I came across pictures of this home in Santa Fe designed by architect Gayla Bechtol on Pinterest, and noticed that the outdoor area had exactly the elements I have in my much smaller garden: a curved sandstone walk with a narrow strip garden against the house and a moss rock bordered garden on the other side. A curved river of gravel separates the walk and the moss rock border.
A white trunk aspen, and two red metal chairs are points of interest in her garden and in mine.
The pictures I copied from Pinterest aren't great, but I had an immediate flash of recognition as I saw these photos. These are the exact design elements of my garden.
But of course mine is smaller, the walkway is narrower, and the curved line of moss rocks is not the stacked wall with raised garden behind it that I had wanted. My rocks form a flat curvy line, not a raised wall.
And my river of gravel is gray round pebbles which don't go with the walk or rock border.
Since I had mature plants already in the space when we created the new garden bounded by moss rocks, it wasn't feasible to raise the level of soil by a foot or more to create a higher garden behind a stacked wall.
In fact my levels are the opposite of the designer's -- my walkway is elevated and the pebble river and garden are sunk slightly below it.
I can't duplicate the designer's levels or more substantial rock wall. I will have to use plants to soften the line of rocks, letting some of them drift over the edges of the pebble river. By filling the open mulched space the rocks will blend in and look a bit more like the edges of a garden.
Not raised, not bordered inside a wall, but still more like a separate garden.
This was kind of fun, seeing the exact elements and layout of my own garden in a nearby garden here in town, just from randomly wandering around Pinterest.