Would you be interested in a succulent? This one oscularia deltoides makes a pretty blue-green mound with pink stems. It is a compact, neat plant in full sun. The first picture is from some time ago when it was small, but it has grown to be about 2' wide by about 10" high. You might have wanted something larger....just a thought. Also called pink ice plant.

I like scutteleria and evolvulus.

It doesn't flower but if it is a mixed border Blue Fescue is perfect. Here is Thundercloud Sedum. Sorry, I did not check your zone so not sure they can work.

Hard to recommend without knowing what else is already in the bed. I've grown fond of the Dorycnium hirsutum (Hairy Canaryflower) I planted last year. Stuck in the nutrient deprived, sandy ground during the summer, and it didn't even blink. It grows to a nice, neat 1-2' mound, but it is way too dark to get a photo tonight.

Can you provide a photo of the bed?

I like all of the above suggestions. Thanks.

Pardon the weeds, but I just had my knee replaced two weeks ago. I am, however, planning on being able to dig again (and weed!) next fall. I would like to expand the flowers along the fence out into what is now ground cover. Red buckwheat, yarrow, Berkeley sedge, erigeron Wayne Roderick. A lot of my common buckwheat died this winter. Out of the shot; sage, lavender, blue fescue, Santa Barbara daisies

Poor lighting, this is actually all in bloom although a bit past its peak. Santolina, Santa Barbara daisies, common buckwheat, verbena bonariensis, gaura, lavender, Berkeley sedge, Bee's Bliss sage, erigeron Wayne Roderick..

Bonus, unrelated lotus shot

Agave attenuata would make a good foliage contrast with what you have there. You have a lot of small, fine foliage there. Something with a bold form would add a different aspect. Maybe Cordyline 'Festival Grass'--it doesn't get too tall.

5birdy, I like your little wire peacock!

I bought a sunset 2 years ago but it didn't make it. I planted it at the same time as 2 harmony manzanitas and 4 uva-ursi. All survived except for the sunset. Maybe it was just bad luck. Yours looks nice, maybe i'll have to try again.

Fine leaves are definitely the problem. It's hard to get much foliage contrast when working with small stature, xeric plants. In the front, I cheated a little and planted artichokes for their big leaves, but those are too big for my backyard. Mounding plants were my idea to add some visual changes to my collection of mat formers and sprawlers

The manzanita is a good idea for some additional structure. I have several other manzanitas doing well elsewhere in the yard. I have a smaller yucca and some kniphofia in the front that need to be moved to sunnier locations so those spiky leaves might help. I'm also thinking about aloes, but there are so many of those that they make my head spin.

Beautiful garden, what is the gray ground cover?

Dymondia. It gets a lot of abuse from my big dog herd, but does reasonably well.

sf_rhino, can you post pics of your Harmony and uva manzanitas? I believe the kinnikinnick is on my "no can't grow" list (coastal not inland). Trying Harmony for the first time and really didn't know what they might look like, and all 3 are struggling on my north facing slope due to extreme sun exposure now. Trying to salvage with a few big rocks :) All Sunsets are in tons of sun. I killed 3 by improper placement (they were low in ground where water drained to and sat), watering overhead during heat.

Thanks for noticing the sparkly peacock! He travels around to hide the spots where plants died. A local crafts artisan makes these and sells in various places like Pine Valley Days.

JXBrown, I'm also trying a Las Pilitas manzanita discovery called La Panza

which might interest you due to larger leaf, and it's a small ball shape not a mound.

That La Panza manzanita is a beaut! I think I'll give it a try this fall.

I didn't watch the video, is La Panza's foliage grayish? I've been trying to go for the pinker flower varieties, but maybe a nice little white one would be good.

5birdy, i'll try to take some pictures, mine are all relatively small and are currently buried in a massive bloom of clarkia.

one cute little mounding plant i have is Armeria maritima (sea thrift/sea pink). i've seen white and pink ones.

I like the Armeria for the front of the border. A non-native that also works surprisingly well as an edging is the dianthus Firewitch. It's one tough little sucker that makes a nice silver mat. I know some people find Santa Barbara daisies to be overly aggressive seeders, but I've noticed that I never pull #*!@ Bermuda grass out of the little thugs.

This month's Garden Design magazine had an article that featured three xeric gardens in Spain. They were mostly planted with Mediterraneans, but the one that appealed to me the most had managed to solve the problem of fine-foliage xeric plants by adding texture in the form of mounds mixed with the looser growers. I would like to emulate that and the La Panza manzanita, some lightly sheared compact cistus, and Artemisia Sandhill Sage are all candidates, along with some succulents.

I understand that to make a border look nice, you need not just colorful flowers but also a balance of different leaf and growth habits. I'm just poor at implementing the idea. Planning in advance instead of just buying cool plants and then finding a location for them would help a lot.

I want to double the depth of the border in most places -- need moar flowers!