering of the penta wouldn't be a problem. I'll have to add the sword fern and the lantana to my list of possible plants, either in this spot or elsewhere. I looked up pics of both and they are lovely.

trinigemini, thanks for all the suggestions. I've searched for the 4 O'Clocks before as I had read good things about them. But knowing they grow well from seeds, I may give that a try. I just recently got my first bromeliad as I've read so many recommendations of them on this forum. It is currently in a pot and is half of my potted plant collection. LOL I did say I was new.

Denise, I hadn't thought about doing a theme or having a focus object/plant. That's a really good idea and has definitely got me thinking. The brown fence is going to be replaced with a new vinyl fence eventually. So no vines or mirror for now (fence is very old and no longer completely straight or vertical).

annafl, I remember my dad having salvias when I was a kid and them doing well. Thanks to you and Trinigemini I think I will include them. I love your cardboard idea and have seen the pics/posts of it done on this forum and intend to use that very system elsewhere. Sadly, I have to dig this area as the ground is very uneven and also generally slopes toward the doors of the shed. So I need to re-slope part of it away from there so the rains don't flood the shed and flatten out the rest. I actually have already started digging (very slowly as I'm a chubby old woman) and will amend the soil where I plan to plant.

I did see Flowerlady's statue. It is beautiful and I have a little statue envy going on. I'll have to keep my eyes open for something to put in this area but it will not be as beautiful as that statue.

I would suggest a type of jasmine, particularly Confederate Jasmine, or even a blueberry bush would do fine for the 4 hr zone. You could grow Jasmine in the 2 hr zone as well, but also Virginia Creeper, which is native to numerous parts of Florida, etc.. Google it for more help. lol

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I tend to a cottage garden style (you can read that as 'messy & weedy'!) so I would use anything that attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. Porterweed, Mexican sage and a variety of salvias. They can do well with more sun but will grow and bloom in this spot too. They'll be large enough to produce some shade of their own so you could plant impatiens across the curvy front edge. Put in a post and add a colorful birdhouse or sculpture for interest. (The post gives you a place to grow a vine too!) Invert a large clay flower pot and put a birdbath on top of that close to the front edge for more detail and a nice spot for the birds and butterflies. A low rock or two in the birdbath will give the butterflies a place to rest and drink.

A new garden spot is always so exciting and full of possibilities. And if something doesn't work, you can always fill in with plants you get at the next swap!

Have fun!
Kate

If you get up this way, you can come by and dig up 4 o'clocks in my yard. I have way more than enough to fill that space.

jelly,

Not sure how much it slopes...but I am totally against digging...in my yard an inch down you get coral rock...if possible you could always use Fawnridge's method and just add soil on top of what you have to plant. from how he describes it you just take your plant out put in on the ground and cover with your soil and mulch. May be alot of soil you need, but it might save your back.

watermelon7, do you think the confederate jasmine would grow in this area? I want to plant them eventually on the right side at the railing. And then let them cover that railing. But that exact spot is shade. If the vines grow out a bit or up to the top of the rail they would get sun. I want to keep a small, clear path next to the fence so I don't want to plant them further out.

solstice98, I did not realize I could put impatience in the shade of porterweed. I definitely intend to use that plant in a sunny spot. I love cottage gardens. Do they take a ton of work to maintain?

cjc45, thank you for the generous offer. I'm going to try some seeds first, but if I can't get that to work I may take you up on that.

trinigemini, I'm with you on the saving the back. Sadly, you can't see it in the pic but there is a rut (from dogs) and slopes. It's a tripping hazard really. On the good side, it is mostly sand so digging isn't bad at all. I'm doing a little every other morning so it is coming along already. Plus I'm so motivated by all the ideas y'all have given me, it doesn't seem bad at all.

Hi,Jelly! Welcome to the forum! And how lucky are you to have a blank canvas in front of you that you can do ANYTHING to you want! Of course, that is a bit overwhelming sometimes when you are just starting out, but you are getting lots of good suggestions to choose from.

I love Kate's idea of the birdhouse on a tall pole. That's a cheap way to get a nice, vertical accent, and you can paint the birdhouse in whatever colors you like. (Michael's have cute wooden ones for around $5, and if you finish them with a spray of polyurethane, they will hold up for a fairly long time outside.)

If the birdhouse idea doesn't stir your grits, how about a free-standing trellis in front of the fence you are replacing, with a jasmine or other vine on it? If it is separate from the fence, it shouldn't get in your way when you go to take the old one down. Some vines that wouldn't get as large as jasmine would include black-eyed Susan vine (thunbergia alata, I THINK), morning glories or moonflowers (cheap seeds), or cardinal flower. A nice, fan-shaped trellis with vines from seed would be a fairly inexpensive and easy focal point for that wall.

Pentas, salvias, and lantanas are all good, tough choices. You don't have to worry so much about whether the flowers on the lantana are one-color versus multicolor as you do in making sure the multi ones don't produce fruit (thus being invasive). There are MANY new lantanas out now that don't spread at all, in loads of colors. I have a red & orange one that is brilliant (called "Red Spread") and it does NOT seed. Just ask before you buy. They are about the toughest things you can plant, I think. And when they look ratty, you can cut them way back and they will reward you with tons of new flowers. Plus butterflies love them.

As mentioned above, if you go with ruellia, be sure to get them from Home Depot and make sure they are labeled STERILE. Otherwise, you will regret it and your neighbors may hate you. But the sterile ones will grow in shade or sun and bloom profusely. And they are so easy to root, you can make more quickly.

As for digging, you live closer to my zone than trinigemini's, and up here, I do not hit any coral rock when I dig. Just oak roots! Haha. Sometimes I dig and rake and level an area, and sometimes I throw down the newspaper and mulch and go with that. Depends on what I'm doing and how I want it to look. I plant a lot of things that reseed for me, and in those beds, I mulch only sparingly and do not want newspaper, cardboard or anything else between the seeds and the dirt. So it's all about what you need to do in your given space, I think.

Good luck!! I hope you find that gardening becomes an enjoyable passtime and not just a chore. Once you get the main work of establishing your beds out of the way, it gets easier. Mostly. *grin* (And that's me speaking as a fellow Chubby Old Woman. Really chubby. Really old.)

Marcia

I can vouch for the invasive sword ferns! While they are very attractive, they are taking over my front yard.

Of course, go figure, I deliberately planted them in the easement under an oak. It is apparently the only place they do NOT seem to thrive.

Good luck with your blank canvas...it will be a lot of fun and enjoyment once you get started! :)

White salvia in your "sun" area would look nice with the euphorbia, I have found my white salvia to be very drought tolerant, although it did get frozen back this winter, (it bounced back rather quickly)

Marcia, thanks for the welcome. I do really have a very blank canvas. I've been reading tons of old posts on this forum for ideas and plant information. But still it is hard to decide what to do or where to begin. My neighbor also has a completely blank canvas (deep shade) and intends to work on her yard. Both of our yards will essentially be landscaped by the people on this forum.

Ooh, I've always wanted moonflowers. Deciding on the focal point is going to be difficult as y'all have given me so many good ideas.

Thanks for the good plant information. I'm so excited about picking out the plants I can't wait to be at the point where I can plant them. I've been digging/leveling so I think I may get the pavers down towards the end of next week. So maybe only a couple of weeks before I can go to the nursery.

saintpfla, thanks for the sword fern warning. I'll probably avoid them as there is already enough work to do.

leahrenee1, I didn't know there was white salvia. I'll keep an eye open for it.

If you plan to water at all, have you considered begonias? I don't know much except in my yard: the only maintenance is cutting off the odd old leaf. Are happy in the ground or in pot, in shade/semi shade. In cool weather have terrific flowers. My tall "angel wing" bigonias, a blessing from the last Tampa swap (thank you!), has been blooming with bunches of red for months. Those with "vein" design on their odd shaped leaves are pretty, sculptural, and also nearly indomitable.

Your space between the fence and deck seems very protective - a good thing! I can imagine ginger, Florida ground orchid, nun orchid there. I think they only need part time sun or semi-sun, but this may be quite wrong or vary with the type. Mine grow fine, but if I had them in more sun the blooms might increase... but more sun means more water use. I actually have all these in black growers pots so I can move them about with the seasons/sun/shade - grow in more sun, move to more viewable area when blooming.