Beginner Gardening: New House, Clean Slate!, 1 by Diana_K

Diana_K wrote:
In this area (including Fresno) that narrow strip by the garage is going to be the most difficult to deal with.
Most of the year it will be in shade, not enough sun for good growth of plants that thrive in the sun.
But for a few months the sun is closer to being straight overhead, and sets farther north. This brings the sun glaring down into this bed from about May to August, and the heat is especially bad through the summer. May is usually mild enough, though there are a few hot days, but plants can really get cooked in June, July and August, and many years into September the temperatures are high, though the sun is a bit lower. Still, the wall collects the heat and it can be a problem.

Suggest plant that can:
a) thrive in the shade most of the year.
b) tolerate the blasting heat of the summer sun.

Answer: Give up!
Plant a tree closer to the walkway that will shade the house, shade that planter area and make the whole project a lot easier to work with. You can also use this as a way to reduce some of the lawn area. Cut out a circle (well, whatever shape you want) around the tree and plant some flowers or something around it. The first few years the tree will be small, so full sun flowers will be good. As the tree casts more shade the house will be a bit cooler in the summer, and the lawn will not thrive in the shade of the tree, so that planting area around the tree can get larger... and larger...
Make sure to deep irrigate the tree so the roots grow down, and stay out of the upper area of the soil where the smaller plants will be growing.

What to do with the current tree:

Question: What is the species?
I think I would thin it out a bit so it is not top heavy, not have so much bulk that might present so much resistance to the wind. Not head it back (that is, shorten the branches) too much, but rather selectively remove some so there is more space between them.

How to stake: