Here are some photos of my back garden as seen through the year. First, February; note that this photo is a couple of years old, and we didn't have the rooftop deck then so this photo was taken from a second floor window with a very different perspective on the garden:

This photo and the next show most clearly that I'm gardening on a terraced hillside in a very narrow urban lot (that's our garage at the top of the hilll). Since that photo I've taken out the large Photinia (upper left, just behind the dead basjoo pseudostems) and Aucuba (along garage at top of hill). The Photinia was making too much dense shade (especially on my banana) and the Aucubas were just an unkempt mess. I do need to replace the Photinia with something to hide the garage.

In spring, the garden starts waking up in April and May--probably the most dramatic change in the shortest period, especially when the japanese maple leafs out. Note that without leaves it's nearly invisible in the April photo. (To see the photos full-sized just click on the photo to go to my Flickr album, then click on "all sizes".)

May is an in-between time, after the spring bulbs have finished blooming but before the perennials start, or the annuals and bananas have made their appearances. One thing you'll notice in the April photo is that I don't do much garden cleanup in the fall. In fact I leave most leaves and stems where they fall, in part for protection and in part because it improves the soil as they decompose. I try not to let any organic matter leave my property, and everything ends up either in my compost "bin" (a very large plastic pot tucked under the deck) or directly on the soil. Every fall I collect leaves (mostly norway maple) from the front sidewalk and back alley, and also from my neighbor's yard, which I apply heavily as a winter mulch. It's very effective and improves the soil, although I do have to contend with thousands of maple seedlings that come up every spring. By spring it's reduced to about half and by early May, the worms have eaten pretty much all of it and I can see bare soil again.

June and July:

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Not many dramatic differences here, but things have filled in and summer perennials and annuals start to bloom. Musa basjoo puts out a lot of growth in just a few weeks, as does Tetrapanax. Both will almost double in size by the end of summer. By mid-summer the Japanese maple isn't as intensely colored and becomes more green as the summer progresses; by August it's usually showing stress (even with regular watering) and the leaves have crispy edges, because it's in full blazing sun all day, and doesn't have much root room. (Blame the former owner who planted it, not me!) Although it's not very "tropicalesque" it does provide shade for a lot of plants I couldn't grow otherwise, and the steps under its branches are a very pleasant place to sit on a hot sunny day.

Here is a link that might be useful: More recent photos