I have to go make my bed now, but here are a few (not even of my own yard) to get you started.

April 12 at Ciscoe Morris's planting strip in Seattle, Washington:

May 28 at Joy Creek Nursery outside Scappoose, Oregon:

My garden is just beginning and I have no photos. I found some uplifting videos from Mike Darcy TV at rainyside.com
on this gray windy day.

Sorry about the glare in the photo, but under the grape arbour is one of my favourite spots to relax during the dog days of summer. ItÂs one of the few shady nooks in my south facing garden. It is hard to imagine actually wanting to retreat from the sun during these gloomy days!

Here is a link that might be useful:

Here was just one of my raised beds from last summer. It made a sunflower forest fort for my two boys. :)

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Ah ... gorgeous, heart-warming images. Thank you ...

Keep them coming if you've got em! :)

PS: Thecitychicken, it looks like you've got some impressive wooden arbors in the background there as well. What do you grow on those?

Great photo's. I am also getting spring fever. I can't wait until all the flowers are blooming again. I did get out in my yard for a couple of hours today and pulled weeds. I noticed my cyclamen coum, sarcococca and primroses are blooming now. The spring bulbs were all coming up so it won't be long before they are blooming also. Here are a few photo's of spring flowers from last year. Karen

Iris pseudacorus

Pacific coast iris

Jupiter's beard and clematis Viola

and clematis Ville de Lyon and Prince Charles

FlowerFam, that's the best clematis combo I've seen!
Absolutely beautiful.

I too long for warmer times. There is a light dusting of snow on the ground this morning, but the ground is not frozen so I will be able to do some transplanting today. I have a lot of trees that need moving. Most are under eight ft.
Here's a picture from last late Spring in my garden. It needs more 'organization'. I'm working on it.
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Wow, what a beautiful rockery. I love all of your evergreens. You must have a huge place. I just have a tiny city lot so I don't have much room for trees. I am going to try and get out today and pull a few more weeds. It is so cold though, it feels like snow is in the air. If you like clematis combo's, this is one of my favorite. Jasmine Fiona sunrise with clematis the President.

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Here are some pictures of a desert garden planting in a sidewalk strip at Jugle Fever Exotics in Tacoma. I took these last September, back when it was, um, 46 degrees and raining like it still is now.

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One of my favorites.........Henry's Garnet

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Think June

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Oh my gosh, you guys, what splendor! Your collective gardening talent is nothing short of inspirational ...

More! More!

Yes, i'm a glutton ...

:)

This topic was a great idea. I love the desert garden. Ian, do you know if Jerry leaves all of those agaves and aloes out all winter uncovered? I am assuming it was Jungle Fevers garden.....

Mary, I agree that Jerry's new desert garden is spectacular. I actually don't think he protected any of those things, but they are mostly quite hardy plants. There was damage to some things but I didn't take pictures of those... I remember Manfreda 'Macho Mocha', Carnegieia gigantea, and a couple Leucadendrons looking rough although I think the Manfreda came back. Some of the other plants pictured are Aloe ecklonis, A. polyphylla, Hesperaloe funifera, Agave parryi, Acacia pravissima 'Golden Carpet', Grevillea 'Noellii'. G. rosmarinifolia 'Scarlet Sprite', and Arctostaphylos densiflora 'Sentinel'. Ian

Ian: I agree that that strip is quite beautiful. I saw it this past year and was encouraged to try to leave a few things in the garden. So, this year I left my A. Parryi outside and I am keeping my fingers crossed. I am too much of a chicken to try too many things and have not checked on the agave for a few weeks but I hope things are all right. I may try to go out and put some christmas lights around it--or maybe not. He said good drainage is crucial and I tried--I just hope it makes it through this time of year. I'd hate to lose it.

Hi flora2, a bit off topic but.... I have had my agaves outside for going on the third winter now. They are still small as it is a tough go out here in the Cascade foothills but they are alive. I cover them in the winter with clear plastic umbrellas to keep the wet off them even though they are in sharp draining medium. Two pix to follow, one for a warmer day.

Actually I can't blame you for a 'better safe than sorry' approach with those Agaves. Even the hardier ones are pretty vulnerable for the first few years (except perhaps right by salt water) before they get really established and larger. If you can protect them from excessive rain/soil saturation that helps. A. parryi is one of the toughest/best species for our climate; it has even flowered in Seattle.

I'd just caution about keeping the Agave parryi as dry as possible in winter. We are never cold enough to worry about them, but I have lost them even here in the Bay Area(northern Calif.) in a particularly wet winter. I'd say that planting them out with the really good drainage, plus with some initial size, plus on a mound and full sun only would be the safest. I am surprised to hear that xMangave suffers from winter damage up there. It seems perfectly happy here in winter, and also where I first saw it growing back in Raleigh, North Carolina, it appeared to come through their colder yet drier winters with no damage, as it already looked big and full in early May at the JC Raulston Botanic Garden.

Off the garden path.

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David,
If you're ever in Seattle, I'll have to point you in the direction of an Agave parryi growing in almost full year-round shade in Seattle's Madison Park neighborhood. Not that I would recommend it, but it demonstrates that species is quite adaptable. 'Macho Mocha' did come back, you can see it just on the right edge of my second picture - but by September it was still a little bit smaller than it was its first year. Maybe it will do better once it is better established and if we have a warmer summer this year.

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