Interesting question. My responding question is: If you don't know what that plant looks like, why not simply google it? I ask this specifically because "who should do the labor of information dispersal/obtaining" and "when it is the learner's/recipient's responsibility to do an aspect of the work, and what aspect of the work" is a part of my job. Here's my take on it. Prepare yourself, it may get heady :) The easy answer is that other forums are plant specific, and are more about conversations generally. Here is is somewhat "more business" and less conversation. The more subtle answer is: I am interested in eventually getting thumbnail images onto my trade list page. More for my own enjoyment than for other traders really. It doesn't take that long for someone to google, and then they will be more apt to remember the information because they had to actually do something to obtain it. It takes a bunch of work to learn how to post basic images anywhere, and even more to learn how to post images onto the trade list. If I have a plant to trade, and it's a 'really special' one, those who know what it is already are more apt to have another 'really special' plant to trade for it. It's a self-selecting market tactic, as well as a non-investment of extra labor. Some other interesting questions in this: Who benefits more from the posting of images on a trading forum, the offerer or the responder? Whose responsibility is it that there are people who know what a thing is, and those who do not? Should it be a qualifying skill for trading that someone have access to a digital camera, know how to handle images, and how to program those onto the web? (Either way has aspects of exclusion, it's simply a matter of which group it effects, and what each of those groups can do to be included, and what ease is in that particular doing.) --Tina

True generosity of time and effort does not require or seek recognition or popularity or cheers. Although I don't ID hardly any of the plants here, I try to help when I think I have something to add since I wouldn't know what most of my plants are or what to do with them without someone (usually from GW) sharing their experience with me. I'd rather spend 15 minutes typing something I hope is helpful to one OP than try to get to the new ones first. Just repaying the karma.

Just FYI, you should put your Sunset zone. USDA zones are pretty useless in CA. The Sunset Garden Book is the acknowledged "Bible" of all Western gardeners. It doesn't look as if any of your beds are very deep - they all look around 12-18" or so. Consider that you don't want to block your shutters, even if they're only decorative, I'd do a shrub pelargonium, such as this one (to those that have seen my recent February Flowers slideshows in the Gallery, you've seen this photo before). It stays about 18" H/W. They're very floriferous in our climate and don't take too much water, either. You do have to be careful; there is a lot of variation between pelargonium hybrids; some get to a gangly 6' tall. But this one stays neat and compact: I would warn you in that second photo, that spiky leaved clump looks suspiciously like Fortnight Lily, aka Cape Iris, Dietes iridioides (there are two, one white, one yellow-flowered). If it is, once established it gets a full 3' or more around (big, round clump) and takes an axe to remove. It will behave itself if you starve it for water, but if you've got lawn sprinklers, there will be no holding it back. I have narrow beds on both sides of a walkway on the south side of our house. It isn't easy to keep those plants from sprawling outwards. The following plants are ones that have proven well-behaved/upright in these beds in our Oakland hills garden: - Dwarf cannas (variegated ones need some shade or they'll burn) - Kalanchoe - Shasta daisies (deciduous, however) - evergreen bearded iris (in fact, if you live within driving distance of me, I will GIVE you some rhizomes. Mine is an heirloom dark purple iris that multiplies like the proverbial rabbit; if it were edible it would solve world hunger in two years flat) - Aeoniums, some sedums and crassulas - Some of the upright, smaller perennial salvias - Mini or smaller shrub roses, like J&P's Ladies in Waiting. - Liriope (for foliage, but once a year it has very pretty purple flower spikes) - Hellebores: the newer colorful hybrids only. They stay small and neat; like partial sun only. When a bed is not very deep, it's important that you consider a couple of things: 1) It's difficult to "layer" a shallow bed. Normally an interesting garden grouping is done with subtle layers: High/Tall, Medium height, and Low/Short, with each layer providing visual interest for color, shape and texture. 2) Because of this difficulty, you are very dependent upon the ***basic background colors*** of your site. This means the house color, trim color, permanent shrubs, and lawn color. Too many people think of flowers, and forget that flowers are transitory. Here in coastal CA, leaves are EVERYTHING. The most boring beds are those where the flowering plants have green leaves the exact same color as the lawn and/or shrubs. This means that except for the 6 weeks or so your plants are in flower, the rest of the time they fade into one big sea of grass-green. Although this is a wider bed (3' deep, shady side), you can imagine these foliage plants in back of a green lawn and understand how height, texture, leaf shape and color still allow them to show up in contrast to grass: Roses love the Bay Area but many, even in tree standards, grow "out and around". This makes them unsuitable for narrow beds unless you have the "head room" - you don't want to fight rose thorns when you're mowing the lawn, trust me! Roses lean towards the sun; the only tree rose I have that stays quite upright is partially shaded by the plants along the fence so it naturally seeks to grow up and not out like the others do. It's "Intrigue", and as you can see, it has spread over 4' across seeking the sun: As mentioned above, plants lean towards the open spaces, like this long view. The bed on the left is 18" deep; on the right it's 12" deep. The "Intrigue" rose shown above is about 3' past that big flowering pink "Delany Sisters" standard on the LH side: Here is a closer look at the top of the 18" bed against our tan stucco house. L-R, top layer: Variegated golden euonymus, "Double Delight" tea rose, "Delany Sisters" floribunda tree rose, J&P "Ladies in Waiting shrub rose. L-R, bottom layer: green-leaved shrub pelargonium, black flowering Aeonium ("Rubrum", I think), yellow kalanchoe, variegated Iris pallida, ceratostigma groundcover (which I would never plant again, it's impossible to remove): Opposite this stucco wall is a 6' dark wood fence. This is a great backdrop for lighter colored or variegated plants, like the following ones. L-R shows a variegated rhamnus (nice narrow tree, gets to no more than 12') shading orange-flowering clivia (shade plant) at its feet; fancy-leaf pelargonium hybrid "Vancouver Bicentennial" with its reddish-orange flowers; silver liriope; variegated English boxwood: HTH, and good luck!

If you were to lobby for one, with iVillage, then perhaps it could be to create an FAQ resource. I think you would have to think regionally: someone in the wilds of Canada wouldn't be massively troubled by kudzu, for example, but may be troubled by thistles. If it is a resource to use - evidence based - for approaching your local or regional government to assist, through resourcing (such as advertising, or organising clean-up gangs) and legislative changes - fine. Or as a come-to resource, perhaps made known to Citizens Advice Bureaux or similar agencies, for private individuals to know their rights and responsibilities when battling thug plants. As an aside - it is crucial that 'Wars Against Weeds' are sustained in order to contain the species that's invading. For example - here in NZ we had nasella tussock grass brought in with ordinary grass seed. We developed teams of inspectors to go round farms and identify the problem, then require the landholder to clear it because it seriously affects one of our key export products. In some places woodlots were planted and left - because the seeds can remain viable in the topsoil for more than thirty years. That's the level of commitment and the duration required to contain a pest plant. We totally failed with Ulex europaeus (aka gorse or furze) and it was left to bloom gloriously on hillsides until it becomes shaded out by taller growing trees - native or plantation. Info on invasives is useful. Action on invasives is a long term and sustained effort.