any ideas?

well, this year money is super limited so i tried to stretch what i had as much as i could. i put my date palm right in the middle of this flower bed to add a little height. its not doing too good. at all. im just at a loss. i am not happy with this garden at all.

what all is in it:
the containers :
bouganvilla (which looks great this year)
i thought were petunias, but im not sure they are small

in the bed:
angelwing begonias
clematis
calla lillies
wave petunias
periwinkles
some kind of fern my grandma gave me (which is taking over)
date palm
azalea (which i just put in this spring)


i have lots of cannas, some elephant ears, and a whole bunch of not lillies, the ones that bloom all summer. man i can't think of the name of them.

any suggestions on whether i should add some of those in here for height or change things around. uhhh.......i hate having all these grand ideas early spring and then i am never happy with the outcome.

thanks for the time reading this and any suggestions would be absolutely wonderful. :)

they are lillies

Hi, jessnjus - I think it looks lovely. How many hours of sun does it get each day and what time of day does the sun hit? Also, what's growing on the trellis?

The clematis vine is growing on the trellis. Im not sure how exactly how much sun it gets but its probably from about noon until the sun goes down. so quite a bit.

Looks like you have enough in that bed.

to add height in a sneaky kind of way that's not permanent, how about a hanging basket or two? it would draw the eye up and fill in the negative space between the bed and the eaves.

that is a really good idea. thank you!

I agree that the palm just isn't adding any drama, but I love the ferns. Let us know for sure about when the sun hits that area and for how long, and you'll get tons of suggestions.

the sun hits at noon till about 8:30. full sun all day. it is on the southside of the house.

That's a lot of sun for what is more or less a container garden. How often is it watered and how well was soil amended when put in. The fern is happy, they in my experience like dryer soil. These other plants can stand it a little dry but must be well established before depravation. If the plants have been in the ground a while a little general purpose flower/plant food couldn't hurt. Keep it away form those ferns or they may bite! :-) I agree with the hanging basket for heighth and you cango the other direction with a few trailing over the ledge. Something with smaller lighter colored flowers to stand out against that gorgeous rock. Just a few 3 maybe 4 would give balance and the appearance of heighth. Feed the bed first and then work on water needs. I have a large container bed that I must water every other day it does not rain. Gets a lot of sun also in east TN.

That angel wing begonia is going to fry in the sun.

i water it almost everyday. i gave them plant food yesterday. so i guess im somewhat on the right track. lol

i was kinda thinking the same thing about something cascading thats what i thought the wave petunias would do but i think i need alot more of them to get the look i want. im just so limited with money right now.

last year i did the light green sweet potatoe vine and that thing TOOK OVER!!!! i just bought two little bitty plants and i gave some of the cuttings to my neighbors and they took ovet their gardens too. crazy! maybe i should try again but leave them in containers to tame them.

the angel wing begonias are suppose to be in shade? maybe that is why they didn't do good last year. i didn't know. my grandma gave them to me and she didn't even know what they were called.

thank you so much for all of the advice. i will post pics when i do some things. :)

How about putting something trailing in your hanging baskets, perhaps you could get a cutting of something from a neighbour, and hence give the rest of it some dappled shade?