help!

So this year I decided to plant a vegetable garden. We'll see how it turns out. My friend and I planted everything and were feeling quite proud... and then her husband told us we did it all wrong! Ha. If half of the stuff comes up I will count that as a success.

I've never been one for gardens but liked the idea of fresh produce. Well now that I've done that, I'm starting to look at my garden beds at home and thinking a change is in order. I've never been a green thumb or even interested in it. My mom has always had beautiful gardens. I always wondered why she would go to so much trouble even though they were nice to look at. Maybe I'm getting older because today when I looked at the garden beds (that came with my house) I was appalled at how ugly they were.

Dear readers, if there are any of you left, please give me advice. What should I do with them? The shrubs came already planted. I don't know if I want to rip them up but what flowers should I plant or what would spruce the beds up a bit??