This view is from the "street" (actually an end-of-the-road circle) near the sidewalk that leads from the front door of our house. Loosely piled landscaping beams form a rough zig-zagging fence, two beams high, from the end of the walk and around in what would be an "L" shap if it weren't changing directions constantly.

This is planned to be an English-style Cottage Garden done primarily in native and xeriscape plants (I mix gardening styles like some people mix ingredients to make potting soil). Right now, starting from right across from where my feet were when I took this photo, I have "Firebush", "Russian Sage", "Blue Salvia" (which is the first tiny bit of green you see on the yard side), and a "Winecup", and then "Dwarf Fountain Grass" (you can almost see it -- it has a crewcut --,  just before the first turn in the beam), two more "Blue Salvia", then a plant I never did catch the name of (it's a pale pink and may be a salvia), followed by a series of several "Salvia Greggii" in shades of red and raspberry, accompanied on one side by "Pink Evening Primrose" and on the other by "Wine Cup". About where the beam disappears off the side, I have "Gaura 'Sikiyou Pink'" near more "Pink Evening Primrose". Along the line you can just see reappearing from the left are primarily seeds: more "Pink Evening Primrose", "Pagoda Penstemon", and "Silver Lupine." This is the area where I plan to put some great early-blooming perennials as I discover them in the spring (as well as tucking others in elsewhere as space and growth habits allow).

Next you can see a white plant marker near another crew-cut "Dwarf Fountain Grass" (more "Silver Lupine" seeds are growing to the right, and coming up well there), followed by a "Plumbago" with the truest blue flowers I've seen on this species. Next is a tiny pink miniature crepe myrtle, then a common blue plumbago, which brings us to the mesquite tree that was already there when we started. Miri has pruned it into a quite nice tree, I think. After the mesquite is a "Washington Hawthorn" with leaves turning brown at the edges (clearly I'm doing something wrong, but it may survive).