Where exactly in Oregon are you located? That would help me to clarify some of your questions. I love that you have designed the garden with your dog in mind.......too few homeowners do that and then get upset when their favorite plants get trompled. Does your dog already have a favored pathway delineated and is this what you have worked into your design? I hope so, as it is much easier to design around your pet's already established route than to convince them take up one you have planned instead :-) And I would say the 1.5' width is just a tad on the shy side ......unless you have a very small dog :-) FWIW, I think you'll be looking at the phormium as an annual or very much replaceable plant. Even in my milder climate, they are tough to overwinter consistently unless a quite mild and very dry winter - they are truly a zone 8 plant under the best of conditions and I'm inclined to consider them more of a zone 9. Same with the Indian hawthorn.......just not happy in my cool summers and usually wet winters but depending on your location and weather specifics, it may be happier. Those that do survive here in various microclimates require minimal maintenance, so I'm not sure that would be a consideration. Dwarf arctic willow is IME a pretty trouble-free plant so I'm surprised at your concerns. It does appreciate a fair amount of water in summer - not the slightest bit drought tolerant - and gets to be quite large if not cut back regularly. "Dwarf" is very relative in this case :-) I'd look at one of the evergreen ornamental grasses to replace the phormium - orange or leatherleaf sedge would work and no issues about hardiness. And I love abelias, especially the variegated ones like 'Sunrise' or 'Kaleidoscope' and would opt for them before the rhapheolepis. Otherwise, I think the layout suits the site and is scaled appropriately for the size yard you are dealing with. I think you might have more plants spec'd than you need or can fit comfortably. It's been my experience that a lot of homeowners overestimate this part of the design and wind up with an overcrowded garden down the road and that DOES require a lot maintenance. My advice is to look carefully at the trees and shrubs first and make well-planned choices and fill in as you go later with the perennials, grasses and groundcovers of your choice.

myrah, I'm going to assume that 5 in your original post referred to Sunset zone rather than USDA zone as there is no way NZ flax would have survived for 5 years in a USDA zone 5 :-)) Yes, damaged foliage can be cut back to close to the ground - it will take a couple of seasons before they regain their appearance but they will in time. And they can be divided - commercial propagation is most often done in this manner. But they produce a big, heavy, fleshy root system and digging out a full grown flax is a serious undertaking. It took 3 of us to dig out mine (and 2 were big, beefy young guys!) FWIW, this PNW winter was not at all to phormiums' liking and a good many even mature specimens bit the dust! I will be replacing several of mine, all in place for many years.

Dwarf forms have been around long enough to determine mature height - just maybe not as common in this area as in say, southern California :-) There are actually a good many dwarf forms, as not every garden can accomodate a full sized behemoth like atropurpureum or Maori Chief so hybridizers have been busy over the years. Some are quite dwarf, rarely exceeding 18 inches, but to my eye don't quite come across with the same effect as a larger form. Here is a link that might be useful: some nice dwarf phormiums

I would never have suspected that. We are presently about to have a nasty cold front so as much as I'd like to check out the roots, it will have to wait a while. Whenever I see evidence of mealy bugs on non-edible and non blooming plants, I resort to potting the plant up with the recommended amount of systemic. That is the only way I have eradidated them. I know it is not very good for the environment, but I refuse to lose plants to those pests. And, the only plants I have noticed them on were cacti that I keep inside during the winter. I just purchased four new cacti and when I plucked them from thier pots, the roots were clean. I have always been surprised how many plants that I've purchased have icky critters, or dying roots. I will let you know if there are mealies on this plant. I have never heard about mealies being present at the same time I am seeing crimped leaves! That could be very informative to those who grow Phorium. Have a good weekend, SAM