One of my neighbors purchased a house that had been vacant for 7 years, and the garden not tended for many more. What she found was: A large area of blackberry thicket, out of which was growing and blooming 2 very old Madame Caroline Testout roses. They had climbed up a nearby plum tree to get light, and were also growing over the fence and onto the next door neighbor's roof of their one story house. A mature apricot tree right in the middle of the back yard - it was twisted and very old, but still bloomed and bore fruit. LOTS of volunteer trees - plums, eugenie, privet, and eucalyptus, to name a few. Also some huge pine trees on the perimeter, which had been there for ages. My garden was not abandoned, but little had been done to it for 20 years when we moved into our house. It had at least 50 surviving roses - most of the survivors were teas, hybrid wichuranas, or other really old roses. A couple of the teas had gotten huge - maybe 15 feet wide, and 8-9 feet tall. There were 5 surviving hybrid teas, but they had dwindled, and did not bloom (except for Cl La France, as noted below). The old old roses had gotten bigger, and bloomed a huge amount. Thornless (thank heavens!) blackberry had taken over an area at the back of the property about 20 ft square, and there was another area where volunteer fig and plum trees had made a sort of forest. That's where Cl La France had climbed up the trees, and was blooming and disporting itself in the canopy. Old bulbs were still coming up in the Spring, all over the garden. Jackie

Its our outdoor living area just off the front porch where most people enter. We have 4 acres, the back two of which are woodland. The garden creates the view, and the backround is madrona, douglas fir, wild cherry and big leaf maple along a rural road. We get a fair amount of traffic when the ferry boat comes in but quiet in between times. Area basically flat. I want the garden to be the centerpeice and focal point. Its a peak-a-boo view from the road. i House is a manufactured one, no partcular style, pale yellow with green trim. We are about 100 feet back from the roads on two sides, with woods to the south east and east. The area gets pretty much full sun in summer. I love wind tossed grasses that create a sense of motion but love almost every other kind of plant too. One bed will be amended for faster draining for echinaceas and lavenders. I love a semi wild, abundant natural style, not a formal "Rose Garden" look. The lilies in summer are mind blowing! No real ugly spots to contend with...but nothing of fabulous beauty either, except of course the garden itself. I do have a star magnolia that is lovely along the back of the garden and a huge fragrant honeysuckle on the north side. (Everyone in the neighborhood loves the honeysuckle). These will be back ground for the garden. Beyond that is a view of my cutting gardens where I have my small cut flower business...mostly about 150 dahlias and a couple of rows of annuals, with 4 rare breed ducks for amusement and organic slug control. One can also see the chicken yard where my 4 hens hang out and my 20 foot greenhouse. The west border of this garden consists of 3 flowering crab apples that I cut from for bouquets. THe area I am designing for is about 40' wide and 30 feet deep with the center arbor path swerving in a curve to the left. Nothing is square in the garden. The circlar drive way borders the north side and the whole garden and orchard area of about an acre is surrounded by a cattle wire deer fence. I have few pictures because the garden does not photograph well...just lots of plants, from a little distance. Mostly I photograph individual flowers. I think the raised beds will be much more photogenic.

Beautiful rockery. If you are not experienced, then I would suggest finding a designer - or even coach - to help you select the plants. There is a lot of space to fill and a good designer or coach will give you ideas and in the long run, save you tons of money. Mistakes with one or two plants is not a lot - but you are going to need a lot of plants and and that will be expensive. A good plan will give the rockery a professional finished look and you will be happy with the results. Later when you have the 'bones' in and thriving you can add favorites. Be careful of people volunteering plants from their gardens unless you carefully research the plants. I have spent hours pulling a friends gift that turned into a thug and tried to take over my whole garden. Check references - like anyone you hire and be sure to find someone that you will enjoy working with. I am sure it will be beautiful when done.

Thanks for everyone advice, I am located near coast's water area where summer is cooler than other area, This is 2nd years of growing negronne/VDB in 5G pot, I have 3 from different source, They has about 40+ figs with bland taste, I am pretty sure that negronne/VDB loves heat with great taste, I will graft it on my in ground mature tree next year for last test, I will graft couple varieties as well to see that how well they grow in our climate, I guess that it is better methods with less work/errors to Test and evaluation them in ground. I really like Binbin's Brandon unknown and Ramv's Nordland, as well as LSU O'Rouke, hoping that I can get them someday. I planted couple fig trees in ground last year, All of them cold killed to ground, They grow back to 7+ feet in ugly bush form, Only Chicago hardy is able to give me one ripen fig. very disappointed. I planted couple tiny fig trees in ground 2 months ago, I will cover them up with plastic garbage cans, Sorry for the big one, Just too much work to winter protecting them. Shawn, you have a greenhouse, you can taste some delicious negronne figs, This tree is slow growing with lots of main figs.