Project Update: My pocket bromeliad garden

Work on my garden projects slowed but never entirely stopped when summer returned with fury in October.  In late September, I posted photos of a succulent bed renovation that was mostly done.  I'm now declaring that one done done.

Since my September post, I've added a few more succulents, mostly of the ground cover variety, and bark mulch

This area soared through October's nasty heatwaves without an issue

In early October, I provided a peek of what I called my surprise pocket garden.  This area sits behind the succulent bed shown above, in back of the clump of Agave attenuata and the Arbutus 'Marina' in that photo.  It's a narrow and fairly shady area running parallel to my neighbor's driveway on the northwest side of our property.  Since we moved in almost 7 years ago, it's been occupied by little more than weeds.  In my October post, I showed photos of a few plants, mostly bromeliads, I'd planted there.  Since then, I've added a stone pathway, more plants, bark mulch, and several pots.  Here's what it looks like now:

This is the long view from the walkway along our garage occupied by our garbage bins and my potting bench

This is the view from the other direction.  Shrubs and trees prevented me from backing up to provide a better view.

Because it's a narrow space and the pathway curves through it, it's not easy to see all at once.  Here are some close-ups by section:

The Agave attenuata on the lower left mark the edge of the succulent bed I showed at the top of the post.  I've added Aeonium arboreum cuttings, a noID bromeliad pup (an Aechmea, I think), and pups of a noID Sansevieria on the right.  I'm using dwarf mondo grass (Ophiopogon japonicus 'Nanus') as a ground cover between and around the stepping stones.

I want to fill the empty area to the right of the Agave attenuata here with more of the Seslaria 'Greenlee's Hybrid' shown planted next to the stone pathway but I haven't been able to find it.  I'm not sure if I'll keep the Kalanchoe prolifera currently planted between the 2 grass clumps.  It's interesting but looks gawky to me.

The pink-edged Aechmea 'Mend' and the flowers of the Aptenia cordifolia planted along my neighbor's driveway set the color palette for the area, which I picked up with shade-tolerant Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard' and Dracaena marginata 'Colorama'.  Other than 'Mend', the other bromeliads I've used are all pups of Aechmeas, Neoregelias, and Vrieseas I've been growing in pots.

I found the Dracaena 'Colorama' and the "Satin Pothos" (which I think is Scindapsus pictus 'Argyraeus') in the houseplants section of my local garden center.  The Draceana was a bargain - 2 plants in each 4-inch pot.  I was concerned about whether the pothos would survive outside but it's been fine and now I wish I could find at least one more.

This area, near the end of the stone pathway includes more Pelargonium 'Pink Blizzard', Aeonium 'Lily Pad', Dianella intermedia 'Turutu' (received by mail order just yesterday), and the Villebrunea pedunculata I picked up on my visit to The Huntington Garden's sale last week.  My neighbor's Aptenia has crept up beyond the boundary line, as has the Senecio vitalis she stuck there but that's fine.

Two established trees and numerous large established shrubs inherited with the garden make it nearly impossible to plant in some areas so I filled in with pots.

Two sides of the same pots are shown here.  The photo on the left was taken facing the succulent bed.  The photo on the right was taken from the pathway inside the bromeliad area.  The largest pot already contained spotted Manfreda maculosa and I added a few Kalanchoe daigretmontiana and cuttings of Oscularia deltoides to cascade over the side.  I moved the smaller pots, one containing Cordyline brasiliensis 'Pink Joy' and the other a striped noID Aechmea, from elsewhere in the garden.

The pots at the terminus of the stone path were also moved from other areas.  The large one contains Dermatobotris saundersii, which I also picked up at the Huntington sale.  It's supposed to produce coral blooms.  The small pot contains my latest plant crush, Aloe 'Marsha Leyhew' (lower right), purchased at the same sale.  The mid-sized pot contains Billbergia 'Carioca', which recently surprised me by flowering.  Unfortunately, I didn't photograph the flowers at their peak but the photo on the upper right gives you an idea what they looked like.

The bromeliad pocket garden isn't 100% done as I'm still looking for more Seslaria and I expect to add more shade-tolerant succulents, dwarf mondo grass and mulch but that will be a piecemeal process.  Time to move on to other projects!  The weather is perfect for planting and there's a chance of some light rain this weekend.

View of the Los Angeles harbor from our backyard about an hour after sunrise

Wherever you are, I hope the fall season provides plenty of opportunity to get your hands dirty this weekend.


All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party