Slow but steady progress

Late last month I provided an update on my progress with my lawn removal and replacement project.  Work continues and, while I'm making progress, it's slow.  With my former garden, a postage-stamp sized lot, I could bring home a trunk load of plants and utterly transform the space within hours.  My current garden absorbs trunk loads of plants - and hours upon hours of work - and still looks mighty bare.

Not much has happened on the narrow north end of the new backyard space.  The house itself shades much of the area after mid-day so I need plants that can tolerate dry shade.

Thus far, I've planted Seslaria 'Greenlee's Hybrid', a short clumping evergreen grass (shown on the left), and some Aeonium arboreum cuttings.  I want at least a dozen more of this Seslaria but I haven't been able to find it locally.  I have an endless supply of the Arboreum.

If we walk south on the paving stone path we come to the backyard patio, where I've begun installing succulents.  The soil in this area is sandy and plants must be able to handle full day sun.  I've bought a few succulents but I'm also using cuttings from elsewhere in the garden.  With no overall plan, it's a bit of a hodge-podge collection thus far.

In the bed to the north of the path's intersection with the patio (photo on the left), I'm planning to use plants with orange highlights, including Euphorbia tirucalli 'Sticks on Fire', which I clipped from a more mature specimen, and Aloe 'Blue Elf', which I moved from a pot I'd woefully neglected.  The middle photo shows the bed on the other side of the bisecting path, where I've planted Senecio vitalis cuttings and 2 Agave lophantha quadricolor.  Two pots, shown in close-up in the third photo, contain varieties of Kalanchoe and other noID succulents.

Beyond the patio on the right (west) side, I've added a larger number of plants but, as most were planted from small pots, they're not yet having much of an impact.

The fountain bed formerly ended where the Stipa tenuissima (Mexican feather grass) is planted

The left-hand photo shows Santolina chamaecyparrisus (green form), Lavandula x intermedia 'Phenomenal', Lavendula angustifolia 'Superblue' and Gazanias I've moved forward from the edge of the former bed; the middle photo shows Salvia chamaedryoides, Argyrantemum 'Madeira White', Euphorbia characias 'Black Pearl, and Santolina chamaecyparrissus (gray form); and the last photo shows Echium fastuosum 'Pride of Madeira', planted just in back of the Mexican feather grass to replace Coreopsis I've moved elsewhere

On the other (east) side of the path, I've tried to create continuity with the former backyard border by using more of the plants I already had there, most notably Erigeron and Achillea.

I moved Erigeron glaucus 'Ron's Pink' forward, added more Erigeron glaucus 'Wayne Roderick' and Achillea 'Moonshine', and introduced a new low-growing Hebe called 'Purple Shamrock' here

Further down the path on the right (west) side, I've picked up on the orange, yellow and lime green tones I've used on the east side of the backyard border.

In addition to the Arctotis 'Pink Sugar', Abelia 'Kaleidoscope and Santolina virens 'Lemon Fizz' I showed in my earlier post, I've added Papaver nudicaule 'Champagne Bubbles' (shown in the photo on the left) and more Gazania from the 'Flame' series (shown in the photo on the right).  I've also moved some of the smaller semi-evergreen Hemerocallis I had in the main backyard border to this area but these aren't readily visible in my photos.

On the left (east) side of the paving stone path, as it connects to the south end side garden, I've added more succulents to link the areas.

The photo on the left shows 2 small Agave attentuata, a somewhat larger A. attenuata 'Raea's Gold' (one of my biggest splurges thus far) and Agave bracteosa in addition to Coprosma 'Pacific Sunset', Leucadendron 'Red Devil' and more Iceland poppies; the photo on the right shows the Furcraea foetida 'Mediopicta' I moved from a pot, 2 Agave 'Joe Hoak' (one a pup I received from Denise of "A Growing Obsession" earlier this year), Agave 'Cream Delight' moved from another area of the garden, and more Aeonium cuttings

I've also been working on changes to the south side garden.

In this area I've added a Agave ovatifolia 'Vanzie' (another splurge), 2 more Aloe Dorotheae, 3 more Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote', an Agave 'Blue Flame' pup, 3 Carex testacea to mirror those planted on the other side of the path, more Gazania, and an Agave americana mediopicta pup (received from Hoover Boo at "Piece of Eden")

Meanwhile, work also continues on our digging and sifting exercise in former front lawn area alongside the street.  My husband spends a little time there early most mornings and I spend a little time there in the late afternoon, usually as it's growing dark.  We're making progress, even if it's slow.  I also put in a few plants mail-ordered from a California native plant nursery late last week in the area left bare by removal of a mostly dead Ceanothus.  They're very small in relation to the size of the area so it also looks a little sorry at the moment but I hope to add some groundcovers before the heaviest rains arrive.

The plant on the upper left is a Garrya elliptica 'James Roof' and the 2 on the right are Salvia 'Celestial Blue'

I took cuttings of Pelargonium tomentosum and Plectranthus ciliatus 'Zulu Warrior' for use in providing cover for the bare soil

I keep reminding myself how bare the main section of the front garden looked last year when I started planting.  Hopefully, next year at this time I'll be as happy with the current project as I am with last year's project.


All material © 2012-2015 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party