The more colorful phormiums tend to lose their color after a while and revert to plain green. Some do this faster than others. The straight species are a lot tougher and more vigorous, and live longer than the hybrids. The color is most beautiful if given part shade to avoid bleaching of the foliage. They can get by once established on little water, but they do need some. They always get bigger than you think they will get. Make sure they have enough space! They can get HUGE, I mean HUGE, 10x10' if they revert or if they are the species. Here the only pest to watch for is mealy bugs. They collect at the base of the plant and will kill it. You have to get in there and look and apply a systemic insecticide to get rid of them. Maintenance means cutting off the finished flower stalks and pulling off the foliage when it is dead and can easily be pulled away from the plant.

I'm all about plants that do something and don't need a lot of water. How about a rosemary? They're drought tolerant, flower, smell and taste great. Or a lavender plant. Or try some natives. My aloe vera likes a bit of shade here in The Valley, you might try some in that spot, it will spread and you can use it on your sunburn after the beach! I grow other succulents in part shade like jade plants (winter flowering). Boxwoods are slooooooooow in general. I have a mature hedge and decided I'd like it to be a little taller. I stopped trimming it a YEAR ago. It's gotten a little fluffier, with a few inches of growth on the sides. The top has sparse growth, the tallest sprig is only about 8 inches tall!

Yes, I agree, maybe a small spot of Bleeding Hearts (pink) with a splash of purple from violets would look very calming. Bleeding hearts grow so fast you can practically see them growing and they produce lovely leaves that waft in the breeze much like a fern. "dicentra formosa luxuriant" is nice as it has a bluish tinge to the green leaves that contrast nicely with the pink hearts. I do find that the common Bleeding Heart (dicentra spectrabilis) is more hardy though. All depends on the look you are going for. Even in it's first year a common Bleeding heart will grow to 2-3 feet tall and larger after the first season. Here in southern Ontario I've seen them as large as 5'x5' but I'm sure those are very old. Luxuriant is more dainty and seems to grow slower and stay lower to the ground about 1'x1' which might be more suitable for a gravesite. The pink and blue-green of the dicentra with the rich purple of the low clumping violets is very pretty. (of note though...the dicentras will go dormant and disappear if the weather is too hot and dry but will come back again the next year, as will the violets) Barb

What floral said. Can you provide pictures of the areas in question? How do you define 'part sun'? Having 'showy seasonal color' involves having a bit of a plan, especially as you basically want it to be low (or is that no) maintenance during the growing season. Yes, you can start with bulbs - daffodils are amongst the first to pop up, early spring. Often, bulbs do okay in less than fully direct sun because the deciduous trees which would otherwise provide more shade haven't fully leafed out yet. So if this is your situation, tulips could follow after the daffodils - and there are early-mid-late varieties to extend that bulb show. Add to that allium, which also pops up later and may help prevent the tree rats from decimating your bulbs - or maybe not. Here's where some more planning comes in - what do you do with the yellowing leaves of the bulbs? Not sure if you know this, but the leaves are an important part of the process if you are hoping to have the bulbs return the next year...Anyway, once you think about that process, after the bulb show you could keep things simple and just throw down a bunch of cheap annuals - coleus is great! - which can provide leafy colors pretty much for the rest of the season with very low maintenance. However, I see from your previous comment you may not be able to plant in May? Well, if you truly want a low(er) maintenance garden - have you considered a pollinator friendly wildlife garden?