Most of my plants will not work for you since I live in the Oakland hills, just at the edge of the SF fog belt. But when I look at your photos, there seems to be little foliage variety. It's not just all the round shapes being the same height - there's little variation in color, texture, and leaf shape. Everything seems very small-leafed except for the spiky plants. I'm afraid that rosemary will only add to that overall effect. If one were looking from across the street, I think the plants you have mostly blur together. Much as I love bougainvillea and it grows well in your area, I'd be a little leery about planting it near any pathway. They have pretty ferocious thorns and your walkway isn't very wide. I've had shrub roses rip pant legs apart because I had them beside a walkway. Plants always like to grow where it's open - I have a lot of narrow beds, and it's a fight to keep the plants from "leaning" out into the paths. I do a lot of staking and tying (plant bondage, what fun...NOT)! I adore foliage; evergreens are the mainstay in my garden. Flower colors come and go in a month, but 'good bones'; e.g., handsome shrubs look as good in January as they do in July. Being an amateur, I'll post some of my photos (taken at different times from 2008-2011) to hopefully show what I mean. You will see we are dealing with a more severe slope than you have, so we have done a lot of terracing that isn't shown in these shots. Anyway, maybe the photos will help spark some ideas for you! Front: Early spring, so nasturtium leaves add a brighter green note and nice round shape. Notice, BTW, the 'Tuscan Blue' upright rosemary that is against the house, underneath that white awning over the front window. See what I mean about the small leaves? From far away, they just blur visually. Early spring: notice the LH corner, where the small white flowers (Iberis) are at the corner of our front walkway In the photo above, iberis was in flower with the bearded iris dormant. At its peak in April/May, here's the explosion of color when the iris bloom: On the shady side, this bed is terraced into two halves. I read somewhere that the eye can discern more shades of green than any other color. Every one of these green plants is a slightly different shade, in addition to the difference in leaf shape and size: Backyard, looking downwards (from my neighbor's sidewalk) towards our shed. The plants you see are in a terraced bed approx. 3' higher than the ground level of the shed. See how the fine leaves of the Coleonema are set off by the darker, round-leafed pelargonium and the bigger leaves of the Meyer lemon (left side) and variegated euonymus (right side)? A closer look at the bed above. It is in partial sun and is NEVER watered in summer. It lives on the runoff all the way from the front of the house, some 75' uphill:

Very pretty. Never seen this before. Rock Hounds are familiar with this effect, as found in tiger eye. http://geology.com/gemstones/tiger-eye/ When the stone is tipped, the light band travels across the stone. It is due to tightly bundled asbestos fibers encased the the chalcedony stone. Its the same effect that forms a star sapphire although the 'fibers' are from a different source. Usually, the sapphire star is 6 rayed. Only a few sapphires will star. It has to do with the internal structure of the crystal and a sapphire has to be cabbed in the proper direction for the star to show. The star only shows when the crystal is viewed vertically to its "C" axis.

I've done acrylic, gels, solar and just plain manis. My nails grow fast and sometimes they get really peely, other times they're nice and strong. For the last year and a half I've gone bare nailed and keep them relatively long-just over a 1/4 inch. When one breaks, I file it and let it go-then I will keep on top of the others so they don't get too long and eventually they all get to the same length again. Nails are just like hair-they're dead-they grow from the root so the key is to keep the nail bed hydrated and keep cuticles in shape. I apply cream to my cuticles daily and that helps a lot. And I keep a nail file with me at all times. The slightest snag inevitably leads me to picking at my nails and usually tearing them if I don't file that snag. I prefer to paint my own nails, and I've found quality polish is best. I can't keep them from chipping more than a couple days, but then I'll touch up the chips and I can make a mani last about a week. I do love the look of the long, uniform fake nails, and I used to get really fun french tips-usually turqusise glitter, but the time commitment was getting to me so I quit. My biggest complaint with getting a mani is that they rush the polish process. I have found if I wait at least 30 mins between coats I get good adhesion and the polish lasts longer. And SUPER clean nails is imperative, the slightest bit of oil on the nail bed will cause polish to chip faster too.

We are supposed to see two of our most favorite bands, Ghost and Mastodon, in Asheville on Sunday. I should be testing negative by then and DH stays clear. Send me a pm or email me at my screen name at yahoo dot com if you change your mind. These are great seats, club level, too. Speaking of manicures, was going to get a mani-pedi last weekend or this week but that can’t happen. Nini, my salon does the SNS but I’ve never tried it. My students, of course, all have the daggers. SeattleMCM, I read that somewhere that overly done nails is one of the things that identifies you as an American during travel.