A pleasure to look at your pictures. You have a good eye for color, texture and placement. I really do like all the color in second picture. What's the plant called that is contributing the patch of vibrant blue in left foreground?

Have to confess I only saw first three photos which took about 20 minutes to download. My phone modem connection is no match for large picture files. My loss!

If you have time take a look at four pictures (E. huascha and E. multiplex buds/blooms) I posted at Desert Garden gallery. Excuse the fact that I messed up and hit the submit button repeatedly. I notified Garden Web by e-mail about the problem. Hope they can clean it up!

Call me goofus

Here is a link that might be useful: Desert Garden Gallery

I'll vote #2 & #4, with #4 taking the ribbon. Those two pics show a LOT of color and variety. I like the contrast of the clay pot in #4 within the frame. I would like to see a eye level/plant horizon pic of number four (possibly shoot the pic while squatting)

;)

Thanks you two, to be quite honest, not much effort was put into it. Just sort of planted and hoped for the best lol... glad you enjoyed :)

superb, that light blue plant is Lavandula angustifolia 'hidcote'
I will take a look at your pics for sure! I love cactus blooms!

Mangled, here's a top down, and can tame one while squatin down eye level if ya want. Pardon the the void in the back, had to cut the heliotrope back.
{{gwi:405577}}

Very nice color combinations!

Great pics! Like the others said (and as I've said in the past, LOL) you have a great eye for combining plants. Really, really nice! I haven't seen Abelia in ages, yours looks great! Who is making all of those small yellow flowers in pic #4 (mixed in with the coreopsis and iris, to the left of the Verbena bonariensis)??

Everything looks grand, thanks again for sharing the pics. Don't be shy about continuing. It's a treat to see.

Take care,
Grant

Thanks Grant, those yellow guys would be statice :) I've had non-stop color on those for god knows how long. The best thing about em is, you can leave em there even if the plant dies or until at least the stems finally dry up and wither lol... I planted some cleome next to it hoping it can take over after the statice finally does give way this summer.

I'll share more when I finally get the back yard in order. This will only be my second year in my house this june.. Lots of hopes and dreams to accomplish... Especially my veggie patch(s) which I can't wait to start!

Oh, and Grant, if you ever decide to try statice, I recommend doing it from seed... Nursery bought ones usually have a curled tap root which is no good for these babies... I made that mistake this year... :( they are pretty top heavy, they'll need a nice long tap root to really be stable and look their best.

Judy, thank you! :)

ant - is that lamb's ears in the third pic? My mom has them in northern NM, and I loved the texture and color but wasn't sure if they'd make it here. . .

your color and style (texture, size, shape) combos are wonderful, I just want to plop down on your lawn and just stare! And irises!!! really? they're beautiful!

I look at pictures like yours and feel two things: 1. extreme jealousy ;-) and 2. optimism for the future of my garden. . .

antm0,

SWEET pic ... thanks for that second shot. I like the "rays" that are coming down from top right to bottom left, cool natural effect, adds to the beautiful flowers :)

zz, thank you for taking a gander :) You would be correct about lambs ear. I am not sure how they would do in the open full sun. I have always had companion plants around it, but it still gets a nice dose of full sun all year facing south. It took almost 2 years for it to come into bloom after initially planting it. Those iris's... Oh boy! I've personaly never seen one bloom up into June. It has been quite the little beast.

p.s. Don't be jelous, anyone can do it :)

That's it!! From now on, I'm crammin' more stuff into less space!!

Beautiful, just beautiful!

I had no clue that Lambs Ear bloomed like that.

Thanks for the ID on the yellow flower. I was wondering if it was statice or maybe Mexican tarragon. Good to get confirmation. Thanks for the tip about doing statice from seed--I always feel the same way about celosia too: root bound or curled root container plants end up being stunted and not performing as well. I'm not doing celosia (cockscomb) this year (yet, LOL) but when I do I prefer seed just as you mentioned. Good point!

Thanks for the eye candy, keep the pics coming!
Grant