Wide Shots - November 2014

The big news here is that we got rain!  According to my rain gauge, it totaled about 1/2 an inch (1.3 cm).  That may not be much in the views of those of you in other parts but it's a fabulous start to our short rainy season.  The clouds are mixed with blue sky now but we had brief showers off and on this morning, which complicated the task of taking photos for this post as the light was gloomy one moment and sunny the next.

The Vincent Thomas Bridge spanning the Port of Los Angeles early this morning

The bridge a few hours later

Without further ado, here are today's wide shots of my garden, taken in connection with the meme sponsored by Heather at Xericstyle.  We'll start with the backyard.

View from the back door when the sun was shining

View from the backyard patio looking south

View from the far side of the patio

View from even further back, showing the bed formerly occupied by a "snorkel spa" and my newest backyard bed, partially planted just this week

View of the backyard looking north

You may have noticed cages of various sorts within the beds in the backyard.  I'm using tomato cages, gopher cages and similar contraptions to protect recently installed plants from my ever-present and unruly raccoon and skunk visitors.  For the most part that's working, even if it's not attractive.  Once the plants are firmly rooted, I'll remove the cages.  As you may can see in the next set of photos, they're in the south side garden as well.

View of south side borders, photographed from a pathway behind the backyard border

View of the same borders from the south side patio

View of the side garden looking through the arbor toward the harbor from the front yard

Although it's not readily visible, most of my efforts during the past month have gone into the front yard as my husband and I continue work to prepare the area formerly covered with lawn (and lawn-like weeds) for planting.  We finished digging out the area to the left of the walkway, which was a combination of hard-packed clay, rocks and decomposing rock.  The back half of the larger area to the right of the pathway has also been cleared of grass roots, sod netting, and mountains of rock gravel but we still have work to do in the front half of the area.

The front of the house, photographed from the driveway

The area to the left of the path, which we've dug out and replenished with imported topsoil

The partially completed area to the right of the front pathway

The back area has been cleared and new topsoil has been added but the area adjoining the front pathway still requires work before we can add pathways and start planting the cleared area

Although there's plenty to do before I can do much planting in the front yard, that hasn't stopped me from picking up new plants when I find those on my "must have" list.  The vegetable garden, still woefully neglected, has become the staging area for many of those new acquisitions.

Plants in need of a home can be seen stacked up against the first raised bed

I've done a little clean-up and planting in the dry garden.

The Cuphea in the foreground look sad now but they should quickly rebound from their severe pruning

The back slope got about an hour of work.  It needs much more but it's not a priority for me right now.

The only area other than the front yard that has received much attention is the street-side succulent border and it still needs more work.

That's it for this month's wide shots of my garden.  I'll end this photo-heavy post with a couple more pictures of the view from our backyard.

Rain in the bay beyond Angel's Gate, the entrance to the Port of Los Angeles

View of the harbor a few hours later

All material © 2012-2014 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party