Wide Shots - January 2019

I fear these quarterly wide shots posts may be getting a little old but they're one of the best tools I have to track developments in my garden so I hope you'll bear with me.  I took all but one of these shots yesterday, albeit at varying times of the day.  I was trying to put each area in its best light, which isn't easy at this time of the year when shadows are everywhere.

I'll start as usual in the back garden.

This is the morning view from our back door looking out toward the Port of Los Angeles.  The view in the distance is partly shrouded as usual with a light layer of dingy smog.  I recently cut back a large area of the groundcover Barleria obtusa, which left the Echium webbii to the left of the fountain with bare legs.  This Echium isn't looking as good as it did last year but I'm hoping it'll spring back with more rain.

This is the view from the back patio looking north.  The 2 Arbutus 'Marina' in the background on the right are showing off their red limbs after being pruned in mid-December.  Another variety of the asparagus fern I've been struggling with, Asparagus densiflorus 'Myers' in this case, is growing in the foreground on the right.

This is the view from the south end of the back garden looking back at the mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin), reduced by half after the front section of the multi-trunked tree was removed due to it falling prey to shot hole borers.

This is the view of the south half of the back garden looking toward the the peppermint willow (Agonis flexuosa).  With a record low rain last year, I wasn't able to get creeping thyme established between the paving stones in the foreground after we leveled a dip in the pathway.  I've placed an order for 3 flats of thyme so I can fill this area and a few others.

This is a view of the south end of back garden from the dirt path behind the main border as we move toward the garden on the south side of the house.  I included it mainly because the Leucadendron (background, left) are putting on a good show right now.

The garden on the south side is coming into its own.

This area of the garden looks its best in the late afternoon.  The succulents are filling out and the Metrosideros collina 'Springfire' that was badly damaged by our horrific heatwave in July has rebounded, although it's still relatively small in stature.

This is the view looking through the arbor on the south side of the house toward the harbor.   The arbor marks the transition between the back and front garden areas.

There are 2 levels to the front garden.  This quarter, we'll take a brief jaunt down to the level adjoining the street on the southwest side before returning to the main level.

Looking down from the mulched path that leads from the garden's main level you can see the lath (shade) house my husband built for me a year ago.  Not all of the plants I tried out in the lath house performed well last year and it's time for me to seek replacements for those that washed out.

Behind and a step below the lath house is a succulent bed running along the street.  Two of the Agave desmettiana 'Variegata' I planted in 2014 have produced bloom spikes but no flowers have opened as yet.  In addition to replacing those 2 agaves, I'm contemplating removing and replacing 2 of the 3 remaining shrubs on the right (Auranticarpa rhombifolium).  They were part of a section of hedge that came with the house that has been slowly dying off.

This photo returns us to the area alongside the lath house, looking back at the path we came down with the harbor in the distance beyond

Returning up the path shown on the right in the last photo brings us back to the main level of the front garden.

This is the view looking across the main level of the front garden from the south end toward the garage on the north end. The Magnolia grandiflora in the background on the right was pruned hard in December.

This is a photo of the same area looking back toward the south end of the front garden.  I planted a Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' on the right in late September to balance the established Grevillea 'Superb' on the left.  The Arbutus 'Marina' in the background was pruned to give 'Ned Kelly' and the surrounding plants more sun exposure.

 

This is the usual view looking at the front door from the driveway.  The Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia x blakeana) on the left made it through pruning without losing too many of its flowers.

This is the view from the garden area next to the garage looking back toward the house.  I'm finally feeling good about how this area is coming together.  We removed the last section of lawn on our property from this area in January 2016.

Half of this succulent bed was also lawn prior to 2016.  If there's a lesson here, it's this: funds permitting, start with larger succulent specimens than I did.  It takes a long time for tiny succulents to fill in.

My former vegetable garden, now a cutting garden, sits on the other side of the garage on the northwest side of the house.

I replanted these raised beds with plugs and seeds in late October.  Sweet pea and other seedlings are coming up but I'm still fighting to keep birds and other critters away from the beds (which is why there are empty plastic flats here as protection).  Right now, the most colorful elements are the Euphorbia 'Sticks on Fire' and the ripening navel oranges.

Passing through the gate in the fence opposite the garage (not shown) leads to another garden area, featuring a variety of drought tolerant plants.

I've pruned the grape vine, the persimmon tree and the Senna bicapsularis here, leaving things looking a little bare.  I worried that I'd cut back the Senna too hard but it's starting to leaf out again now.

The gravel path bisecting the garden area shown above leads to my steep back slope, which isn't visible to the casual observer.

This is the slope looking down from the upper section of the concrete stairway.  I cleaned up the lower area (left of the stairway in this photo) in late November and early December but I haven't make any further progress on the upper section on the right.

This past weekend I discovered that the neighbor had hired a crew to tackle rampant growth in her garden.  Apparently, that included the Bignonia capreolata shown here, which I discovered looking like this.  The trunk of this vine is on our property but the plant grows across the neighbor's chain-link fence.  The neighbor planted it decades before my arrival.  A prior owner of our property subsequently laid claim to the area, which created a dynamic that remains awkward to this day.  I've no objection to having the vine pruned but I'd have liked a heads-up beforehand as the crew entered into our property while doing the work, effectively sweeping away the California poppy seeds I'd sown in early December.  I think the neighbor and I now have the issue resolved with respect to any future work.

So that's what my garden looks like in what passes for winter here.  It's more subdued than in spring, summer and fall but it's not as barren as gardens in colder climates.  While I've complained of colder than usual temperatures here, we've never had a freeze in the 8 years I've lived in this area of coastal Southern California.  I know I'm lucky.  And I'll feel luckier still if rain arrives as predicted on Saturday night.  At present, our total for the rain year that started October 1, 2018 is 4.08 inches.

Best wishes for a wonderful weekend.


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party