Wide Shots - Inside Out

I looked back to see what I covered in my March wide shots post and discovered that there was no March wide shots post.  I guess Leap Day must have thrown off my internal calendar.  In any case, this month I thought I'd take a look at what the garden looks like from inside the house facing out and contrast that with shots of the same areas taken outside.

Our house is a mid-century modern construction with lots of windows, at least in the back looking toward the harbor.  It creates an open feeling between the house and the garden.  As I've mentioned in other posts, the garden is currently in floral overdrive, particularly in the front and back areas.  I'll start in the front and work my way around the house in a counter-clockwise fashion, skipping the areas that aren't directly visible from inside the house, like the back slope and the vegetable garden.

This is the view from the master bedroom looking across the front garden toward the south.  It looks best in the morning when the sun rising in the east creeps up from up the far side of the house.

This photo, taken from the area just to the other side of the driveway, was shot in the early afternoon when the front of the house is fully lit by the sun

This extended view shot was taken at the same time from the area alongside the garage.  I planted it this year after we removed the last of our lawn.  However, the roses (left, forefront) were in place when we bought the house.

The extended view looking in the opposite direction, back toward the garage

This photo shows the transition from the front to the southeast side garden

That arbor in the photo above leads into the southeast side garden, where I've recently been doing some work.  It's also the area most frequented by both the neighborhood raccoons and skunks.  They've been very industrious of late - perhaps they have new mouths to feed.  I've been trying to take the almost daily upheaval in stride but there was one day the mess left they left behind just about made me cry.  However, I was up very early last Saturday and Mr. Raccoon and I came face-to-face through the glass in the living room window.  He high-tailed it before I could get out the back door and hasn't been back since.  That hasn't stopped the skunks from visiting, though.  Catching them by surprise isn't a viable option.

View through a living room window looking beyond the side yard patio to the garden area beyond.  The bed just beyond the arbor on the right features the Callistemon 'Hot Pink' I recently moved from the backyard.

Photo taken from the backyard looking at the side yard.  You can see that I still have Magnolia cones surrounding some plants, like the newly transplanted Dasyliron and Callistemon, as protection against raccoon and skunk assaults.  These are by no means full-proof defenses but they do seem to slow the critters down a bit.

It's difficult to get good photos of the backyard through the glass.  The clearest views are available in the morning before the shade of the house casts a shadow over a portion of the area; however, the sun's glare creates reflections of the windows in those early morning photos.

This is one of my favorite views of the backyard, visible from the living room couch.  The photo was taken in the late afternoon when the bed in the foreground was already in shadow and the afternoon haze had settled on the harbor.

Photo taken from the backyard patio looking south.  The plants put in since the last of the lawn here was removed are slowly filling in.  The Lupinus propinquus in the foreground to the left of the fountain seems intent on taking over the entire bed.  It's also turned out to be more lavender than blue, which messes with my color scheme.

View looking in the opposite direction.  The giant mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) in the distance is beginning to leaf out.

My office also overlooks the backyard.

View from my office window looking roughly northeast.  There are mountains in the distance but they're invisible in this photo due to haze (as they are more often than not these days).

A longer view looking back toward the main backyard area

Finally, my husband's office/gym and our master bathroom overlook the dry garden on the northeast side.

View from the master bathroom window looking at the path that leads to the back slope.  The majority of the flower color in this area comes from Osteospermum of various kinds, Leptospermum scoparium (left, background) and "weeds" (Erigeron karvinskianus and Geranium incanum).

View of the area from the path leading to the dry garden from the backyard

That's it for this month's wide shots post.  I've done some work in the area adjacent to the street on the on the southwest side of the property too but I'll cover it separately in another post.

Best wishes for a great weekend!


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