Wide Shots - October 2020

I've been conducting a quarterly big-picture overview of my garden for some time now but taking photos during a heatwave when the garden is dry and tired wasn't easy to get excited about.  Still, as the removal of two trees, one dead and one nearly so, is pending it's a useful time to take stock so, starting with the back garden, here we go.

This is the view from the north end of the house looking in the direction of the back patio.  I cut a Melianthus major below the Arbutus 'Marina' on the left down to the ground last week because it looked dreadful and it would've been trampled anyway when the Arbutus gets trimmed later this month.  The mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) to the left of the patio will be taken out at the same time.  I'm hoping to plant another tree in the same general area but that'll require major changes to the panting areas surrounding the patio.

This is a view of the same area looking in the other direction.  The mimosa tree is just outside the frame on the right.

I cleaned up most of the dried up aster (Symphyotrichum chilense) stems in the area surrounding the fountain but I still need to do something to corral the plant's rampant rhizomes.  I'd also like to remove the Liriope spicata to the right of the fountain but then I've been talking about that project for a few years now.

View from the patio looking south: There's a large bare area in front of Callistemon in the mid-section of the area on the left (outside the view of this photo).  I have a pink-flowered Ceanothus slated for that area but I need to juggle some of the existing plants before it goes into the ground.

This view of the back garden from its south end shows the mimosa tree slated for removal in the distance.  I tried to save it two years ago by removing the front part of the tree that had been damaged by shot-hole borers.  Other major branches died back this year and now the remaining trunk is caving in on itself.

Continuing clockwise around the house, next up is the south side garden.

This is the south side garden from the east end looking west.  I need to replace the Zinnias I planted as temporary color in the bed on the right with something yet to be determined.  I'm thinking of a shrub, possibly another Leucospermum.

This is the view from the small patio off the house on the south side looking at the succulent bed on the right.  The tree-sized toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) in the background on the right is dead, probably killed off by the same pathogen that causes sudden oak death.  It'll be coming out but because of where it sits atop a steep slope overlooking a neighbor's property I can't have the stump ground out, which means I can't plant another tree there unless I move other plants out of the way.

View looking at the south side garden from the south end of the front garden

Continuing in a clockwise direction around the house moves brings us through the main level of the front garden.

This area is looking a little jungle-like to me but I haven't decided whether I should cut anything back.  The Magnolia tree in the distance and the Arbutus outside photo's frame on the left will be thinned, which may be enough for now.

I'm planning to replant those wine barrels under the Magnolia soon and I may replace some of the wood mulch surrounding the tree with creeping thyme and other herbs.  Wood mulch is flammable and this area is right next to the house.

View from the driveway looking at the front door

A longer-range shot of the front garden taken from the garden area on the west side of the driveway

This is a view from the garden area on the northwest side of the driveway looking toward the house

This succulent bed is one of the areas I'm most unhappy with at present.  I generally start with the smallest plants available but this area looks so piecemeal to me I may need to consider either using larger succulents or adding gravel or non-succulents to knit things together (stealing the term from Loree Bohl's article in the current addition of Fine Gardening magazine).

On the other side of the garage we come to the cutting garden.

The dahlias are sprinting now but a lot of the top-heavy blooms have been taking nose dives during the current heatwave

Passing through the gate in the fence shown in the last photo brings us to the northeast side garden.  The gravel path through that area takes us down the back slope.

There's bare ground in this area that needs covering

View from the top of the slope looking down. The area to the left of the hedge on the left belongs to a neighbor.

I didn't actually venture down the back slope to take any photos as, after three rounds with the fire ants just this summer, I don't go down there without protection: long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, gloves and boots.  The best I can say of the area is that the ivy covering the steep upper area wasn't badly burned this year (although it may be looking worse after the current heatwave).  I was down there briefly last weekend and cleaned up most of the lemons that dropped from the tree following the last heatwave but the area in general is in need of a serious clean-up, which I'm putting off until it cools down again.

Back on the south end of the garden on the main level, I'll conclude this tour with the lower level of the front garden we skipped on our first run through.

View looking down from the main level of the garden to the area below surrounding my lath (shade) house:  It may not be readily evident but my husband recently removed three 'Mutabilis' roses from the slope below the path.  I intend to cleanup the area still further and add rock salvaged during last year's remodel before replanting the slope (after our annual tree trimming exercise).

View of the same area from the flat area adjacent to the street: The shrub front and center (Euryops virgineus) has to be pulled so I can repair the stacked wall area torn apart by a gopher when he constructed his den.  A lot of the succulents will also be torn out and replanted but that work is on hold until the Arbutus at the top of the slope has been pruned.

The Xylosma congestum shrubs added a few years ago to continue the hedge on the left have beefed up dramatically this year but I haven't yet filled in the spaces left following the removal of two bloomed-out agaves in 2019.  I'm planning to cleanup and replant this area during the cool season too.  The Agave 'Blue Flame' on the right is spilling into the street so I need to pull out the parent plant and let the pups take over.

I'm still waiting to hear back on the date for removal of the two trees but that'll probably happen sometime this month or early next month.  Five other trees and one cherry laurel hedge will be trimmed at the same time.  Once all the debris is cleared, then work on some of the projects I've mentioned will start in earnest.  By that time, hopefully temperatures will be cooler too.

Best wishes for a pleasant weekend.

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