Spring Inspiration

It's the first day of March, and it was above 70 degrees today. Spring really will be here soon. To keep from just going out and planting plants (only to watch them die if when we get another frost), I'm looking for inspiration to redo (or do the first time) some of the planting beds. These pictures are from my last trip to the Getty:

This succulent bed was pretty cool - I think I can recreate some of these combinations in the pipe garden.

I like the 'aurora' Sedum and that black rosette combination

 One of those black succulents made it though the winter, so I think I will try to create this combination with it. And the normal form of that sedum has grown in the front garden for the last few years.

This is another interesting color combo:

sprawling golden sedum and a pink rosette

 I have a (rather large) Echeveria that mostly made it through the winter. I might add some of the golden sedum to that same planter, after I remove some of the other plants.

This is a good idea for filling up empty space:

A Nasturtium vine crawling through a bed

 I did something similar last year with the melon vines. This year, I might tempt my absolute lack of luck starting anything from seed, and see if I can get some Nasturtiums to grow in the part-shade bed. They'll need part shade in our hot summer, I think. For the full sun beds, I'm trying to find some other alternatives, since last year, the melons got eaten by aphids...

I had to include this picture of an agave, I think. At first, I though it was a Phormium tenax of some sort, but it's not

That stripe is gorgeous!

I'm still looking for something to anchor the front garden bed -something with some height, and something unique. This guy is probably not hardy in our winters, but something like this might work really well...