Of course one does also need to consider the spatial functions when designing a garden, but it is not necessarily wrong to design around what plants you want as well. I was just reading the notes of a garden lecture that the famous Brazilian landscape architect, Roberto Burle Marx, gave when he was doing a lecture tour back in 1982 both here in California and England, and he stated that he ALWAYS starts any new design by thinking about the plants he wants to use, FIRST! If that is good enough for one of the most revered modern designers in the world, it also works for me. It does need to be said that this requires some cautions; it helps if one is wanting to use plants that can actually work in your climate, and that will be able to combine together well. These intended plants will need to be vetted against your existing conditions, your intended level of maintenance, amount of water and fertilizing you intend to provide and/or make sense in your situation. As you can see, there is a lot more to designing around plants first than simply coming up with a list that pleases you. Right off the bat, it is more apparent that you will probably have some strong winds in your location, and using things like a Japanese Maple which tends to get burnt leaf edges in hot and/or drying winds would probably only work well up against the house where it is more protected. The distant views looking out over the right side neighbor's fence might also be something you want to keep? If so, planting something that only gets about 5 feet taller than the fence, and kept closer in to the midpoint of the fence would help preserve a view of the distant mountains while still blocking the sight line of the building visible in the distance, but then again, maybe keeping distant views of the surrounding mountains is not important to you from the ground level, but more privacy is. You look to have good opportunities to plant climbing roses against the fences/walls at the north side in particular, where they would get the most sun. Or it could also be an opportunity for other flowering vines that are more evergreen in your intended color range, there are pink/white tinged Bougainvilleas such as 'Blushing Thai' or pink vines such as Pandorea jasminoides 'Rosea', or a deep purple winter blooming vine such as Hardenbergia violacea. Other even longer blooming vines that are evergreen might include a Passiflora 'Lavender Lady', or the semi-shrubby scandent Plumbago auriculata 'Royal Cape/Imperial Blue', which can be pruned to stay flat against a wall. I also quite like the densely foliaged Grewia occidentalis, Lavender Star Flower shrub, especially when grown flat against a wall, and blooms nearly year round. Climbing roses that are quite easy in southern California would include Altissimo(deep single red), Iceberg(white), Mermaid(yellow) and the already mentioned Joseph's Coat(a vivid red-orange), but there are many more, and it mostly depends on whether you want one massive bloom spike or repeat blooms throughout the year. Combining Mediterranean flowering shrubs such as the various Rosemaries(upright or spreading), along with various Lavenders, perhaps some similar lower growing plants like Teucriums, Convolvulus mauritanicus, Armeria, etc could be a good choice for a lower water using part of the garden with more sun. Other shrubs that might work well in this mix could include fragrant foliage of Coleonema pulchrum 'Sunset Gold', Erysimmon 'Bowles Mauve', Helleborus argutifolius. If you like the idea of evergreen iris as an accent, I would highly recommend the less commonly seen iris relative from Brazil, called the Walking Iris, Neomarica caerulea, which blooms for about 6 weeks in mid summer with brilliantly blue flowers on top of 4 to 5 foot tall stems, and is a very dramatic accent foliage plant even when not in bloom. Other Iris members that have great foliage as well as blooms might include Iris pallida 'Argentea Variegata', along with other classic Bearded Iris cultivars. It might look very nice nestled within a lower mass of silvery foliage of a Lavender angustifolia 'Hidcote', or one of the Helichrysum petiolare 'Limelight'. Some grassy leaved plants in groupings, such as Leymus condensatus 'Canyon Prince'(tall and pale blue),or dwarfer Dianella revoluta 'Baby Bliss' or the deep greens of Zephranthes candida can also liven up a garden. Other taller growing sculptural grassy plants might include some of the Restios such as Chondropetalum tectorum or Elegia canpensis, both of which give wonderful movement in the wind and look good combined with flowering herbaceous things. If you wanted a few very fast growing shrubs that can also act as small trees in the garden, with long bloom seasons, I might suggest Psoralea pinnata or Lavatera thuringeaca 'Barnsley'. Some of the larger growing, virtually everblooming Salvia species such as Salvia leucantha 'Santa Barbara', S. 'Waverly', S. 'Indigo Spires' or S. involucrata are all very long blooming in the garden. As you can see, there are a million ways you can go with planting choices in your garden, these are just a few things that come to mind if you want things that grow well/easily in your area, have a long season of interest, and might combine to give a blues/purples/pinks range of colors over a long season, with accents of soft blue and silvery foliage. If you like the idea of interesting color/texture ground covers that continue the lower water use theme, you might also look into the wonderful silvery low growing Dichondra argentea, Dymondia margaratae, or Ophiopogon japonicus. One of the low growing Iceplants, such as the silvery foliaged Oscularia deltoides, or the Hens and Chicks, Echeveria elegans or Echeveria imbricata also make good massed ground cover plantings.

I had a traumatic experience as a little kid with Opuntia (pickly-pear) glochids, and I hold grudges, so I don't recommend them. It's true what everybody's been saying: you're not going to find many true cacti that can tolerate anything but direct sun in a south window for very long. I have been forced, once, to keep a Haworthia in a north window for about a year and a half, though, and that worked out okay. There was also a pencil cactus (Euphorbia tirucalli -- not a real cactus) in that same north window, and it persevered, though it also grew mostly sideways toward the window instead of up, and that eventually became a problem. Hatiora salicornoides (drunkard's dream) is a true cactus that can handle a west window in my place, and they're very quick-growing and easy plants. I am especially fond of them because most of the plant will have no spines, and the spines that are present aren't strong enough to hurt. If you want to talk cactus and cactus-like plants for an unobstructed south window, then I recommend: Cereus peruvianus. I bought a couple of these about three years ago, when they were 17 inches tall (including the pots). They are now 61 inches tall and could probably take me in a fair fight. I think they're great plants. Euphorbia grandicornis. This one has surprised me in a couple different ways, just since I bought it two weeks ago. The first surprise was that it wasn't Euphorbia ammak, the plant I had *intended* to get (but that was totally my fault for not being better educated). The second was that it started growing almost immediately after being put in the window. Most plants I've dealt with like a few weeks to get their bearings after a move, but this one has already put on an inch in two weeks. Euphorbia enopla is another one that isn't an actual cactus, but it looks a lot like one. In fact, it looks a lot like a third-grader's drawing of a cactus. It starts out a lot smaller than E. grandicornis but is also willing to start growing right out of the box (literally -- I had one shipped to me in a box). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Pictures and more info: Hatiora salicornioides: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/60992/ Euphorbia grandicornis: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/58081/ Cereus peruvianus: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/54386/ Euphorbia enopla: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/60992/

Thank you all. While on this topic, all of you who have lots of cymbidiums: what's your typical time of bloom? I know that around Valentine's day cymbidiums were selling for dirt cheap prices -- making me wonder if February is the season - but it's too cold then, and my cymbidiums only had unopened spikes! So it looked like they were forced to flower during the peak sale time. I have two that have spikes growing for almost 3 months now (since I noticed) -- and it looks like they will open soon, but the wait is killing me! (This is my second year of having them (first year they came with blooms already) -- so please forgive me for asking dumb questions).

Here I am to keep the thread alive! First, thank you to all who've posted because while I did know the pencil cactus was poisonous, I didn't realize just how dangerous it could be if the sap got into my eyes. That said, I just purchased a large pencil cactus today that needs to be repotted. I don't have any pets or kids, so no concerns there, and I've already warned my husband. I'll definitely be wearing disposable gloves and protective eyewear just in case. @ Kevin Dondrea Also, peanut butter has been banned in plenty of schools... I don't know if you were being sarcastic? @ Larry WestCoast, You really had me going with that astroturf bit :D All in all, a good reminder to be vigilant with the plants around us. I'm a plant enthusiast, and even I sometimes forget to pay attention to the potential threats and dangers of different species. I'm obviously not eating any unidentified plants, but from now on I'll be more vigilant about wearing gloves and immediately washing my hands after yard work too.