The take over of the plants

So at my apartment we have this little enclosed patio area that is mostly cemet, but has about a foot and a half of garden area all around the edge. There are a few perennial plants in there, a huge yellow rosebush, and about 3 other mystery plants. Well, I had all these good intentions when I moved in last March to take care of them and do something with that area, but I managed for a little less than 2 months, then slowly got in the habit of ignoring the slow take over of the plants. We don't really do anything in that area and it's enclosed by a wall, so no one walking by would see our mess, so you can imagine how bad it got in the past 4 months or so, especially through monsoon season. (I'm embarrased to even post pictures) anyways, I finally decided to try and tackle it today, and got rid of most of the huge weeds, although I'm still not quite sure what to do with all the bushes and plants that are huge and haven't been trimmed in months. Oh-well, one step at a time I guess.