Inheriting established beds in the garden. The Dilemma - to empty, to edit or to leave well alone.

We have inherited a mature garden.  Many of the beds have obviously been planted for many years.  Shrubs are large and well established.  We have lost a number of older shrubs that have died since we moved in 4 years ago. Talking to other gardeners locally it seems we are not alone - I think that 2 exceptionally wet winters and 2 very dry springs have taken their toll.  This is a heavy clay soil, it stays wet and then bakes hard and cracks in summer.  Plants that feel at home thrive well and grow lush.
So - to the Dilemma -
I'm using the corner bed where the statue is as an example - but the principles apply to most of the beds here.
The day we moved in one of the removal men staggered up the garden carrying the statue asking where it was going - I got him to put it in the corner of a bed thinking I would move it later but it seems to have been a good choice (no time to procrastinate!) and we like that location.
Behind it are a hardy fuchsia, a Hawthorn and the hedge that separates us from the lane. The area has early morning sun but is in shade from mid-morning in summer.

Summer 2012
The Acer (Snake bark type) to the right of  statue died over winter 2014.

October 2015.
Valerian has gone and Japanese anemone has spread.

The area is congested.  Like most of the garden, from afar it looks OK - but close up its a bit of a mess - especially in the autumn as the flowers fade and foliage dies back.

Ferns, ivy, liriope and acquilega.

Hellebore and hardy geranium.

Liriope muscari struggling to get through 

and ivy everywhere - cyclamen fighting through

So many plants intertwined and growing into each other.

At the end of the bed a Kerria japonica, Hardy fuchsia and Cornus have merged completely.

Not very attractive!

To empty the whole area seems a bit daunting - but to leave well alone is not really an option even though that's what I've done until now.

As most of the garden looks like this it has to be tackled one small area at a time. I'm finding that even the areas I have emptied and replanted to date are now looking congested again.  I will need to space out plants more - not a strength of mine as I tend to cram them in - bare soil is not a good look in my book!

Editing would involve removing some plants to allow others more space.  I also need to steel myself to throw plants on to the compost heap - I have a tendency to pot up any pieces of plant I remove just in case someone might want them - it does slow the whole process down somewhat.

Emptying the area and replanting would give me an opportunity to add to the variety of shade-loving plants in the garden and put my stamp on the bed - its probably the way to go. I have a collection of hostas in pots and I'm thinking one or two larger ones would look good here.

I'll keep you posted.