Refreshing your garden: Restoring foliage plants, creeping thyme and tackling weeds

My Mediterranean border still looks pretty good. This "border," composed entirely of pots on the old gravel driveway, mainly features plants grown in Mediterranean climates. If I keep up with deadheading the flowers, the bold foliage makes the containers look great.

Some of the featured foliage plants include coleus, bronze sweet potato vine, New Zealand flax, ponytail palm, and three kinds of bloodleaf--blond, bronze and red. Other great foliage plants in the mix include fancy-leaf geraniums, croton, cannas, and smooth yuccas. They mingle with petunias, begonias, marigolds, zinnias, mandevilla and geraniums. The effect is full and lush. Some of the other Mediterranean type plants include oleander and dwarf pomegranates. These pint-size shrubs feature striking orange flowers. They produce tiny pomegranate fruits.

In the area next to the border lies one of my worst aggravations. Creeping thyme used to cover all the areas between the beds. A year of drought killed much of it off. Although thyme is perennial, perennial doesn't mean immortal. Opportunistic weeds filled the void. Spurge, portulaca and crab grass exploded.

I'll replant the thyme when it cools down. But the weeds need to be kept in check so they don't take over again. Hand digging is the best solution, even though it's labor-intensive. Keeping weeds down is important in the short term but also for the future.