OK, first, I do like the planters. I also think there are ways to plant some things inside the planters that would help get rid of (by hiding it) that hot, brown fence. So, for the first option, I am going to pretend that your backyard and patio are MY backyard and patio, and I am going to tell you what I would do. Now, obviously, your tastes and my tastes may not be alike at all, and you may hate all my suggestions. And that is fine, but at least maybe something I say will strike a chord with you and give you something to try. THE TROPICAL PATIO: I do like the blue fescus grass, yucca and the ice plants and would try to keep them and just add plantings around and near them, even if I had to dig them up and shift them around a little bit. FOR CONTAINERS: I'd get four large containers and plant one cold-hardy banana, Musa Basjoo, in each of them. Since some of the courtyard corners already have planters in them, I wouldn't put one container in each corner. Instead I'd probably put one at the mid-point of each courtyard wall (including the back wall of the house) if I wanted a formal look. If I wanted a less formal look, I'd group them closer together wherever I wanted shade the most during the hours I'd be out on the patio. Once the banana tree was planted and watered in, I'd come back and add ornamental sweet potatoes and purple hearts at the base of plants, probably putting one ornamental sweet potato and one or two purple heart plant in each. These will be decorative, of course, but also will help shade the soil and and container, especially as the ornamental sweet potato grows enough to cascade over the edges of the container. I ALWAYS have underplantings in my tropical containers and they make the containers look more 'planned' and integrated into the whole design. If you think 4 bananas would be too much, you could go with 2 bananas and 2 of something else.....maybe 2 cold-hardy windmill palms, or 1 windmill palm and 1 Texas Star Hibiscus or some other hardy hibiscus. By having your ornamental sweet potatoes in the containers instead of growing on the fence, you'll have happier plants, because they won't be exposed to as much sunlight and reflected heat in the planters as they would be if grown in planters on the fence. In the long planters that have blue fescue grass and which will have pink Muhly grass added next spring, I'd HAVE to plant a vine to grow up that fence and shade it. I just cannot emphasize enough how much cooler it would be to temperature-wise to cover the fence with something green. My choice probably would be an annual vine for the first year or two so I could be sure the vine, muhly grass and fescue can peacefully coexist. I'd probably plant a combination of morning glories and moonflower vines from seed. They grow quickly, have lovely, lush, tropical-looking foliage and you'd have morning glories in the morning and moonflowers at night, although you probably won't have blooms until midsummer. The moonvines, by the way, have a deliciously lovely fragrance, which is a bonus if you sit outside at night. If you wanted something with purple flowers, you could plant hyacinth bean vine which have lovely wiseria-like flowes. If you wanted something with flowers in a hotter shade of color, you could plant black-eyed susan vine with its orangey-yellow flowers or mina lobata. Later on, if you wanted a cold-hardy perennial vine, you could plant 'Madam Galens' trumpet creeper or American Crossvine. In the Northwest bed along the back of the house (3rd photo from top above) that has the yucca and ice plants, I'd add a crape myrtle. It would shade that window from sunlight/heat during the hot months and the flowers would add to the tropical look. The flowers would add to the tropical theme, and the leaves, which are pretty small, would be easy to clean up in the fall. Crape myrtles grow fast, and their trunks would add winter interest to the garden. In the ground level beds that currently have hosts, I'd dig up the hostas, and plant a row of tall canna lilies. They'd get 5' to 6' tall or taller and would provide a cool green screen of tropical-looking (but cold-hardy) plants in front of the fence. I'd replant the hostas in front of the cannas if I could strateically place containers nearby to shade them. I might even put the hostas in containers so I could move them to the shadiest part of the patio. (I have real concerns about the survival of hostas on a hot south-facing patio.) If I planted the hostas in front of the cannas, I might not add something else there. Or, if the hostas go into containers or into a shadier spot, I'd plant reblooming daylilies in front of the cannas OR some kind of shorter annual flower like portulaca, purslane or gomphrena. I might put either another canna or two or a pink muhly grass or a Texas Red Star hibiscus near the AC unit, but not so close that it would impede the very important air flow. Then, after all that was done, I'd have to add a couple of potted plants that I could move around as needed to fill any gaps. You might use those pots for annuals so you have a little planting space to 'play with' each season: zinnias, angelonias, begonias or sun coleus or other sun lovers in summer, mums in the fall, pansies or snapdragons or petunias in the spring. That's what I'd do for a topical look, and I am sure there are lots of other plants you could add, as needed to get a tropical look, including: Mexican Petunia (ruellia), lantana (a half-hardy perennial), rainlilies (zephyranthes, Gold Star (Esparanza/Tecoma Stans), etc. If I had room somewhat for some sort, compact shrubs, I'd probably go with one of the dwarf nandinas. Along the back wall of the house, if there is soil and not bricks, I'd be tempted to plant a row of cast iron plant with liriope in front of it. And, if you don't like the look of crape myrtles, you could substitute a desert willow, which is neither a desert plant nor a willow. Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis) is related to trumpet creeper vine, is relatively fast-growing, very heat and drought-tolerant and has lovely flowers, usually in pale lilac, although white-flowered and burgundy-flowered ones are available. That's it for the tropical look. I'll be back in a while with suggestions for a different look or two. Time for lunch....and, in case you think I'm trying to make you spend a lot of money, we have a plant swap coming up this spring and you probably could pick up at least some of these plants there. Dawn

Hope you find a good place to live in Albq. A quick and dirty summary on Burque horticulture: Sources of plant info (none are exact for Albq, as they cover many areas; look at 0-10F for the avg annual winter low & at 100F for a summer high, and you will be off to a good start): New Mexico Gardener's Guide-Judith Phillips (and anything else by her) Native Plants for Southwestern Landscapes-Judy Mielke Growing Desert Plants...-Ted Hodoba Sunset Western Garden Book Some folks will tell you Albuquerque cannot be defined into a particular climate, but that is usually due to not looking at all the readily-available climate data and observing the many, many plants in cultivation & in the wild. Ponderosa pine, blahgrass, spruce, potentilla or aspens do poorly in town, unless they are using one's water pipes, so "forget that noise"---but southwestern oaks, desert willow, 3 species of mesquite, chaste tree / vitex, etc-etc. MORE than make up for those species that wish they were in Atlanta or Norway. Add lots of shrubs, succulents (and beargrass, yuccas, sotols and agaves galore!), and multitudes of dryland grasses and wildflowers, and there are probably more plants that thrive in Albuquerque than ANYWHERE in NM, compared to "Fanta Se", esp. Taos and even Las Cruces---we are mild more than wild, and rarely too hot or cold. Simply put, there are two main areas of Albuquerque: 1) the city / middle Rio Grande Valley / foothills = warmer, best called the upper Chihuahuan Desert---AND---2) the East Mountain areas outside of Albq (the east side of the Sandias, NOT the foothills along Tramway) = cooler, best called the Arizona-New Mexico Mountains, much like the Rocky Mountain foothills around Santa Fe or Colo Springs, getting more snow and freezing weather, but less summer heat than us in town. But being from Austin, I bet anywhere in NM will feel more pleasant in the summer!! (and we are sunnier, too) Albuq climate zones: USDA 7 / Sunset 10 cover most of Albq-Rio Rancho-Belen, the coldest spots in the valley are probably USDA 6 / Sunset 3b, and thermal belt areas like UNM-Coronado Mall-Glenwood Hills-Ladera seem to be USDA 8 / Sunset 10) East Mtn areas are mostly USDA 5-6 / Sunset 2-3. Most of Albuquerque is ARID (desert grassland and mesa sand scrub) @ 6-10" of precip / year (6-12" snow). The foothills are often semi-arid (des. grassland-shrub live oak-chaparral) @ 10-18" precip / year (10-20" snow). The East Mountain areas are semi-arid (pinon-juniper-deciduous oak-plains grassland) @ 10"-20" precip / year (20-40" snow). The closest thing in Texas to Albq would be Marfa or Ft Davis, or better yet, a cross of Amarillo and El Paso! It is easier and far more satisfying to embrace our high desert environment and totally divorce oneself from wetter places in most of the garden. That is just starting to happen on a decent scale in town, and it is refreshing. Again, good luck! (and be prepared for spring winds---62 straight days without measurable rain & 122 consecutive days without a soaking rain in Albq---the record-setting rainy winter of last year is definitely in the past) David

I can't tell you how satisfying this has been. The weather has been so gorgeous (when there's no wind) I can hardly bear to leave my yard. My grass is growing--so excited! Yesterday, I watched a big black hummingbird hit all my flowering plants, one by one. And my neighbors keep coming over to see what I did and ooohing and aahhing over it. I'm now trying to decide how much more planting I want and what kind. I'm sure the seasons progress I will notice a need or two to be filled. I'm trying not to be a "collector" and repeat plants, but . . . there are some more different ones I want! And I kind of like it spare and serene . . . but then I think I want more "lush," lol! Dilemmas . . . I bought new plants, too, and will probably buy a few more this weekend at the University of Texas--El Paso's Chihuahuan Garden's annual native plant sale.

Looks like a great sale! Strange that you guys can't find Mexican Oregano. It is a common nursery plant in Austin if you are not in a Big Box. There are actually two unrelated ones. I have the Mex. O. that is Poliomintha longiflora that blooms pink all summer long on no water . It grows really well from cuttings, so one can make more if you know of someone who has them. The other one, I would like to get my hands on is Lippia graveolens which blooms white. Both are used for cooking and both are good for arid gardens. Which one did you get?