I am so NOT one of these great pros who have contributed on this thread, but since I live in a somewhat similar zone (I'm East Bay/Oakland hills so similar to much of the SoBay), I thought it might help the OP if they could see what a couple of the plants suggested look like on a retaining wall. There is one plant I didn't see, but I think might do well in this situation - aptenia "Red Apple" evergreen groundcover. It's rightly listed as invasive, but I have found that although it will spread "out", it vastly prefers going "down" due to the weight - once those stems get long, they're heavy and it pulls the plant to trail down. I have been surprised to find it does not root as readily along the stem as one would think (based on its invasive designation). Easy to keep under control with minimal pruning, very easy to remove. I have aptenia in two spots and in the location that isn't shown, it goes happily down a wall as far as it's got room, but only needs to be pruned back maybe twice a year on the flat side. It is much prettier than ivy and needs almost no summer water (like 1 gall per month in summer). Note that the cute red flowers attracts bees; some people find this a disadvantage. Me, I'm all for anything that keeps bees alive and happy, so this doesn't bother us. My wall is smaller, but the lantana shown (both white and purple) are in a very narrow planter box. Due to its lightweight stems, lantana is as prone to go "outwards" as it is "down". It is easy to prune - stems are brittle so they just break off. Because even trailing lantana mounds, it tends to die underneath. I have found this to be mildly annoying as a clean-up task every year: dusty and messy, LOL. Anyway, retaining wall 2001: Retaining wall plants 2004 (they don't look any different now, since I keep them pruned to stay off the driveway). LH side is the aptenia - a single stem can easily get to 5' or more. The purple lantana is in the middle, with the white lantana to its right. Both of these would easily reach the middle of the driveway if I didn't keep them cut back. I have to agree with the negative on clematis. It's a 1 month flower wonder in the Bay Area, and butt-ugly six months out of the year. I planted one and will never bother again. Hardenbergia 'Happy Wanderer' is gorgeous - two full months of purple racemes. But I did find the evergreen leaves a rather dull dark green the rest of the year. This is a big, heavy, aggressive vine. I had to take mine out because it started to travel over the fence and the neighbor hated it. It was a pretty little thing at 2 years old.... ...but only a year later, see that "hump" in the back? The hardenbergia was almost half as big in her yard as it was in mine, smothering her Bird of Paradise and euonymus shrubs: If you don't mind regular watering, there's nothing more fun than passiflower - after a few years you'll have Gulf Fritillary butterflies dancing in the sun for 6-7 months. It needs a grid of some sort, though, it needs something to hold onto to go sideways. I have both the coral and the standard purple passifloras. The GF prefers the purple very slightly over the coral, but I think the coral is much more gorgeous. This is a big vine (estimates up to 30'; I keep mine around 15') but it is very tough. I almost killed it when the planter box it's in didn't get watered while we were away on a trip. A heat spell hit and the passiflora shriveled down to a single stem of tiny leaves. It's recovered completely and is back to its big bully role once again. There's a lot of dead undergrowth to the passifloras over time, but not as bad as the lantana. There is one other evergreen vine I use but I wouldn't recommend it - Solanum jasminoides. Carefree and needs little water, but it gets super thick/dense very quickly and really requires heavy-duty cutting back once a year or it goes out of control. In the right location, however, it definitely fills a need. This is what S. jasminoides looks like less than 7 months after being cut back to a 1" height. Fair amount of dead-leaf litter underneath. This one lives entirely on runoff going underneath the house. I never water it at all: The flowers are beautiful, though, and it flowers almost continuously: I have the star jasmine groundcover in my furthest back yard area. It twines with big thick stems like ivy does, and with its mounding growth is, like ivy, a roof rat palace. Doesn't take much water, smells wonderful, prefers bright shade but I've had it in partial sun conditions where it did very well. Anyway, hope the visuals help.

to avoid the algae ... you need a greenhouse setup ... you need to keep your media damp.. but not wet.. but provide ambient humidity to the babes ... i see all the towels.. i see plastic shelves??? ... but can you rig up some plastic sheeting.. to make a little greenhouse.. i would put the lights inside the tenting ... [you do have them under lights???] cant go any further w/out some pix of your setup ... when i used to do seeds.. i sterilized EVERYTHING.. all hardware in 10% bleach.. and all media per the link ... i just put a gob of media in a baggie.. dampened.. and nuked it until the baggie generated steam.. then set it aside.. until i used it.. i also used a dollar store turkey pan.. filled it with damp media.. and covered with alum foil.. like a giant jiffy pop .. and poked two holes.. and when it steamed.. or i smelled it.. i took it out.. and left it covered to cool for a few days ... there are tuberous begonia.. which would be insane to start from seed ... and there are the annual begonia.. which root in 15 mins.. if you can find an early stock of plants ... just buy a cell pack.. and make one inch cuttings.. and stick them in damp soil.. tented.. and they will root inside a few days/week ... sometimes.. buying one or two.. and making 100 out of them.. is a lot easier.. than messing with seeds for 45 days.. getting a plant to the size to get them outdoors ... i did such with impatiens, coleus, begonia ... and saved seed starting for the exotic stuff ... ken Here is a link that might be useful: link

My kitty Salem is a year old now I believe (I need to check the calendar). A few months ago he didn't care for catnip at all, until about a month ago. I snipped a piece, put it in his face and he went nuts! Then he didn't want it anymore. But now, I've caught him laying all over it. He just loves it. Fortunately he doesn't bite it, he only smashes it. I'll be prunning it soon. So maybe I'll save the clippings and let them dry. I'm not sure what affect the dry catnip with have on him. He's insane! He just pulled a "spiderman." I have cages over my strawberry plants to protect them from him (he lays all over the plants), and he likes to jump on the cages. We'll he just found out I'm at the computer (he heard me through the window), so he jumped on one of the cages and took a flying leap and jumped onto the window screen and hung there like Spidy! Now I have 6 holes in my screen...nice! He's insane! I'm just glad he hasn't taken a liking to my Lemon Grass. Tania ~_~

Great post.. Most of my peeves were already mentioned... I will add: Overuse of pocket doors - they can't use regular hardware so they are difficult to open and close Stacked stone used everywhere...inside and out - most of the time, it is manufactured, not real and it shows! Jack n Jill bathrooms - these just bother me especially if you have a boy and a girl....tough to decorate and "share" that space, especially with teenagers. Outdoor lighting around garages and front doors that is sooo small...off scale. Pam