Wide Shots: January 2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I haven't included a complete garden overview in my monthly wide shot posts since August.  The new year seems an appropriate time for such a review so here it is.

We finished digging up the backyard in late November.  Paving stone was laid and planting began.  Finding plants to fill the empty space was a problem in December as local garden centers shifted their attention to Christmas trees and holiday merchandise and many mail order providers went on hiatus.  I'm hoping that local nursery stock will expand this month and I can begin to fill in the blanks in my garden before the rains associated with El Niño are over (assuming those rains, which have yet to make an appearance, aren't a myth perpetuated by NOAA).

The usual view from the back door looking out toward Angel's Gate, the entrance to the Los Angeles harbor

View from the far north end of the backyard space looking south

View from the south end looking back northward

The area on the south side of the house has been undergoing a bit of renovation as I try to improve the flow between it and the backyard.  As this is also the raccoons' favorite playground, I've been putting in more spiky succulents in the hope of putting them off.  I can't claim this strategy has been entirely successful but that's the direction I'm currently taking.

View of the south side garden from the backyard looking toward the arbor that leads to the front garden: Although difficult to see in this photo, succulents have been added on both sides of the flagstone path.  The large green plant mid-way along the path on the left, a huge clump of Arthropodium cirratum, is slated for removal.  The bulbous plant will be divided and used in a shadier area in the front garden along the street.

View of the south side garden from the patio alongside the house

My favorite view of the side garden looking through the arbor toward the backyard and the harbor

Heading into the front garden, the area on the south side is more subdued since I pulled up the ratty remnants of the Gaillardia and cut back many of the other plants.

View of the front garden looking northward toward the driveway and garage: Nothing in this area is at its best at the moment

In an effort to keep our neighbor up the street happy, I had the majority of our trees trimmed in mid-December.  The impact is particularly noticeable in the front garden.

Front garden photographed from the driveway

This view of the south side of the front garden shows how much more sun it's getting now that the trees have been thinned

The north side of the front garden

Work continues at the north end of the front garden along the street.  We're almost done digging up the area.  Our plan is to finish that in the coming week, then mix in some imported topsoil, lay flagstones, and begin planting.  Our first El Niño rains are predicted to arrive during the middle of next week so we're a bit behind the game but at least we're still making progress.

Photo of the project area taken 2 days ago - the digging has been slow going due to the care we're taking to avoid damage to tree and shrub roots here

The remaining garden areas were sorely neglected in 2015 despite plans I had for each.

Vegetable garden: I'd intended to use the raised beds mainly as a cutting garden but somehow this has never made it to the top of my priority list.  I did plant sweet pea and other flower seeds in the bed in the foreground back in September, only to have the raccoons rummage through the seedlings.  I recently laid down chicken wire and replanted the area but there's not much to show of the effort yet.  On the positive side, the navel oranges (middle tree along the fence) are almost ripe.

Dry garden: There's very little in bloom here at the moment.  Grevillea lavandulacea 'Penola', normally the star of my winter garden, has yet to bloom.  I cut the 3 Cuphea 'Starfire Pink' (middle, foreground) back last month but they're showing little sign of life and may require replacement - they prefer the areas of the garden that are irrigated more regularly.

The back slope is shown looking downward from the top of the cement stairs on the left and from the bottom looking up on the right: With only 1.44 inches of rain for the season to date (October 1 to the present) and little supplemental irrigation, this area is suffering.

The "glen" sits below the front garden adjacent to the street on the west side.  I had plans to add another layer of rock to the upper, sloped area to level the soil somewhat and improve water retention but, when our focus shifted to lawn removal, I never got around to this.  The Ceanothus hedge that lined the top of that slope has been dying away in sections and I've been slow to replant.

The succulents in the street-side bed adjacent to the "glen" are doing fine but the Auranticarpa rhombifolia shrubs that formerly backed the succulents are dying.  We've already removed 3 of these shrubs and now the one in the center is almost certainly dead.  I was hoping our winter rains might make a difference but I think it's too late for resurrection. These shrubs connected to the more robust Xylosma congestum hedge that borders the street elsewhere (visible on the far left).  Replacing the Auranticarpa with Xylosma would be one solution but it wouldn't leave much room for the succulents so I'm considering other screening options.  Any ideas?

That's a wrap on my wide shots update.  My thanks again to Heather of Xericstyle for setting me on this monthly task.  Best wishes to all for a very happy new year - may 2016 bring you the garden of your dreams!


All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party