Because this is coastal Northern CA, tropicals have to be well protected, but many plants that are annual or deciduous elsewhere, are evergreen here. Enjoy!

Front yard in April:

Front yard in July:

Front yard in November:

Standing at front door steps, looking out at the front yard:

Sunny south side, March:

Same, in July:

Our back yard from my neighbor's back door - must be early December, the grill is covered and the maple is losing its leaves:

Shady north side:

And now...flowers! Lots and lots of 'em. First, purple Tibuouchina urvilleana and my variegated sweetgum in its fall foliage, so this must be around mid- to late November:

The striking variegated rhamnus leaves and tiny flowers, over an orange clivia:

A surprisingly good combo of Strobilanthes and "Mrs. Pollack" variegated pelargonium, but it didn't last. Strobilanthes hates our cold wet winters:

Tibouchina heteromalla has much more beautiful leaves than T. urvilleana, but the flowers are smaller and only show up once a year. But as a foliage plant, it's exquisite:

My "Joseph's Coat" climber RARELY does this - four colors on a single spray of blooms. It's happened only three times in the ten years I've owned it:

Bright red sage and vivid orange CA poppies:

A silver maple on top, a sun/moon plaque on an old shed wall, and a white calla to accent both:

Pink cestrum is beloved of hummers, but also black scale. It's managed to survive some bad attacks, and it's a flower powerhouse. It has been in bloom, on average, 50 weeks a year in the eleven years since it was planted:

I love foliage - this is a "Zulu Wonder" plectranthus fighting with "Copper Sunset" oxalis siliquosa:

Osteospermums reseed wildly when happy, and hybridize with abandon. White, pink, and purple merged into softly shaded pastels on this plant:

We have three Meyer lemon trees (actually, it's a bush that is usually grafted on dwarf rootstock). The scent of the tiny flowers is amazing:

I don't often put art in my beds, but I'm fond of Celtic crosses:

This beautiful combo didn't last - "Johnson's Blue" geranium and chartreuse feverfew. Deciduous plants have a hard time competing against all the evergreen plants I have:

You have to look fast to see the flowers of a "Sango Kaku" Japanese maple:

A friend gave me this unnamed Japanese maple, which has lovely emerging leaves in the spring, like little fans:

Our cold weather comes and goes; it can be 55 one day and 75 two days later. I timed this just right - the unknown Japanese maple is showing four brilliant leaf colors all at once:

More mixed foliage - there's variegated dianella, evergreen bearded iris, chartreuse plectranthus, scarlet iresine, and dark green hellebore:

I love this dark purple bearded iris with its evergreen foliage. Here it contrasts with "Copper Sunset" oxalis siliquosa and "Gold Dust" variegated aucuba:

I also have a deciduous bearded iris with light blue flowers and a perfume like Juicyfruit gum. The stalks are very tall and striking, with the flowers of a pink heuchera falling over it, and a chartreuse Lavatera olba shrub behind it:

Here's another clump of that deciduous iris, this time in bloom:

Cytisus (Scotch Broom) is a pest in CA, but this is surrounded by concrete. An "Atropurpurea" New Zealand flax (phormium) makes a contrasting backdrop:

It's hard to take a bad photo of a rose, but this "Gingersnap" is in the perfect spot. The sun backlights it almost all day long and the flowers simply glow. Even as they fade, the backlighting still makes it look beautiful:

Wonderful combinations of color, size and texture.
I like the way the sunlight plays in the garden. Every season has its uniqueness.

I miss the ocean and the mountains.

MeMo