Tigerdawn
Would your friend consider some type of espalier, or trellised vine to add interest to that long stretch of brick wall, combined with perhaps your vinca idea to 'cover it's feet?
Also, from my angle anyway, if it were my home, (which it's not), I might think about relocating the Crepe Myrtle, which seems a little out of balance.
Your friend is very fortunate to have selected such a comfy looking home. I really like the curved border.

Barbara

The lowest maintenance would be to put matching mulch in there and let it look like a design. She could put pots on top of the mulch if she wanted to add color by season.

Is she willing to do some watering? You might be able to put some sun tolerant hostas there. If her east facing is like mine, I actually get more sun than I thought I would. I agree with Barbara though, some kind of vertical interest would be good. If she wants to mess with vines, she could probably do morning glories, clematis or passion vines.

Check out the neighbors...someone probably has a similar set up nearby.

Lisa

Tiger Dawn,

You've already received excellent advice on going vertical in that narrow bed where the overgrown boxwoods are currently growing. Either espaliered vines or espaliered trees would add a vertical element and help break up that very long expanse of brick wall. The bed is so narrow that virtually anything shrubby will spread out too wide and encroach on the sidewalk.

If your friend doesn't want to spend the time maintaining espaliered plants, then I'd plant a climbing, creeping vine and let it cover the wall. I use Virgina creeper for that at our house but it does lose its leaves in winter. Boston Ivy likely would work in that location as would several other members of the ivy family, and Persian ivy would look especially lovely.

If your friend really want shrubs, then it would be best to go with something that is incredibly narrow and strongly vertical in growth like Helmond Pillar barberry or Sky Pencil holly (pictured in the link below).

On the attached link, you can see a shrub with highly vertical and narrow growth. Something like this could work for a few years in this location, but I even think they will outgrow that very narrow bed along the wall over a period of years. There are some very narrow condifer-type trees and y'all might go to the Sooner Tree Farm website linked below and look for photos of some of them there. They are among the more narrow trees/shrubs available and might outgrow the space too.

Other than vines or espaliered trees that would hug the wall and not try to take over the sidewalk, only the most narrow and columnar shrubs or trees can be used to add height to this bed.

Of course, she could go with all kinds of dwarf shrubs or groundcovers but they won't do anything to break up that long expanse of brick and I bet she'll get tired of looking at it after a while.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Holly 'Sky Pencil'

I like Lisa's idea. I would put mulch or pebbles, and use containers on top. A couple of pretty containers with a nice tall trellis in them would be nice for a vining plant in the summer and still be architectural when it doesn't have a plant. There's just not much room there to plant anything that will spread, and the sidewalk already appears narrow.

I forgot I posted this! Oops!

You all have had some great advice. I'll pass it along and see what she thinks. I'm not sure how much maintenance she's willing to do. But she may suprise me- it is HER home instead of a rental so she may want to put more effort in. I was also thinking some decorative wrought iron things might fill the brick space too.

I've been thinking about this too...no additional advice ;) but a friend of mine just bought a new house and she has a long 100% shade passage along side her garage. She is having problems with water getting in her garage during this rainy weather (probably not a problem 99% of the time). The grading is obviously not up to par. I think she probably will ultimately need a french drain, but I have suggested that she do some landscaping. I think we could re-direct some of it with landscaping. However she is not good at taking care of the outside plants and she will never even look at this side of the house except when she puts the trash out.