Help picking plants for a planter

I have a fairly large planter in the front of my house, It's like an unside down "L" with the short leg in front of my windows, and the long leg running down the entry sidewalk. It's on the SE side of the house and gets quite a bit of sun, until late in the day when the house shades it. It also has two large pillars in the long leg. I want a lush easy to maintain landscape there, with no cacti. So far we have thought of: Gardenia, star jasmine, daylillies and pigmy date palms. But I'm not sure they go together and how to place them. The planter is brick lined and is 54" deep and 11' for the short leg and 13' for the long leg and the pillars are 18.5" square. Also I like Bright pink, Deep purple, yellow and white flowers. Help!!!!!

There are so many things you could plant and without knowing you personally it is hard to recommend but I thought maybe I would give you some basic tips on how to decide.

Since you live in So Cal, you probably should start by thinking about water. Waterwise plants do not have to be thorny or drab. I would avoid plants labeled tropical as they generally take tons of water. Many of the gray or silver foliage plants have low water requirements. The Mulch does tell you the water requirements for many all the plants in the Plant Encyclopedia. Check them out before you buy them. Always shop in a good local nursery that has employees that really know the plants.

Your location is sunny so you need plants that do well in full sun. Do not mix with shade loving plants. Do not mix water-loving with dry-loving plants. Find out about the soil requirements. Some plants like acid soil and some like akaline soil, don't mix the two. Most good nurseries group their plants together by required sunlight and if they don't, look up, if they are providing shade, they probably need shade, if they are displaying them in full sun you are in the right location. Once you find the full sun location you can begin to pull plants our of the display and group them together to find combinations pleasing to your eye. Check the tag, generally it will tell you if the plant is drought tolerant, how much sun, if it flowers the color and the expected size of the plant. (and the price.......... that's always a factor for me) If the tag does not do this for you, ask someone. Don't be afraid to ask questions, if they can't anwser find someone who can. A good nursery always has someone who can help you find out if the plant will suit your needs. The size will help you decide how many plants you need. Resist buying too many to get the finished look instantly, you will be sorry in the end.
Maintenance, it is always good to ask if the plant requires a lot of maintenance. You can then decide how much time you want to spend in the front yard.

Here's few tips you can take or leave. Generally, mixing up the height, size, form and texture can add interest to the garden. However, if you are looking for a formal look in the front of your house, you may want a hedge that you can prune and shape and all kept at the same size. Since it is your front garden you might want to use an evergreen shrub so that the maintenance is minimal and the look is the same all year. And then, you may want do something completely different and plant vegetables in the front garden. The most important thing is that all the plants in the bed are compatible and properly sized. The rest is really personal taste.

If you really do not know what you want, drive around your favorite neighborhoods in your area and see what others are doing. You will be surprised at what you find when you really look.

Good Luck!
Liliana

Thank you for your good advise. My oldest daughter decided to pick the plant and we now have most of them. Not the formal garden I wanted, but it looks nice. We bought a pink hybiscus for the front corner, and then daylillies under the windows, next to it, with a fountain at the other end of that row. In front of those plants are a form of salva, that is a perenial with purple flower spikes and has wide leaves and grows into a mound.

On the long leg, we put a pigmy date palm at the end and then between the two pillars, We have yellow gerber daisy's and behind them in the middle are a couple of silver leaf society garlic and climbing each pilar is a star jasmine, then on the more shady side, we put small fuschia's and lavendar and bright pink impatients.

We still have the corner in front of the fountain to fill, and then we will put bark chips over the weed cloth and perhaps add some lights, if I can find some really good solar lighting. When it's all done, I'll post the before and after pictures.