Last month, Heather of
Xericstyle introduced a new meme focused on providing big picture views of bloggers' gardens. I joined in, showing pictures of my backyard border. I'll show another wide shot of that border in this post but, this month, I thought I'd also feature a wide shot of my side yard, which is currently undergoing a major overhaul. This section of my garden changed dramatically in February, when we removed a 60 foot Eucalyptus tree at the request of a neighbor who said it blocked her view. I wrote about that event
here.
I've also featured pictures of the changes to my side yard garden on several occasions (see the posts
here and
here). The side yard is my current obsession so it seemed fitting to share a big picture view of the progress, even if my fall planting effort is far from finished. Here are a few pictures of the area taken from different viewpoints.
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| View of side yard looking out in the direction of the street |
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| View from the side yard patio looking in the direction of the neighbor's house |
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| View looking toward the harbor socked in with the usual morning haze |
There's still a lot of empty ground to cover but I'm chipping away at it. I'll show my most recent additions in a future post.
As I reported
here, I lost a number of plants in the backyard border in late summer - or, more accurately, I finally held wakes for these plants in September. This weekend, I filled in a few of the holes, although many gaps remain. Here are some updated views:
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| View of back border looking toward harbor (mid-morning) |
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| View of border from left side where the Mexican Bush Sage is now blooming (late afternoon) |
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| View of border from the right side which, other than the loss of a couple of plants, hasn't changed much since last month (late afternoon) |
Plants recently added to the left side of the back border include:
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| Argyranthemum frutescens 'Comet Pink' |
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| Phormium 'Dark Delight' |
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| Savia greggii |
As the biggest draw of the backyard is still the view, I thought I'd throw in a long shot of the harbor. The cruise ships are back for the fall/winter season.
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| Cruise ship (no ID!) passing through the LA harbor out toward open ocean |
That's it for my October wide shots. Please visit Heather's
Xericstyle blog for her view this month, plus links to other gardeners' contributions.
Lookin' good! I really like your paths in your side garden a lot. I have been wanting to add more flagstone around here. It really sets off the bed in-between well - good job. I would kill for your view! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting this meme, Heather!
DeleteWhat an amazing place to live, do you get a lot of salt winds in the garden, why did the plants die?
ReplyDeleteWe sit 700+ feet above sea level over the harbor, which is itself tucked to the side of the open sea. While we're often affected by the fog that blankets the harbor, sadly we don't get the cool sea breezes that come off the open ocean to the west. We're much more affected by the strong Santa Ana winds that come from the deserts to the east. Drought, combined with high temps and stingy irrigation, is responsible for my plant losses.
DeleteWow, that's quite a garden! Sorry about your drought. We've been having a tough time in Texas as well. I've been replacing all my dead plants with more xeric ones. It's hard though, because I'm more attracted to plants like that Acanthus Mollis I saw in one of your pics. How does that handle dry conditions?
ReplyDeleteThe Acanthus were on a 2x/week sprinkler schedule and got some supplemental irrigation beyond that. However, one was very negatively impacted by the combination of drought and high temperatures. I recently moved it to a shadier but still relatively dry area - we'll see how it does. The other 2, although labeled as Acanthus mollis, fared better, one doing especially well this year. I think these 2, which have foliage somewhat similar to A. spinosus, must be A. mollis 'Summer Beauty,' which is said to be heat tolerant.
DeleteWhat I wouldn't give for a view like that..and your side yard looks great! Love the pathway , the fork in the road, the pergola, very very nice !
ReplyDeleteThanks Kathy! I inherited the arbor with the house but the pathway is mostly our creation. We're going to add another leg across the new bed - hopefully, that won't be too busy-looking once the area's planted up.
DeleteLove the shot with the Salvia leucantha with grass giving movement in the background. It can't be easy to design a garden when the focal point is the view beyond but you seem to be nailing it.
ReplyDeleteI liked the Mexican bush sage in that that shot, too, Sue. One of the biggest problems presented by the view is the need to select plants that don't/won't grow tall enough to obscure it. Dealing with neighbors with view "issues" is bad enough - dealing with my husband on impairments to "his" view would be worse...
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