gardengal48: ok, that is very helpful. Thank you. :-) nwnatural: given the feedback here, and our assessment of the situation, that is the direction we are going. karinl: I am glad to hear that it didnt come off as whining, which was not my intention. I greatly respect the skills and abilities of the people here who work with gardens and landscaping. It is just a bit overwhelming to the rest of us mortals. In terms of the ground cover, this was suggested to us by a friend who is a true gardener, and we have incorporated various types of thyme, teucrium, cerastium, etc. into our design. The problem is that this site was full of weeds when we cleared it to build the house and we need to control that without the use of chemicals if we can avoid it. Based on how the ground cover does, we may be able to slowly incorporate it in other areas, thereby achieving eco-enlightenment. :-) I have included photos below: gweirdo: it is somewhat difficult to answer your question, since we didnt do the landscape design. I can say that our intention was to use drought-tolerant plants that grow well in this area to create an ambiance that defined a place of sanctuary for us. Since a Mediterranean landscape evoked that feeling for us, we began to use that term, perhaps inappropriately. We also wanted to contribute to the land by replacing all the scruffy weeds with plants that would help support the local wildlife (the birds and the bees, not the adolescents in Mini-Coopers). The difficulty is to being able to communicate the experience we want from our garden using the limited lexicon that we have. It is like trying to tell someone from another planet what milk tastes like. We know exactly what we are talking about (fortunately) but no one else does. This probably means we were raised by wolves. To see the details of our design, please go here: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/design/msg0623022121666.html inkognito: I believe I have read enough of your posts to both respect your knowledge and appreciate your writing style. I also believe that you do not mind a bit of verbal jousting, which I am happy to provide. No offense was taken. :-) I will talk to our landscaper about the suggestions you mentioned thank you. We were also concerned about the clean up on gravel, so you are spot on there. springvillegardens: your herb garden is beautiful and the view of the hills is amazing. You have obviously put a great deal of work and love into your creation. Thank you so much for sharing this. frankie_in_zone_7: your vote has been noted and recorded for posterity. I hadnt thought about the linear feet of raking on the paths. Hmmm.... perhaps I need to take up Zen Buddhism. When you say decomposed compacted material, do you mean decomposed gravel and would that be with landscape cloth underneath or not? Thanks.

'Jefferson' is a new member, showing as a Pro in China, who I think is trying to drum up business. Mediterranean must be something very different there. :-) Her profile on her page her reads "Our website mainly sells bedroom curtains, living room curtain, kids curtain, sheer curtain, floral curtain,blackout curtain,luxury curtain, elegant curtain and country curtain and so on to improve the temperament of whole home. Thoses curtains are suitable for the bedroom, living room, patio door, study room, porch, hotel, hospital and so on. Differen curtains have different functions, so we should choose the most suitable one according to the demands of our rooms or according to the master's taste. Highendcurtain.com is a professional online curtain website. We provide customers with many kinds of high-end curtains, such as the blackout curtains, striped curtains, kids curtains, sheer curtains, curtain rods and so on. The website will offer the best quality and the fastest delivery service." Services Provided Custom Furniture, Custom Rugs Interior Designers & Decorators Location: Zhenjiang 212000 China

No, I didn't forget, but it doesn't really compare. Gold isn't brass. Gold reflects mightily in low light and glows in a way that brass can only stand in the corner and envy. Purple was reserved for royalty, not because it looked good with the other colors, but because it was very rare and very expensive. The point is that there are exceptions to every rule and contravention for every blanket statement. There's also the rule that 2 reds might clash but 20 reds don't, which often works, but when it fails it's really really bad... Look at the things together. Look at them together with different lights. Choose what you like. If you're colorblind you might make choices that don't make sense to others who can't see what you see, but if it's for yourself, go for it. If you like aubergine and brass, please don't let me stop you! (Anyway, it's meh, not shudder-worthy.)

Wow! Thank you for the visualization. That looks great! I appreciate your suggestion.