Second group of photos. Still on the front yard, this bed is between our garage driveway and the fence that borders our property. I have been redoing this bed over the last year. It is centered around a wonderful variegated sweetgum, but the plants I was using were too similar a shade of green. It should look better next year!

The front end of this bed. A tall vigorous variegated pelargonium against the fence, followed by a second "Electric Blanket" shrub rose. An aeonium is putting forth strange curving pink flower spikes behind a silver lavender. Another pelargonium is in flower on the far left side:
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At the back of this bed, a new "Thompsonii" abutilon:
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Next to it is a "Gingersnap" tree rose. The color fades as the blooms age, but when backlit, they are showstoppers:
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Continuing past the garage, this is the sunny south-facing side of the house. Those beds are narrow, and it's a constant fight to keep the path clear! Those plants are staked, pruned, and propped up with plant ladders, LOL. This is where I grow most of my roses and all the sunlovers, like cannas, passifloras, sedums, oleander, and ceratostigma:
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Two stems of "Delany Sisters" roses from this bed, with limonium and senecio, in the vase:
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"Double Delight" rose:
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Aeonium and ceratostigma:
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Another J&P standout, "Ladies in Waiting" shrub rose. Lovely scent, but wilts when cut. The trellises hold a purple passiflora vine along with a nasturtium:
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Closeup of the passiflora:
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Continuing down the side path, one of my favorites, the citrus-scented "Intrigue" tree rose:
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Opposite the "Intrigue" rose, against the fence, a "Sister Mary Agnes" white oleander trained as a small tree hangs over the path and provides welcome shade:
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I thought this "Nabob" abutilon, next to the oleander, had died of scale and aphids, so I cut most of it down over a year ago. To my surprise, a shoot sprang up and put out a bloom this week:
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Now we move into the backyard, which is divided into two halves and makes up over half the property. Almost always in flower are the Meyer lemons - we have three mature ones, and are always giving lemons away. The flowers have a deep, strong, heavy sweet scent, and look like miniature orchids. Meyers are self-pruning; most of these flowers will fall off, with only 1-4 lemons actually forming:
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The Bearss Lime tree is also flowering. It's finally doing well in this bed and I actually got some limes this year. It's much less vigorous than the Meyers:
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A red oleander:
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A white pelargonium. The leaves are an ordinary green and the flowers plain white...but it blooms virtually all year long and lives on runoff during our bone-dry summers. An amazing plant:
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Lastly, a hellebore. This one stays in bloom 7-9 months out of the year:
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Hi Jkom51,
just viewed all your lovely photographs,..stunning collection,..of course i was watching out for that Erysimum linifolium,..it does look similar of course and as you say the blooms are different,..love that "Gingersnap",Tree Rose,..the Passiflora,..that "Thompsonii" abutilon,..not forgetting the Limonium,..i could go on listing the remainder as well,..there are so many attractions,..and the garden setting,..all lovely to look at.

Philip

Beautiful...your gardens and your photography.

Thank you both for the kind words! We don't have large property lots compared to most of the US, so I find it funny when people say they "only have half an acre"! In the San Francisco Bay Area one is lucky to have anything over 4,000 sq. ft.

Our lot is one-sixth of an acre, just under 6K sq.ft., and even with considerable hardscape there is still about 2100 sq. ft. of garden beds. All of them have to be fertilized, pruned, weeded by hand, mulched - I can't figure out how anyone could handle more garden than what we have! But I love the cottage garden look and think we pulled off a good CA equivalent of it.

I think you pulled it off very well.Love all your plants and flowers and the way they are displayed.My gardens didn't do as well this summer as they usually do,too dang hot and humid down here in S.Ca.And along with the heat we're battleing racoons/skunks tearing up our lawn in the backyard.

If it ain't one thing it's something else.
TFS your gardens.
Kathi

You may not have a lot of acreage, but you certainly have filled every square inch you have with beautiful plants. I love that it is just so full. Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful! My garden looks like poop at this time of year. It's good to see that it doesn't have to!