A garden is more than the sum of its plants, it's all about the relationships (Front Garden Tour 2022, Ch 2)

 One of the dry ferns, maybe Cheilanthes lanosa? (I can't keep track)
Berkheya purpurea recovering from rabbit munching.
This little guy! A rooted cutting from a well known plant here in Portland. I'm not sure when it flopped, but I'm very excited to see the new sprouts!
Erica arborea var. alpina in the foreground, hiding an Agave parryi 'JC Raulston'.
The agave (and pup) revealed!
The juniper (Juniperus conferta 'Blue Pacific') has been pretty good about growing around—rather than over—the agave pup.
We'll see this corner again in a bit, from the other side—but I thought it would be a good shot to help establish place. That's the neighbor's driveway seen over the Ceanothus gloriosus, juniper, and through the trunks of both Tetrapanx papyrifer and Arctostaphylos densiflora 'Harmony'. 
Arctostaphylos 'Monica'—another plant that I am considering removing. Three large arctostaphylos might be just one too many in my small front garden, and this is my least favorite.
What I would really like to draw your attention to in the photo above, as well as the next few below, is the ground plane. This is a section of my front garden that I haven't actually been able to set foot in for a couple years now.
Ground cover, spikes, dense planting. I just look in and hope that everything is doing okay, cause I can't get too close! I lean in from the edges and try to keep things from getting to out of hand. Yes, that's another dryland fern in the mix.
It does kind of thrill me though, to know that there are "wilds" even in my small urban front garden.
Moving just slightly to the left (south), things are still quite cramscaped. And to think Agave parryi 'JC Raulston' is supposed to be solitary! The shrubs are Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum 'Hindwarf' and Corokia cotoneaster,
Corokia cotoneaster berry.
Pulled back...
Another angle...
My oldest Erica arborea var. alpina. This one and the one you saw previously started out as tiny 5 or 6" tall plants in a 4" container. It still kind of shocks me to see them now, as plants of size.
Their texture can't be beat, especially against an arctostaphylos branch.
We were about 3/4 of the way along the public sidewalk as it borders our lot, headed south, when I took the above photo. Now I've backed up and I'm standing at the end of the neighbors driveway (on our property's northside) looking up at the Tetrapanax papyrifer. I guess I took the concept of following my watering pathway quite literally when I snapped these photos—working in each direction as far as the hose will reach—and I didn't really feel like taking the time to re-order them for this post. Apologies for any resulting confusion.

Here's the base of the tetrapanax, Arctostaphylos densiflora 'Harmony', more the ceanothus ground-cover you saw earlier, and Podocarpus alpinus ‘Orangeade.

I've now gone back around with the imaginary hose in tow (if you didn't read Monday's post this tour was inspired by time spent hand watering the garden) via the upper sidewalk and I'm back down on the public sidewalk, very near where the Agave 'Sharkskin' and Echium wildpretii shot was taken, just three photos up. Here we're looking at the hellstrip yuccas, along with a sedum that came from my house in Spokane and has planted itself all around the garden.

Turning back towards the garden proper now; Agave parryi 'JC Raulston' (I have several) at the base of Arctostaphylos x ‘Austin Griffiths’ with a Juniperus conferta 'Blue Pacific' carpet.
A large branch of the arctostaphylos just finishing up it's annual peel. It's amazing to watch the bark crack and peel away, the smooth green skin under the dark curls looks so vulnerable, but soon it's dark too. Yes, the feathery texture belongs to Erica arborea var. alpina, which I showered my compliments on above.
Glancing north, across a bit of the front garden we just visited.
And now at the southeast corner, where the public sidewalk meets our driveway. Yucca rostrata standing proud, surrounded by Agave ovatifolia, A. protamericana 'Silver Surfer' and an A. bracteosa just above a small Artemisia versicolor 'Sea Foam'.
Agave 'Sharkskin' in front of a floppy Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple'. I pollard the cotinus to encourage big colorful foliage, but this spring was so cool and wet that it grew a little crazy and flopped all over the place.
Another look at the corner plantings, with 'Austin Griffiths' showing off his legs. You can see the cotinus curling and laying on the left Yucca rostrata for support.
Slightly wider angle.
This Agave ovatifolia 'Frosty Blue' really illustrates how dependent agaves are on summer water for growth. The two up by the front door (at the start of this post) get a lot more water than this one does, and it shows! They're older (2011 vs 2017) but still, this guy is somewhat stunted by a lack of water. 
Not that he's any less handsome, just smaller.
I cut back so many renegade cotinus branches, this one was so extreme it got to stay.
Itty bitty lil agave in the juniper! Not for long though, it's Agave ovatifolia 'Giant Form' (seed grown by Maggie Soderstrom) and planted where I can be sure to give it enough summer water to move it along in size.
We're nearing the end of this post now, back up on the sidewalk heading to the front door.
Artemisia ludoviciana 'Valerie Finnis', seedpods and foliage of Callistemon 'Woodlanders Hardy Red', and an agave arm (Agave salmiana).
The much mentioned cotinus, with Pittosporum anomalum.
Woodwardia unigemmata at the base of the Fatsia japonica. It was a toss up whether I planted this fern here, or tried an agave. I know, who would have thought!? One getting slightly more shade than it wanted, one getting a little more sun. The woodwardia has done great. If I take the fatsia out (as I discussed doing in Chapter 1 of this post) then maybe it's time for an agave to step in?
The last picture from the Front Garden Tour 2022—my Hover Dish planter with assorted agaves and opunita. It's doing pretty good... there was a blooming dandelion in the mix earlier in the summer!

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