Clean up, front garden

Last week I discovered that one of the large Auranticarpa rhombifolium shrubs growing in a bed facing the street was dead and that the shrub next to it appeared to be failing as well.   They were impossible to ignore.

The dead shrub was visible to anyone that drove or walked by but it was also readily visible from within the garden

I mentioned the shrubs to my husband and, voila, days later both shrubs were gone.

He even dug out the stumps for me

Of course, that left the area behind the border more open to view than I'd like.  When we took out three other dying Auranticarpa shrubs four years ago, we planted Xylosma congestum shrubs to extend the intact hedge fronting the rest of the street.  Those shrubs have grown at a very slow rate.  Rather than buy more Xylosma, I thought I'd try planting something else in that empty spot.  I decided that this was my chance to try growing Tithonia diversifolia, aka Mexican sunflower or marigold tree.

This is a photo I took last year of a mature sunflower tree growing in the South Coast Botanic Garden

I've never seen the plant in local garden centers so I'd ordered seeds last year but had never gotten around to sowing them.  I dug those out and sowed them as recommended earlier this week.  Estimates of the time required for the seeds to germinate vary greatly.

The Mexican sunflower tree might work to fill the empty spot, and it might not.  For now, I'll just wait to see if I can get the seeds to germinate.

While my husband did the heavy lifting in removing the two Auranticarpa, I tackled the somewhat easier task of cutting back Echium candicans 'Star of Madiera'.  It was just starting to bloom in mid-April when I published my monthly Bloom Day post.

These are the photos I included in my April Bloom Day post

We got our first serious heatwave in late April, followed less than two weeks later by a second one in early May.  I never even got around to posting a photo of the Echium in full bloom.  Last weekend, it was looking too awful to ignore.

This is the shrub as viewed from the front door

And this is the side facing the street

So I got to work, tip pruning all the dead flower spikes.

I left just a few intact flower spikes for the hummingbirds to fight over

It may not be readily apparent but the shrub is growing along a moderate slope.  Clipping all the dead flowers without tumbling down and breaking my crown took a bit of effort!

I've been surprised by just how much my husband and I've been able to find to do in the garden while we're staying at home.  I'm sure I'll run out of projects at some point but, for now, I'm still plugging away.  I hope you've been able to find diversions in your garden as well.


All material © 2012-2020 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party