Tell the Truth Tuesday (Late Edition)

Alison of Bonney Lassie recently encouraged fellow garden bloggers to let go of the pretty faces we tend to present to the world and share some of the uglier sides of our gardens.  Last week, I shared photos of my sad (and largely hidden) back slope.  This week, I have a collection of ugly little vignettes.  Two of these hit me in the face this weekend after the tree service finished its annual trimming exercise.

My half-dead mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) received a severe pruning (to be reviewed in a future post).  One of the results was to highlight the mass of messy foliage in front of the tree, all of which came with the garden.  It's a hodge-podge of Asparagus densiflorus, Erigeron karvinskianus, ivy and other weeds.  I've no illusions about getting rid of the Asparagus fern - that's virtually impossible.  However, I've already cut it back by more than half and I plan to reduce it further, with the understanding that this will be a perpetual exercise.

A stretch of Ceanothus hedge sits adjacent to the mimosa tree.  It's hard to grow anything but weeds in the area in front of it so I've placed potted succulents there.  When I moved the pots out of the way for the tree trimmers, I decided it was a good time to cut back the Ceanothus.  I got carried away and now you can see through the hedge down into the ugly back slope.  I'll try to clean up the twiggy mess I created before the pots are moved back into place and hope the Ceanothus forgives me by producing new growth.

The next vignette is the area behind our garage.  Many gardeners have dump zones for empty pots and the like and I'm no exception.

The area doesn't look too bad on the east end, which is dominated by my 265-gallon rain tank

The view on the east end isn't so good.  I should note that I've already cleaned this area up at least twice this year, reducing my empty plastic pot collection to a third of what it once was.  And much of what's here is my husband's mess.

Why we've held on to the tiki torches left behind by the prior owner, the remains of 2 screen doors replaced years ago, old hoses and the benderboard edging we took out when we removed our lawn I can't explain.  My husband says we can dump it all when the construction dumpsters are in place for our kitchen renovation but I'm arguing for getting rid of what we can in batches as part of our weekly trash pick-ups.

Two other sad sights sit at each end of the garage.

A friend gave me this topiary cat years ago.  She'd partially planted it and handed it off to me for completion.  I added some succulents but never finished it.  The moss has dried up and needs to be supplemented or replaced before I give it another go.  The poor thing has been just standing in this bed, waiting for attention.

Too big to move easily, this compost tumbler was also left behind by the prior owner.  I've used it but it doesn't really produce compost on an accelerated basis as suggested in sales ads.  Now it's disintegrating.  It'll probably go in the construction dumpster too.

Finally, here's the stump on the south side of my garden near the property line.  I tried to prettify it earlier by planting its open center but I've been thwarted by visiting raccoons.

Sick of the raccoons using the stump as their toilet, I planted it with a spiky Yucca and aloes but that hasn't deterred the raccoons.  Raccoon poop can carry disease so cleaning it isn't something I want to do on a regular basis.  I'm wondering if planting something really big in the stump's decaying center will work.  It's worth a try.

My new year's garden resolutions will include addressing each of these issues.  Stay tuned!

Do you have some ugly truths to share?  This meme is gaining traction with other bloggers and I encourage you to jump on the bandwagon - coming clean is good for the soul!


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party