This is a plant selection, not really design issue. It's also not a really complicated plant selection issue.

I would say you need to go shopping more than anything - check out your local nurseries - don't waste time at big box stores - and discuss your needs with the staff, read plant tags, etc. Pick up a local gardening magazine if there is one for more ideas.

KarinL

I think that bricked area is definitely meant for a small ornamental tree!

Seeing the other stuff you have growing, I assume citrus will grow? Everyone needs lemons or limes, and citrus are pretty, smallish, and low maintenance. I'm sorta citrus biased though, but any small tree should fit in well there.

Sorry, forgot to consider the question about the tree.

The bed may be meant for a tree, but that doesn't mean that whoever made the bed had a good idea. It is really a highly overrated idea to put plants, especially big ones, right against the house, especially in climates that have a lot of critter/insect issues. If you need trees for cooling, the foundation is rarely the best place for them. I don't think I've ever seen a tree planted near a house that looked like it should not have been planted somewhere else. And this is a nice house - no hiding necessary.

Just because you have a bed there doesn't require you to fill it up. You can remove it too. But since it's tough to remove, putting in smaller flowering plants is probably your best option.

KarinL

How about a soft ring of different kinds of lavender along the outer edge and then a small bush with yellow flowers in the middle or, depending on the climate, that wonderful bush with floppy purple flowers (when I lived in Bay Area people called it a butterfly bush, but that is something completely different on the east coast). Something that does not require watering!! Yucca or a tall cactus, the one that flowers and makes tasty fruits..... Or something strange might look nice like artichoke. they are very sculptural and live for 2 years.

I moved the post to the California forum. Thanks for you inputs nonetheless.