Advice on strip of grass at side of house

I live in a detached house in an estate, and either side of the house (in the back garden), there is a narrow strip of grass which I want to plant up. This area is partly shaded as there are houses on both sides.The area is about 12ft by 1.5ft.In 2007 I gravelled one side and planted some dwaft bamboo, berberis “rosy rocket”, Stipa “bribal veil”,Festuca glauca “Intense Blue”, Verbena and 2 Sedum Variegatum amongst the gravel.But alas these plants have not thrived , in fact 3 of them have died.Have you any suggestions what might be the problem, would alpines work better or outside the back door I thought about stepping the area with sleepers and just some evergreen shrubs.Any ideas please, it is a wasted and unsightly area with the grass strip, even the grass does not grow well!