Talk about getting people's attention. In Portland, Ore., the garden of Nani Waddoup and Ron Wagner is featured in local guidebooks with a photo of a giant Escallonia head that welcomes you. While this "Edward Scissorhands" sculpture may not be to everyone's taste, you know right away that the gardeners there have a sense of humor.

The garden is among the more distinctive private ones I visited last year that have two qualities: They offer immediate impact and a sense of place.

see caption (ENLARGE)
Sacred lily
Erica Glasener / Special (ENLARGE)
A giant Escallonia head makes quite the garden statement, as visitor Hillary Miles, a TV field producer, discovers.
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ERICA'S PICK Sacred lily Botanical name: Rohdea japonica About the plant: For drama in the shade garden, sacred lily offers bold architectural foliage. Thick evergreen leaves, 1 foot long and 2 inches wide, form an upright clump. Red berries appear at the end of the season and add to its charm. Use in the garden: Use this plant for a focal point or in combination with other shade-loving plants like hardy gingers, hostas and ferns. Planting and care: Plant Rohdea in partial or full shade in well-drained soil. Trim any unsightly leaves in early spring before new growth appears. Source: McMahan's Nursery, 5727 Cleveland Highway, Clermont; 770-983-3666.

From the head at the street, visitors follow a curving path, with lush plant combinations on either side, to Ron and Nani's house, where the garden is greener and more refined. A large urn, collected on one of their many trips to Thailand, is placed on a bed of gravel in the center of the lawn. Unlike the festive entrance, the colors here are limited mostly to green and chartreuse, with the exception of the bright orange umbrella, also from Thailand. Evergreen shrubs and large conifers reflect the Pacific Northwest, and dwarf golden oregano makes an effective ground cover and edging plant. Immediately next to the house, a concrete patio is the result of a project when Nani taught friends how to make steppingstones.

In another part of the country with a very different climate, James David and Gary Peese have created a garden that is perfect for its Austin, Texas, location. The first thing you notice as you walk or drive by is the lack of a traditional front lawn.

Instead, James, who is a garden designer, has masses of plants surrounded by gravel paths that lead to the front door and out to the street. As you approach the house, it becomes more formal, with a stone patio and groupings of pots of various sizes and shapes. Shrubs pruned to show off their form and architectural plants make a dramatic impact. For James, the gravel and stones symbolize water, and boxwoods act like clouds.

Wonderful plants like cupheas, salvias including Salvia confertifolia from Brazil, a Mexican firebush — Hamelia patens, with bright orange tubular flowers — and various succulents grow directly out of the gravel. James grows a few roses that he has found do well in Austin, including 'La Mortola', a great climber with fragrant white flowers, and the shrub rose Rosa mutabilis, also known as the butterfly rose.

Like Nani and Ron's garden, James and Gary's landscape highlights its location and is a skillful combination of plants and formal features.

Erica Glasener is an Atlanta horticulturist and host of HGTV's "A Gardener's Diary." Her column on landscape design appears biweekly. Write to her in care of AJC Home & Garden, P.O. Box 4689, Atlanta, GA 30302. Or e-mail her at ericalittlesproutmedia@yahoo.com.