Which way do the walls face?

What time of day did you take the pictures?

You have a wonderful place to garden and you're starting out with a clean slate!

Mike

You have nearly endless choices :-) As long as the area receives at least 4-6 hours of sun daily you can choose from heaths and heathers, dwarf conifers, low growing hebes, dwarf pieris, dwarf abelia, Nandina 'Gulf Stream' or 'Tuscan Flame', Viburnum davidii and the everpresent NW BLE's like rhodies and azaleas. You can always augment with some more colorful perennials and low growing ornamental grasses and an almost never-ending selection of deciduous shrubs as well but the above listed evergreens should get you the most bang for the least maintenance buck :-))

The photos were taken in the evening around 8ish. The area recieves at least 5 hours of sun I would say. The Rockwall faces South West.. more West though.

Thank, Gardengal, I will definitely have to look up most of those plants to see what we like.

"I have spent hours pulling a friends gift that turned into a thug and tried to take over my whole garden."

LOL!! I hope it wasn't one of mine :-) But then, I tried very hard to NOT to include thugs in my garden in the first place!! There wasn't enough room for the more unusual shrubs and perennials I wanted to include, let alone something less desirable that wanted to take over the entire garden.

Of course not! The worst ones came from big open swaps - people brought plants that had overgrown in their gardens and I was very new to the area and did not realize that a great plant in one zone, can be a terrible thug in another. Who knew that the cute little striped grass would try to create a lawn in my border! A lovely columbine would try to take over my garden and the rest of the neighborhood in one growing season. lol

Planting and maintaining a rockery is a particular challenge and unless you are as agile as a mountain goat, you want self cleaning, slow growing plants that will smother out weeds and uninvited guests. An experienced designer will save you money and hours of maintenance by using the right plants for the location.

Agave would look good planted between the large rocks. There are many species hardy in the PNW, expecially if planted at an angle to drain away winter rain water from their center and roots. Yucca and several species of cactus can also be grown in that area. The native cactus, Opuntia fragilis, the native cactus found growing on and around Vancouver lsland are hardy. There are several other species that are hardy for the winter/cool PNW. Some evergreen shrubs are plants in the genus Arctostaphylos, Ceanothus, Grevilleas, Myrtle, and plus many more drought tolerant interesting shrubs. Like Mike said, "...you're starting out with a clean slate!" So you can build the garden you want, If it doesn't work pull out the plants you don't want and replant with another.

I second the suggestion of an experienced designer. That is a big space. I'm terribly jealous. Love rocks. You can stuff sedums between the cracks. Candy tuft is evergreen so are heaths and heathers. Dwarf rhodies and azaleas. There are some lovely tiny conifers. Beware anyone offering freebies is great advice too. They often have extras because of how much they spread...

I really like this garden idea with rocks + water. What are you thoughts about this?