Foliage Follow-up: The Southwest Corner

When I went out to snap foliage photos for the monthly feature hosted by Pam at Digging, the first thing that caught my eye was the curtain of Agonis flexuosa (Peppermint Willows) lit up by the late afternoon sun on the southwest side of our property.

There are still some bare spots in the bed in the foreground, which was hit hard by the start-of-summer killer heatwave

That photo led me to focus my attention on the surrounding area.

This photo captures the same 2 Agonis and the nearby Arbutus 'Marina' from a different angle, looking south instead of west.  The remaining 2 Ceanothus shrubs, shown on the lower right, once formed part of a hedge but are declining just as the 3 we took out last year did.  In the near future, I expect I'm going to have to bite the bullet and remove these too.

This photo, taken from the left of the one before, shows Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' with Carex testacea at its feet, Duranta repens to the left, Agave 'Jaws' to the right and the same Arbutus in the background with Pennisetum 'Fireworks' nearby

The Leucadendron shown in the photo above, planted in November 2014, has grown a lot but it still has a way to go to catch up with the specimen I planted shortly after we moved in December 2010.

This Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' is on the northwest side of the house, NOT the southwest side.  I brought it from our former garden, where it spent its life in a pot until I plunked it in the ground not long after we moved in here.  It's well over 6 feet tall now.  (It's in its glory so I couldn't pass up a chance to show it off.)

Back to the southwest corner of the property, the dwarf Agonis flexuosa 'Nana' I planted around the small patio in that area has filled in nicely.

The dwarf Agonis were planted in September 2013 after we tore out the grass on the south side of the house, as were the Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey' on the right and the left.  The noID Aloe, Aeonium arboreum and Sedums in the foreground were planted more recently.  (Earlier plantings were routinely dug up by my raccoon friends.)

This is another view of the dwarf Agonis from the backyard looking west

In the upper right hand corner of above photo you can see Kalanchoe orgyalis (aka Copper Spoons), which has done well in a large pot.

The Kalanchoe sits outside the screened porch my husband built for our cat.  The succulent in the pot next to it is a new acquisition I picked up at my local botanic garden last weekend: Echeveria 'Raindrops'.

The raised dots at the end of each leaf account for its name

I'll conclude this foliage follow-up post with a shot of one of the groundcovers I've used extensively in the shadier areas of the southwest side of the garden.

Pelargonium tomentosum (aka peppermint geranium) can cover a lot of ground quickly under the right conditions.  Planted from cuttings, it's done particularly well in the shade, spilling down the front slope.  You can see it here threatening to engulf the Aeonium cuttings I planted below.  Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum' is visible above, as is the Durata shown in an earlier photo.

For more foliage coverage, visit Pam at Digging.


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