Thanks for all the thoughtful and informed replies so far, I appreciate the various view points, as well as the devil's advocate/resident cynic notes as well. I originally posted this thinking that there were so many posts lately asking for for literal help with the garden design, but few giving a designer's perspective when starting a new project, and some of the issues that come up when it is not a garden for yourself. I don't think the neighbor LA's comments were meant as a dig or expressed resentment, but were purely his thoughts on what he sees as appropriate. There is no overall character to the houses or landscapes in the neighborhood beyond the fact that it is a fairly expensive, homogenous neighborhood tucked in amongst fantastic large boulders and lots of Live Oak Trees, thereby the name Thounsand Oaks is highly appropriate. There are no large boulder outrops on this lot, although the neighbors to either side have them. Native wildlife is primarily based on the abundance of the native Oaks, and the deer are dependent on the gardens for forage, as there just isn't much native browse left in neighborhood. Philospophically, it would seem that Kat is advocating for a restoration approach to such an urban garden, with I assume a focus on native indigenous plants, and an attention to garden layout that would not rely on supplemental summer irrigation or chemical fertilizers and such. I can't deny that this is also a valid approach for some, but it is not my focus for this garden. I'd be curious as to how Kat approaches garden designs, (assuming he/she is a designer), and are you willing to open your thought processes and approaches up to scrutiny as well? Some of the most highly respected native plants people here in the San Francisco Bay Area have said that it makes more sense to them to save existing intact habitat in the wild, rather than try to recreate it in a home garden setting, as being the best way to protect and preserve diversity. I tend to agree with this, and think that sustainable and diverse landscapes should be as much concerned with balanced use of resources such as water and less chemically based landscape maintenance, as issues being as important to preserving local flora and fauna. I do often use some local California native plants in almost any design I do, but am not a purist about all native gardens. I once followed this trend back in the drought years of 1977/78, while still a landscape architecture student, and designed and installed several mostly native gardens without irrigation, and still occasionally do gardens that are meant to survive with limited once a month watering in summer. I have a harder time with the purist concept of not watering a garden at all in summer, and accepting that summer and early fall should be a time of complete plant dormancy under our climate regime. I can appreciate the beauty of fallow hillsides contrasted against the deep greens of live oaks on hillsides, and ravines cloaked in green; but it is not a style that lends itself to recreation in small suburban gardens. Wellspring brings up the modern issues of gardens not meant to invite use, but for status. I am sure that this occurs here in California as well, but our lack of insects and humidity in summer, as well as our fabled light and generally mild year round weather have given us a local culture that inherently seeks being outside, and wants that indoor/outdoor contact. Even for clients who are not gardeners at the start, I always strive to create something personal and beautiful that will get the client out into the garden and start them on their own discovery of the pleasures of the garden. Sometimes all this takes is providing a utilitarian reason as including a lemon or avocado tree, or a beautiful flowering passion vine that also gives edible fruit, or some favorite cut flower varieties. At other times it might be more subtle, as in placing a scent releasing plant such as Breath of Heaven/Coleonema pulchrum or Corsican Mint where it will be brushed against or stepped on, releasing its fragrance and imprinting an experience every time one goes out into the garden. As I have often had clients who are musicians, or hearing impaired and even blind, it is always about multiple sensory experiences, but always with some sense of architectural order showing it is not a wild garden, but a created one. I also like to make such gardens look their best at mid fall into winter, when we get some of our best outdoor weather, and so many subtropical plants from high altitude tropical locations reach their peak here, and are plants that can't easily be grown in the rest of the country. As such, I think it helps define our local garden vocabulary which utilizes plants from around the world that reflect our multicultural population as well. This would all be harder to justify if we had a coherent, defined and more static design tradition to work with. In this specific neighborhood the houses vary from Maybeck brown shingle to classic bugalows to spanish/moorish to french provincial, and most all was built since the last devastating wildfire passed through this neighborhood in the late 1920's, and gave many homeowners a fresh start. I should post some photos of homes and gardens in the neighborhood, to give people a feel for the setting. For anyone living locally, the neighborhood setting can be experienced easily by taking the drive along The Alameda from its intersection with Solano Blvd to its most northerly end. Another drive along the Arlington from Marin Circle to Kensington would also show the range of gardens and houses. For those not familiar with the San Francisco Bay Area, it might come as a surprise how garden centric the town of Berkeley has become, and how many serious gardeners and garden designers there are in this area. It might also horrify some to see how closely jammed in the houses are, how densely overplanted many of the gardens are, and the prices of property for the amount of square footage. All of these factors conspire to create some unique conditions for creative garden design, along with our climate of mild winters and dry summers, that only exists on 1% of the earth, yet seems to imprint itself on people all over the world as an ideal place to live and garden. (I am sure that Hollywood, the idea of the Western Frontier and New Beginnings are big factors in all this).

All of which goes to show....do what it takes not to fight with your neighbors. They may be unreasonable (one of ours called the cops to report an abandoned car parked in front of our house....that belonged to my daughter who was on vacation). They may be dead wrong (one of ours thought that, because their property is subject to an easement for use by their adjoining neighbors, they had an easement to use my property). They may even be right (when we were first married more than 30 years ago, another of ours objected that our dog, who we had trained to retrieve the newspaper, was taking their paper. She was.). We have learned to be considerate. When their wishes infringe on our right to live as we please, we set down boundaries, explaining why and what we are doing, accommodating what we can. Neighbor doesn't like cars parked in our driveway? Too bad. We have friends. Neighbor likes to spray the property line with Roundup? Fine, so long as not one drop gets on my plants planted along the fence line. Neighbor doesn't like the view of my yard from their living room window? Fair enough. We do what we can, planting screening to soften infrastructure installed by the developer. Of course I wonder why they didn't do the same on their own property. But I screen nonetheless. It's all part of being a good neighbor. Funny how barking dogs and trash containers get people nuts. We have neighbors who seems to think that leaving the emptied trash containers up on the street for an hour past trash pickup is a sign of poor breeding. Oh well. The green can is so heavy that I cannot wrangle it up the driveway. I get half way up, and it rolls me right back down. So when my gardener fills it, he also does the service of putting the green can up by the street. Neighborhoods used to be organized with those wonderful alleyways at the back of the property. We don't live in that world any more. As for dogs, there's a big difference between a young dog learning to enjoy staying in the yard alone for the first time and a dog that barks all day, every work day while its owner is at work. But not to my neighbors.

Alexa, first attempts don't turn out like that. You must be a natural. Annie, you nailed it in your last photo. Keep in mind that for sharp detail, the icing should be of medium consistency (not to soft/ not too stiff). Try my buttercream if you keep having trouble. You mentioned having trouble finishing it off. When you're close to the end, release the pressure in your hand, then barely tuck the icing tip to the last row of icing on the cupcake, and (without applying any pressure) pull away. I haven't made buttercream rosettes since Sam was little, but it seems to be making a big comeback. And I suddenly want to decorate cupcakes again. Sol

It's just a username, nothing else. I've had it since my own early days on the internet when someone suggested I use the name of a cartoon character for email and other purposes where the name would be visible to the public. I followed that advice. Snidely Whiplash was a cartoon character in my favorite cartoon "series" that was part of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. The other character of that continuing story, whose name I thought would be more awkward, was Dudley Do-Right. I could have also chosen Elmer Fudd, or Wile E. Coyote. I picked what I picked because I find it silly, whether you do or don't doesn't matter. Any meaning you find in a username, whether mine or anyone else's, is likely unintended.