A raised bed makes the garden look like something that belongs there. At a basic level, a raised garden looks neat, especially if you are starting out. It gives your eyes a clear separation between weeds/lawn and veg bed. Placing cardboard around the outside of the box extending one foot outward and topped with generous amounts of wood chips works to keep weeds at bay... otherwise they'll be growing wild alongside and into the raised garden, greener and happier than most. I have used relatively thin wood of cedar, and they last 2-3 years easily. A raised bed of 8 inches needs some reinforcements to stay upright. If you "Google Image" "diy raised garden beds" you'll quickly get a good idea of how you can do this with either a drill/wood screws or nails and a hammer. You do not need to fill a new garden bed to the top with top soil and compost. You could fill it a quarter or halfway the first year, and just keep building it up over the years. If you do decide to buy compost, you may want to check out the compost first hand before you order it, see how broken down it is, and what their practices include (organic, etc). If you are thinking about starting a compost pile for the first time, you can just pile up leaves without having to think about it. Your grass seeds will definitely germinate in the future, and you can save yourself some hassle and not put grass clipping in your compost. A compost pile consisting partly of kitchen plant scraps is more likely to attract animals than a pile of leaves. You may want to ask your neighbor what kind of chemical products they've used in their garden before coveting their bags of yard waste for your compost pile. For a compost container I recommend the Geobin compost system... Some state governments (MD) give them out for free in certain states, otherwise they are cheap and flexible (resizable). I have a few of these and they work great.

You might want to try "tropicalesqe gardens" forum at http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/tropesque for growing tropical-looking plants in other zones. This forum is aimed at people growing in the tropics.

It would be lovely to see the bed in context, showing then entire length of the bed and its surroundings including the house, any trees, driveway and walkway locations, etc. If you stand opposite the front door about 15' out and then take a series of photos that overlap starting facing the left property line and then rotating and taking photos as you turn to end up facing the right property line. 2' wide (front to back depth) isn't deep enough to make an attractive arrangement IME. I originally had 4' beds, but they ended up looking far too narrow to look good with the house, and so now my narrowest beds are 6' and most are 8' or more. The depth gives room for shrubs to provide structure and winter interest at the back and then a combination of groundcovers, perennials, and bulbs toward the front. It is difficult to make a single straight line of plants look truly appealing IME. It may seem like that is overkill and will require many plants, but if you choose plants that are easily divided (like your hosta) or started from seed, the space will fill faster than you think. What is the shrub growing by the trellis?

Some ideas; .