Having taken some time…at least fifteen seconds…in contemplating what I did to the garden last year, and what I might do this year, I think my best course of action, right now, would be to stay inside with all the curtains drawn, for at least two months.
Aeonopsis cabulica. Has another name, too. More of Cindy’s earlier digital photographs
In fact I just walked around the garden (it’s 60 here today), and there were empty spaces everywhere. The amount of room I have for new plants this year is absolutely astonishing. It’s like there was almost nothing at all in the garden last year.
flower spike of Asphodeline damascena
Now, the tiny rational part of my mind, the part that doesn’t have much to do with gardening, knows that can’t possibly be true. There was barely enough room to move around last year without stepping on a plant. The area by the front porch, that looked to me this morning like it had room for six or eight enormous agaves, really has room for none. I planted half a dozen Fritillaria persica there last winter, and I don’t want to be reminded of that expensive fact in the usual way.
Saxifraga longifolia
So I better stay inside.
If it snows, I could build a snow squirrel.
I’ll have to teach the dog to fill the bird feeders, and maybe even pick up after himself. The dogs were taught to pick their own raspberries, so anything is possible.
Slipper
the miserable gardener 
Smart dog…does he dig your holes for you too? The Aeonopsis looks like a desert plant, but I would do anything to please it.
It’s a.k.a. Bukiniczia cabulica, in the thrift family, a biennial from Pakistan and Afghanistan. (Cabulica, Kabul, I guess.) Look like a little sea lavender when it blooms, and then it’s gone.
I was immediately taken with the Asphodeline damascena and went to find more images (google). Of course the first to come up were from Panayoti’s blog and he called it one of Bob Nold’s signature plants, nice!
Can I ask how long the leaves are on your (gorgeous) Saxifraga longifolia?
And that raspberry business would be Lila’s dream come true! I’ve caught her doing the same with tomato plants too close to the sidewalk.
I got the asphodeline at a plant sale when Alplains was there, maybe in Vail in 1994, and it’s been here ever since. Seeds around a lot on one raised bed; biennnial. I call it A. damascena because that’s what the label said. Very scientific.
Sax. longifolia is monocarpic; in a good year with rain, the leaves can get 6 inches long. It’s nice when it blooms, but then that’s it.
Our first border collie, Flurry, went into the garden to pick his own strawberries, without being taught.
That’s one unusual humming bird visiting your raspberry bushes, let’s hope he didn’t try to perch on a branch. Aeonopsis cabulica has beautiful leaves!
Yes, he was kind of an unusual dog, but then, border collies are.
The leaves on the aeonopsis are like plastic, almost. Biennial, though.
Loved these pictures, especially that Aenopsis! Ye, I am often tricked into thinking I have plenty of room for new plants, in the middle of winter, when everything has been cut back. It’s so easy to forget (or to selectively remember). “Of course, I have enough room there for a new plant!” I am almost ashamed to admit, the garden has already seduced me into foreswearing my New Year’s resolutions to ignore it this year.
I loved the photo sequence of your dog picking raspberries! So clever.
I have to admit I’ve already ordered rather a large number of plants ….. But in my defense, these are mostly for the troughs, where losses have been great in the last few years, owing to the laziness of the garden staff here.