The corner anchors the front of the house and is seen up close by all who walk by.
Two hesperaloe plants are too coarse and lanky. The foliage of Texas red yuccas is brown and scraggly, the fronds catch dead leaves, and the tall stalks are floppy.
The stalky blooms lean out over the walkways awkwardly.
The hummingbirds do love the flowers. There are several others in the front yard, so taking these two out won't matter. The others are set back, scattered in a few spots around the yard and not so visible close up as a specimen.
I tried interplanting other things in this little garden -- an upright orange globemallow, a little yellow threadleaf fleabane, two compact pineleaf penstemons, and three marrubium groundcovers to spread out, which they haven't.
But what to put in to replace the scraggly hesparaloes? There is irrigation in that spot, quite a few emitters as the space had a lot in it when they installed the irrigation.
And could I dig out the two hesparaloes myself?
They are not tap rooted, they have fibrous shallow roots. But disposing of the bulk would be a problem. Maybe.
There is a large lavender that can hold its own with the hesperaloes, and it is nice, although it has gotten woody and open in the center. I'd leave that. →
And I planted two pineleaf penstemons that I'd like to keep, maybe add a third.
They are overtaken by the arching narrow leaves of the yucca to their left.
I'd like something with a more solid form and bigger leaves to contrast with the thin leaved lavender and penstemons, something not so strappy and arching. But what?
This is my view from inside the house, sitting in my favorite chair:
But other than the truncated view from the front room, I rarely see this triangle. I'm not out in the front yard much and I don't walk by my house on the sidewalk. I don't like working out there so close to the road and parked cars and people going by. So I'd want something very low care.
Something round and shrubby? Something tall and narrow to screen our front sliders from passersby?
I need ideas.