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.

This is an update to my 2006 list. We've added many more varities and most things are fruiting now. FRUIT & SPICE TREES Acai Palm Allspice Ambarella Apple Anna Apple Dorset Golden Atemoya Gefner Grafted Avacado Haas Avacado Fuerte Banana Bay Rum Blackberry Black Sapote Seedless Black Walnut Blueberry Blueberry Gulf Coast Blueberry Sharp Blueberry Windsor Cocao Calomondin Camellia Sinesis, Tea Cashew Apple Cercropia Cherry Black Grafted Surinam Cherry Grumichama Cherry Rio Grand Cherry Barbados Cherry Dwarf Barbados Chestnut Malibar Cinnamon Coffee Dragon Fruit Eucalyptus Eugenia Confusa Fig Brown Turkey Fig Green Isha Fig Kadota Goji Berry Grapefruit Pink Grapefruit Yellow Grapes Bunch Grapes Muscadine Guave Chattey Guava Pineaple Guava Ruby Guava Strawberry Guava Jaboticaba Joy Perfume Michelia Champaca Jujube Katok Kiwi Tomuri m&f Lemon Harvey Lemon Sambukan Lemon Varigated Pink Lime Key Lime Kaffir Lime Persian Lime Red Longan Kahola Loquat Lychee Hakip Lychee Maritius Mango Mango Carrie MANGOSTEEN Michelia Alba Michela Champaca Miracle Fruit Mombin Red Monstera Deliciosa Moringa (Horseradish Tree) Mulberry Dwarf Mulberry Shangrila Natal Plum Nectarine Sun Raycer Neem Olive Fremtoya Orange Orange Dwarf Navel Orange Red Blood Orange Ortanique Orange Tarocco Blood Papaya Passionfruit Yellow Peach Red Cylon Peach Tropic Beauty Peanut Butter Fruit Pear Pear Pineapple Persimmon Ichibe Juro Persimmon Triumph Pineapple, Golden Pistachio Plantain Plum Gulf Rose Pomegranate Dwarf Pomegranate Vietnamese Rambutan Rose Apple Spanish Lime Strawberry Strawberry Tree Sugar Cane Tamarind Tangelo Tangerine Murcott Tangerine Satsuma Wax Jambu Thai Red Sunset White Sapote Yerba Mate HERBS Allheal Alow Arnica Montana Anise hyssop Bacopa Bacopa, Lemon Basils, Greek Columnar, Lemon, Lettuce Leaf, Lime, Sweet Bay Tree Bay Rum Bergamot (Monarda) Betel Betony Borage Calendula Camelia sinesis Caper bush Cardamom Catnip Chives, Garlic & Onion Cilantro Comfrey Coriander Culantro Curry Plant Daisy Dill, Boquet & Fernleaf Echinacea Fennel, Bronze & Sweet Feverfew Fuschia Galangal True Gardenia Garlic Society Geranium, Apple, Citronella, Lemon Sculpture, Rose Ginger Ginkgo Goji Berries Gotu kola Greek mountain tea Gynura Henna Hibiscus, Edible & False Roselle Honeysuckle Horseradish Jasmine Arabian Tea & Confederate Lambs Ear Lavender Lemon balm Lemon grass Lemon verbena LionÂs tail Marjoram Marshmallow Mint, Apple, Berries & Cream, Blackberry, Chocolate, Citrus kitchen, Corsican, Costa rican Kama Sutra, Cotton candy, English, Grapefruit, Hazelnut, Italian spice, JimÂs Fruit, Lavender. Lemon sweet, Margarita, MarilynÂs Salad, Mojito, Mountain, Orange Bergamot Oregano thyme, Pennyroyal, Spearmint, Sweet pear, Wintergreen, Yerba buena Monarda Moujean tea/Bahama Berry/Pineapple Verbena Mullein Murraya koeniggi Myrtle greek Nasturtium Oregano, Cuban, Italian, Mexican Pandanus Amaryllifolius Papalo Parsley, Curled & Flat Leaf Pepper, Black Pepper Vine, Chili, Habernero, Jalapeno, Ornamental, Red Pepper Vine, Tabasco Perilla Purslane Root beer plant Rose, Bon Silene Tea, Champneys pink cluster, Climbing don juan, Double red, Moanne lombard, Red cascade, Safrano, Treasure blend hybrid Rosemary, Romero, Spice island, Victorian Sage, Common, Diviners, Grape scented, Mexican, Pineapple Savory Spice bush, Lindera Benzoin Spilanthese Spinach, Malabar & Okinawa Star anise Stevia St johns wort Sugar cane Sushini Sweet almond verbena Tarragon Tea olive Thyme, English, Lemon Tilo Tomatoes Turmeric Violet sweet Yarrow Yerba mate Zaatar Zuta levana WATER PLANTS Bacopa, lemon Cattail Celer, water Chestnut, water Mint, water I'm working on a website with photos of our property in all stages of bloom and slowly working on a book for zone 9 edible gardening. We've had luck with almost everything we've tried. I'm happy to answer any questions about growing in tropical zones. Happy growing, Kelly

Hi - new to the forums, but have been gardening for several years now. I have a shady back yard, and variegated Solomon's Seal looks great amid the solid hostas. Also have variegated petasites gigantea, a variegated porcelain vine (ampelopsis brevipedunculata), variegated lamium 'Hermann's Pride', variegated iris pallida, variegated liriope (yellow/green, and white/green), many variegated hosta (Frances Williams, Revolution, Remember Me, Night Before Xmas), variegated vinca, variegated ivy, variegated sedge, variegated morning glory foliage, several heucheras and hercherellas. That's the back yard. In front, I have the variegated iris again, miscanthus 'morning light', and am growing a first year actinidia kolomitka (kiwi) which should eventually be pink, white, and green leaves. I love the variegation to "punctuate" the sea of green. SusanLynne

Linda, it looks like we got a plant ID! Plant #2 was in Billie's garden, of which I'll be posting pictures soon :-) Here is a link that might be useful: Name That Plant GW Forum ....