My wife loves maples and I like them too. We saw this one at Butchart gardens in Victoria two years ago. I think I could learn to love the mess they leave. Oops, picked the wrong photo.

They sure are amazing. Aeoniums are very fussy about not being in too much heat or they will shrivel up and be an eyesore. But given the benign conditions they want, they require very little soil or water. A while back I posted about filling in one side of an archway with branches I'd pruned from the larger A. arboreum cultivars. Honestly the bottom of the cut branches scarcely need to touch the ground to get what they require and I can't recall ever watering them directly but there are roses nearby which I do. It isn't as if their root system can compete. I find them amazing too.

@MarkWD Luckily, here it seldom gets above the mid-70's. If you can watch the video. It shows a totally dead looking moss. When water was poured over it, it turned green. There were numerous shots of different deserts before and after rain. It was said some seeds have been germinated after 30,000 years! Pretty unbelievable.

@JackPedigo Yep at about 13 minutes in. In so many ways plants seem more durable than animals.

Thanks. I like to see that look of abundance too, but surrounded with sufficient negative space to accentuate the difference. Especially in an area of scarce water it is good to have generous amounts of unplanted open space whether gravel, pathways or low structures. If I had less space to begin with it would be hard to satisfy my interest in interesting plants without filling the entire space but I have 8800 sq ft not counting the foot print of the building and with the paver driveway sitting on a good chunk of that as well as three decks, a gravel area and numerous paths. Frankly I think my driveway is the biggest deficit visually and that is why you'll rarely see it.

@MarkWD important question.... how do you keep the weeds out of your gravel?

@Heidi68 periodically I weed it. I can’t say it is any worse than the paver driveway or the PG pathways. I haven’t had to weed it much yet this year.

@MarkWD I have a rock/gravel type patio area and I cannot keep up with the weeds/grass.

@Heidi68 Perhaps one advantage is lack of rainfall between some time in spring until the next winter. Not sure why they seem to grow so much better in the cracks of my paver driveway. Weeding the driveway is my least favorite activity in the garden.

@MarkWD weeding. Period. Is my least favorite activity....

Yep we have native Monkey flower in northern California too. I'm not sure if the new cultivars are bred from the same species that is so prevalent up here or from others I don't know about.