Please post a picture of the whole house. That bed is too small.

Ok sounds good. Sorry first time on here.

which direction does the house face? or, does it get full sun most of the day? partial, all shade?

Are those daylilies already planted? That might be an outstanding choice--just add a few more and perhaps something low to border the front edge of the bed. I've seen rosemary growing wonderfully in CA, so maybe that could be planted in that space to the right.

Yeah they are daylilies. They came with the house when I bought it 10 years ago. Good guess. I really was just looking to plant or the very front of the house where those lights are.

House faces east. Back faces west. So sun in the morning facing the front there

I have a Deutzia (Chardonnay pearls) on the east side of my house in North Carolina. Don't know whether it grows well in California. It does lose its leaves in winter here, but the branches are graceful on their own. This cultivar is less than 3' high with yellow-green leaves and white springtime flowers. Warning: many Deutzia varieties/cultivars get much larger, so if you choose this plant be careful.

Some aucubas also get very large. Pampas grass is invasive so please don't use it. Abelia is great, maybe evergreen depending on your zone and microclimate, and bees love it. Here too, size varies. "Rose Creek" and "Little Richard" are shorties. There are some variegated (even pink tinged leaves) abelias too if that appeals.

That is far too narrow a bed to plant much of anything except for something like the daylilies or annuals. It is certainly not going to accommodate any shrubs except for a few very dwarf ones. If you can get rid of the curbing and expand the bed depth you will open up you opportunities.

You will find some locally specific plant suggestions on the California Gardening forum

some ideas using dwarf gardenias, caladium, dwf lorapetalum, impatiens & dwarf oleander

Exactly how wide is the bed in question?? Based on the scale of the curbing and the lites, it doesn't look any wider than about 3' max. In which case, it is TOO NARROW to accommodate shrubs!! 'Little Ollie' gets 4-6' wide and as tall......the raphiolepis stays short but gets wide - 3-4'.

Gardengal.. you are in Washington because I have literally seen you post that and I have seen you post that you work on the islands up there..where there aren't gardeners.. this poster is in California not Washington..down here we actually maintain our landscapes and trim our shrubs.. Lilttle ollie can be kept at 3' and the bed looks 3' wide.

The original poster has alot of options and for a bed that size he can take a pic to a garden center and they can give him options of what they have instock.

For the original poster.. also suggestion is callistemon 'little john'

I would visit your local nursery, something other than a Home Depot type place, & get suggestions from them. Take a your photos & measurements to them, there are many things appropriate for that size of a planter, many shrubs have dwarf varieties also. I do prefer larger planting areas however.

WTF?? Red Berm, your comments make no sense and are more than a little condescending. Yes, I live in WA state. I happen to live on an island but it is heavily populated with gardeners and with "real" gardens....why wouldn't it be?? I also do design work in Seattle and other surrounding very metropolitan areas and gardens are just as carefully maintained here as they are anywhere else!! Gosh, you make it sound like we all live out in the wilderness or in the middle of a flipping forest!!

Besides, allowing for adequate plant growth and proper spacing is a basic landscape design tenet that applies ANYWHERE!! And many homeowners are not wild about planting shrubs that require frequent routine pruning to keep size in check.

btw, I have done my far share of landscape design in California as well - Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, San Clemente. I am not a rookie at this business!!

Also, if you read through countless other posts on this forum, enlarging the planting beds to properly accommodate plants and plant sizing is suggested frequently. Most foundation beds or those immediately adjacent to a structure are grossly undersized.....just as this one is.

Thank you all for your help and feedback. Correct it's not huge but I just wanted something to add. Any suggestions on anemones? I use to have those in the past and the colors were cool.

Anemones are lovely but will offer a pretty short bloom cycle and then rapidly go dormant for the summer. But you could fill in with other, longer blooming annuals if you wish.

Which are longer blooming annuals ? Also what about small palms ?

Pretty much any annual will have a longer bloom time. Their whole purpose in life is to produce flowers and then seeds to ensure future generations. Impatiens would work if the area receives more shade than sun. And petunias or zonal geraniums if a sunnier location.

Some smaller ornamental grasses could work also.....something like Carex morrowii 'Aureovariagata'. Or variegated liriope.

An attractive small sub shrub which you might like is Convolvulus cneorum. It has silvery foliage all year round and white funnel shaped flowers. Height about 1 -2 feet. Another possibility is Helianthemums, AKA Rock Roses. Or some of the smaller Cistuses aka Sun Roses. Rosemary, in a compact cultivar is also a fair suggestion. As is Lavender. Have a look at Google images. There are numerous possibilities for that space, even if you don't wish to enlarge it, which would be perennial, not need pruning and be attractive year round. Annuals = work inasmuch as they need regular replacement. Rather than look at 'flowers' e.g. the Anemones, look at the whole plant and consider how many months of the year it will be attractive. You can always cram in bulbs for an ephemeral show but they are not a complete answer to 'what to plant in this space'.

That looks cool. Thanks

You don't just have an eastern exposure. You have an eastern exposure with the addition of a tree. I suggest plants for full shade or filtered shade.

If the daylilies are over ten years old and they still have not spread then they are not getting enough light. I suggest planting them in the backyard.

I agree you do not have room for most shrubs and I can't see any good reason to place a Palm there either. You don't want to obscure the view from the porch.

What can you tell us about irrigation in the area and soil type? Will acid loving plants grow in your garden?

BTW, did you mean Japanese Anemone?