Perennial bed redux

I spent all morning in a rainy, cold October garden editing the bed that sits against the fence on the north side of my back yard. I dug out plants, divided them, and tossed out the ugly specimens. The best discovery was how much the quality of the soil has improved with 3 years of composted mulch and organic practices. I remember digging through the bed when we first bought the house. It was packed, clay like soil, with almost no sign of life except overgrown invasive ornamental grasses. Now I came across mounds of wiggling earthworms, spiders, ladybugs, and other creepy crawlies. The soil now feels spongy and much less compacted.

The bed is long, probably 30 feet, and narrow, a little more than 2 feet deep. A garden designer would counsel me to make it deeper to improve the proportion of the bed against the height of the fence and to create different levels of eye-catching foliage. Alas, it is bordered by a narrow packed paver-stone path that I have no interest in moving at present, despite its exceptional ugliness. Indeed, the whole layout of my back yard offends my aesthetic sensibilities --all straight lines. There is a hideous square of lawn and a dwarf magnolia tree placed smack in the center of it by the previous owners. I wanted to get rid of that tree the first year, to open up the yard and be rid of the hideous symmetrical layout. But we happened to move in at the peak of its flowering and it was so achingly pretty I couldn't bear to do it. And now I have simply grown accustomed to it, and it is well placed in front of our rear window, so my little one can bird watch in the mornings. Almost on a monthly basis I resolve to chop it down, and then I relent.

Back to the bed: if I had better computer skills, I would be able to publish a fancy graphic representation of my new layout. Alas, I have neither the skills nor the time to learn them. So I will walk you from east to west down my bed, starting at the house:

Lilac (three years old, still very small)
Semper vivums (on a rock pedestal)
Spirea
Bearded iris
Echinacea
Lilies
[space - plan: blueberries]
Echinacea
Coral bells Heuchera villosa
Phlox
Lilies
[space - plan: espalier fruit tree]
Bearded iris
Lilies
Spirea
Bearded Iris

The bed is edged with violets, although not completely yet. I have two trellises against the fence as well. I previously had clematis growing on them, but both plants died. It may have been that I pruned them incorrectly, but they never flourished, so I suspect it had more to do with the environmental conditions. I am considering hops, but I need to investigate further -- and they were on back order all last season. The rest of the fence usually supports scattered morning glories, self seeded from the years before. Large purple alliums also are scattered throughout the bed. I am excited to see my new bed next summer. I hope my late-divided plants will grow in the spring, and if not, I have a long list of annuals I am dying to try. Either way, it will be an interesting summer.