For the time being, plant tough stuff that would ordinarily be considered garden thugs, such as wandering jew & yarrow.

Then plant a crepe myrtle or shade tree southwest of the bed; it'll eventually ease the effects of that summer sun, & then you can put in more 'gardeny' plantings.

A rain gutter would solve your 'drench' problem, & you don't have to break the bank putting gutters around the whole house.

Just start with a partial one that carries away the run-off that splatters this one particular bed.

Best luck, & have fun!

I have a spot just like that, I planted cuttings of Plumbago Imperial blue, that I got from my mothers yard.. Plant them in Oct, so they will be moist while the roots establish. Once established then it will take care of itself. I never even water mine. It is in full sun. I keep mine trimmed to about 2 ft high. You will love this, its so easy to take care of. Barbra

The north side of my house and of my fence is such a challenge too for the same reason. You need something that can take full shade and full Texas summer sun. I agree that something that can grow tall enough to get sun all year long might be a good idea and I do have wandering Jew there too. Also have a shrub whose name I don't know that loves it and a pamapass grass. But your spot's too tiny for those. Except maybe the wandering jew. They do take over, but they are really easy to pull up.

I have the exact shaped flowerbed, except mine in in white rock, it is on the Northwest side of the house. Nothing else would grow there. The plumbago blooms almost non stop.. It stays contained, but I would never be able to dig it out, it has taken over. I was told by several older folks, never to plant wantering jew in my yard, so I haven't. Barbra

I second Barbra's suggestion of Plumbago. I've grown it in San Antonio for many years. It will thrive and bloom in sun or shade and do so under all sorts of difficult conditions with very little care.

Here's a photo taken just now of blue plumbago growing and blooming along with asparagus fern along the side of my house in a planter less then 18 inches wide. This area is in shade part of the day and certain seasons of the year and sometimes it's in blazing sun. It gets watered LESS than once a week in high summer. Some of the roots have probably gone out the bottom of the plastic lined wood planter.

Mexican petunia! needs basically no watering, blooms all year long, reseeds itself. Here is a pic of mine :)

Good idea! The dwarf Mexican petunia would also be good. It comes in pink, white, and purple. A mixture of the three would be beautiful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dwarf ruellia ...

It will take over your yard, I have been trying to kill it for years, with roundup, just can't get rid of it. It would be great if you could contain it to one location. It reseeds everywhere, even in your grass. Linda (Ltcollins), actually told me she can hear the seeds pop open in my yard. On the positive side, its a fast grower, doesn't require water, doesn't get any pest. and you do not need to fertilizer. The dwarf variety is not as invasive, but not as hardy. Barbra

The only one that re-seeds in my yard is the Chi-Chi, and it is a pain to keep up with. The blue/purple that I have spreads by runners and is a real pain also, but I have some in a bed enclosed by concrete and it has not broken through or under that as yet. I just came back from Hawaii and the Ritz-Carlton on Maui uses it as a ground cover by containing it. Imagine how startled I was to see it growing in a tropical area like that, but obviously they know how to contain it. I, personally, wish I had never gotten either of these started in my garden.

I wish mine would take over already, lol :)) I have it contained in the flowerbeds so really no issues about growing everywhere for now. Looks better than bare ground where I can't plan anything else because it's clay and real hot. :(

dzejna, you might also like umbrella grass, it is tropical looking and is just like the Mexican petunia. You will never get rid of it. I really like the looks of it. I think it is beautiful, I like to show children how it roots, in water upside down. Neat! This would be another good choice for this flowerbed, except after a few years, it would break thru the brick, when it gets rootbound. It needs room to spread, like bamboo. Another choice for invasive plants would be the king of invasive plants, the purple passion vine. Even Roselee took one home, when I was pulling it up, to throw away. She said one mans junk is another mans treasure. She never mentioned it again. Barbra