difficult spot

To all of you experienced plantspeople:
I have a  trouble spot that I am replanting and would love a few suggestions.  The space is a narrow bed between the edge of my pool surround and the fence.  Our family room has a wall of windows that looks out onto the roomy deck, down to the pool and then to this back border of the property, so it is the backdrop of the house and main yard view.  It is barely four feet wide at the left end narrowing to two feet wide on the right end.   Other beds and sections of the garden pick up at each end.  It runs roughly north to south, so that in winter it stays pretty much in shade at ground level, with perhaps a glimpse of sun in the afternoon in very early and very late winter.  In summer, it gets morning shade and baking inland afternoon sun, and is watered once a week to 10 days.  Currently planted there are 5 Podocarpus gracilior spaced approx. 6 ft. apart and now about 8-10 ft. high.  The redwood fence itself is draped beautifully in a vigorous Macfadyena unguis-cati (a vine I highly recommend BTW- it now grows up into the Aleppo pine tree on the far right and hangs down tendrils like Spanish moss!)  Originally Myoporum parviflorum was planted below, and it thrived.  But I wanted a smaller vertical element between the Podocarpus, so I planted daylilies.  They did not get enough sun to bloom, so I moved them and in a fit of madness planted a few bulbs of Crocosmia.  For the first couple of years it was stunning, and the fire orange-red blooms just glowed in the afternoon summer sun.  However, they leaned away from the fence to get the most sun possible, and created too much litter for the pool.  They also spread like wildfire, as anyone who has grown them knows, and because they grow so thick and closer than an Arkansas clan, they crowded out the Myoporum. Very dissatisfactory.  Soooooo, now I am eradicating them and would like another suggestion.  I wouldn't mind if whatever it is died back completely in winter, but I don't want something that looks really ugly in winter, since it is in such a visible spot.   The soil is also somewhat heavy, so anything that is fussy about drainage is probably not going to like it.  I may replant the Myoporum, and something that would grow up through it, bloom in the warm months and die down would be acceptable.  The myoporum is not an essential however, and I am open to all suggestions, preferring something with color, since once the Cat's claw vine is done blooming, the view is just a study in green.  Pastels are not going to show up much in this bright glary spot though, (think aggregate concrete and pool reflection) although white might do.  The rest of the garden in back, however tends to bold color, lots of purples and blues and golden yellows, even dark pink and some pale and dark oranges.  It may sound loud, but it takes the focus off the rather large pool we inherited with the house!
So, there you go!  Let the challenge begin!
 
With gratitude in advance,
Karrie Reid
Folsom Foothill Gardener
Zone 9
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