The naked truth

Closeups tend to be the norm on this site, so I thought I'd branch out a bit and explore the garden from afar. As we've already discussed, it's pretty sparse, but this will give some perspective. This is looking east, toward the back of the house at the corner bed. It's my attempt to create a tropical garden space, including yucca and palm. The spouse likes these plants so we try to make him feel included.

Still on the upper deck my lovely husband built, you also look down at the bed in front of the fountain. Here you can see the weeping willow, skimmia, pachysandra and some of the yucca offshoots I divided last year. Not sure if they're going to make it. I think the dogs have been sitting on them, too.

Still looking east, but along the fence line running the length of the south side of the yard. The grass looks deceptively lush but is still quite soggy. Note the dead mass of Hebe in the foreground. I'm pretty sure that's a goner, despite suggestions to give it a year. Who has that kind of patience?

Step back a bit more, looking south, and you really see how this garden strip lacks filling. The arborvitae drop quite a few needles and the dogs charge over to the fence to "greet" the neighbor's dogs. All this makes it challenging for planting. Right now the space includes dead or dying Hebe, white flowering currant, redtwig dogwoods, spirea, azalea, climbing camellia and Mexican orange.

On the deck and looking northwest at the woodland garden. It's really bare now but I've started placing some ferns and salal. I'm leaving them in their pots until I decide whether I like them there. However, it's already clear they're lost against the mulch so this area will definitely need plants to brighten it up.

Finally, on the deck looking west at the catwalk border and the upper deck. If you recall, this is where the great bulb bonanza took place. They're filling in a bit but the bed needs a lot more work. The fountain also is screaming for more plants, maybe some canna or crocosmia for pops of color.
Well, there's the naked truth on our little backyard. Pretty bare right now but it will fill in. I also like to think I have plenty of space to buy more plants. So do you have a few areas that need filling? Care to share some of your naked truths?