Spring Garden Plans

I am excitedly planing the back courtyard garden of our house in Santa Barbara.  A roommate with a penchant for leaving dead plants all over the yard recently moved out.  While she lived in the house I was very un-motivated to keep the yard "up" as it looked horrible back there with all her junk anyways.  Now that she is gone I am interested in it again.

 Our garden is unique in that we have a.) a large perma-shade area below mature orange trees overgrown with vines and 2.) a large patio with little opportunity for plants to be in full day sun and most importantly 3.) 60 years of citrus trees growing as tall as they want coupled with hugely invasive overgrown vines makes the area a constant battle ground.  It's an uphill battle all the time to keep things in check.  But I think I am finally ready to invest myself into it as it's my second year in the house and I think I'd like to stay for a while.

For the shaded area I am thinking fuchsias, calla lilies and ferns.  Growing up we had a double fuchsia like one pictured above and my favorite pass time was popping the buds.  

I would also like to focus on evergreen plants that will provide scent.  My parents have a lovely jasmine plant growing up a trellis against a wall (like one above) that I might want to try on the patio.

For what little part of the yard that does get ample sun I would like to do native plants and plants that will attract birds and butterflies.  I love white sage, honeysuckle and butterfly bush.

Latana also grows like a weed in zone 24 and attracts many bees and butterflies.  I think I'd like to do these in pots on the patio as they are so pretty but grow so low to the ground.

While I'd love to start thinking about patio furniture - ultimately the next step is a lot of vine cutting and earth-hoeing.  Wish me luck!