I'm not the biggest fan of house design that features the garage, but that was what was I n our budget, so that's what I have to work with. Worse yet, our front door is RightNext to the garage, and recessed, so basically we visually live in a garage, with incidentally some house attached. First world problems. *shrug*
Between the door and the garage is a skinny strip of wall with a teeny-tiny flower bed surrounded by concrete driveway and sidewalk. That flower bed is 24" wide and 15" deep. Our soil is neutral pH heavy clay, but that bed is probably alkaline with all that concrete around (I haven't tested it to confirm). Also, that wall faces west. In full sun. In the subtropics.
Right now, there's a male dwarf yaupon there. It has thrived in spite of at least 4 years of total neglect, grows slowly, and responds well to trimming (most recently, performed by my 5-year-old with a pair of scissors. She did a great job, considering).
I'd like to have something a bit more showy there, to better visually divide the front door from the garage. The neighbor across the road had a tall, skinny rose (maybe a Queen Elizabeth) that looked nice in spite of little or no care. But, you know, east-facing wall vs. west-facing.
What might be a good choice there?
A tough rose, like Queen Elizabeth or Iceberg? Perhaps non-climbing Iceberg trained up as a short climber? It would have to be something that's not going to reach out and claw guests on the sidewalk.
I have an "Amethyst Falls" wisteria frutescens in a big pot that needs to go somewhere someday. It doesn't have thorns, and I hear that it would thrive in the heat & light of a west-facing wall, but doesn't like alkaline soil. And it's deciduous and looks very blah all winter.
Something fragrant might be nice, like a star jasmine. Those are cheap, easily available, fast-growing, thornless, and usually evergreen here. However, it would probably take some work keeping such a fast-growing vine well-contained so it doesn't make the sidewalk or door hard to use. And I'm not sure what it will think of the alkaline soil.
For any vine or climber, I would need the expense of a trellis, because growing a vine directly up a wall here is asking for trouble by providing cover for termites. Which isn't an insurmountable barrier, but it's a consideration.
We'll probably be moving in about 5 years, so I want something that will look nice within a couple of years, not something that takes a decade + to come into its own.
Does anyone have any advice on the appropriateness of the plants I've already suggested, or another plant for me to consider?
Or should I just leave that yaupon where it is and be grateful that such an easy-care plant thrives in such a tough spot?
