Wednesday, April 13, 2022

The back slope in April

I ignore our steep back slope much of the year, venturing down that way only to pick lemons when needed, or to provide supplemental irrigation to the lemon tree at the height of summer when it gets particularly hot and dry.  The discovery that there are fire ants there made me even more reluctant to spend time in the area when temperatures climb and the ants are active.  (Trust me - you never want to be stung by fire ants if it can be avoided.)  However, during our cool season, especially after there's been some rain, it can be an appealing space.  It's generally at it's best in April so I thought I'd take this opportunity to show it off.

View from near the top of the stairway looking south.  One neighbor's property sits on the east side of the bay laurel hedge shown on the left and another neighbor's property sits to the south just beyond the lemon and peach trees visible in distance.  The Xylosma congestum hedge that borders the main level of our back garden can be seen on the upper right.

This is the same view almost half way down the stairway.  I've determined that the upper area of the slope between the Xylosma hedge and the stairway, covered in ivy and honeysuckle, is too steep for me to work comfortably.

 

Earlier this year, we took out the half-dead fig tree in the border to the left of the concrete block stairway.  It was installed by the previous owner in that very dry area and never did well.  Whatever small fruit it produced was consumed by critters so I decided to replace it with plants that could better tolerate the conditions there.  I planted a pup of an Agave 'Blue Flame' in its spot and even that's struggling but other plants have adapted and my hope is that the Agave will eventually settle in.

Lampranthus 'Pink Kaboom' and the 4 artichokes I planted from 4-inch pots years ago have done well

I added the first Aeonium arboreum cuttings a couple of years ago, which turned a lovely bronze color here.  A few months ago, I added more Aeonium cuttings of a noID variety that may be 'Blushing Beauty'.

In the past year or so, I've also added 3 Aloe elgonica cuttings (passalongs from Denise of A Growing Obsession) and an Aloe maculata

I planted Pelargonium 'White Lady' several years ago and it's gently self-seeded itself around

 

The lemon tree and a host of other plants sit in a flat area at the bottom of the stairway.

This photo was taken standing alongside the lemon tree (just outside the frame on the left) facing north.  I added the concrete bricks along the edge of the border this winter.  They were removed from our back patio when we pushed out the kitchen wall during our 2019 home renovation.  The paving stones were recovered from odd spots elsewhere in the garden after we moved in.

This photo of the border was taken mid-way along the stepping stone path.  The pink and white Centranthus in the border has been slow to bloom this year.

Two of the most prominent plants visible from this viewpoint are the Agave attenuata and the Echium webbii.

All but one of the Agave attenuata came from cuttings taken from plants elsewhere in my garden.  As shown on the right, this Agave is a prolific pupper.

I'm not sure what possessed me to place an Echium webbii in this spot.  I planted it from a 4-inch pot and seriously misjudged its mature size.

Just below the Echium is an intertwined mix of trailing Lantana and vine-like Abelia 'Chiapas'.  I took several cuttings of the latter a couple of weeks ago in the hope of propagating it but last week's heatwave wasn't easy on them.

 

The area surrounding the lemon tree has its attractions too.

While the Centranthus ruber in the border has been slow to bloom this year, the self-seeded plants around the lemon tree have been going strong for well over a month already

This Osteospermum also found a way to seed itself next to the lemon tree

Last year was a bad one for calla lilies (Zantedeschia aethiopica) and this one isn't much better.  I've seen only a handful of blooms and last week's heatwave polished off most of the plants.  All these bulbs came with the garden.

The peach tree shown on the left, which sits just inside our property line, also came with the garden.  (The raised bed you can see just beyond it belongs to our neighbors.)  To date, it's never produced viable fruit, at least that I've seen.  However, a few weeks ago I noticed what looks to be a good-sized seedling of another peach tree 10-12 feet away on the upper slope.
 

We border two of our neighbors on the southeast corner of the back slope.

In addition to the bay laurel hedge, a huge trumpet vine (Distictis buccinatoria) and a Texas privet (Ligustrum japonicum 'Texanum') line the boundary on the east side.  I didn't plant either of them.

On the south side, a huge mass of ivy separates us from our other neighbor.  Frankly, I couldn't tell you exactly where the property line is there.  The ornamental pear trees in the distance clearly belong to our neighbors.  On our side, there's a stand of 3 Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Silver Magic' (outside the frame on the right).  We also have a tree-sized Ceanothus arboreus there (not shown).  It bloomed in early February this year but a winter heatwave put a quick end to its flowers.

I'll close this tour with a look back up the stairway and a few of the plants I haven't already highlighted.


Clockwise from the upper left: Euphorbia 'Dean's Hybrid' (another self-seeder), the first bud on Romneya coulteri (aka Matilija poppy, a plant we've repeatedly tried to remove), Santolina chamaecyparissus, lemons, and Drimia maritima (aka sea squill, one of 5 plants already preparing for the foliage die-back that precedes its flowering).  Plants I didn't photograph include: an Arctostaphylos bakeri 'Louis Edmunds' (still small) and 3 Ribes viburnifolium plus a mass of prostrate rosemary.

Pretty weeds, Geranium incanum and Anagallis arvensis

Even in mid-April, the back slope is showing early signs of heat and drought-related stress this year.  I can only hope that summer won't deliver the extreme heat we've had some years.  The lemon tree still hasn't entirely recovered from last summer, when it dropped all of its fruit and many of its leaves.  We pruned out several of the dead branches last year and I think I'll ask our arborist for help with further pruning this fall when we have our usual tree work done.  In the meantime, I'll be more careful to hand-water the tree in advance of future heatwaves.


All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party


12 comments:

  1. You’ve got some nice plants growing in what looks like a tough spot, Kris. It’s interesting that Geranium incanum is a weed in your garden. I wouldn’t mind if it self seeded here - I managed to kill mine!

    Zantedeschia aethiopica is a declared weed here, meaning that it is illegal to sell or move it and land owners have a legal obligation to remove or control it. It’s still everywhere though. Artichoke, too is a weed here, however the local parrots love eating/pulling apart the seed heads (probably how it spreads!). The flowers sure are pretty though.

    Have you considered layering your abelia? Might be worth a try for some more plants?

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    1. What constitutes a weed certainly varies by location, Horticat! I was surprised by the calla lilies the first spring we were here, especially given that almost all of them were on the back slope. But their survival and flowering is very much dependent on the amount and timing of rain and, the way things are going, I'm beginning to wonder if they'll slowly disappear entirely.

      A local friend also mentioned propagating the Abelia through layering. As the Abelia is enmeshed in a Lantana, uncovering a stem long enough to pin down was awkward, which is why I went the cutting route but maybe I'll make a more conscious effort to try that approach given that my cuttings aren't looking very happy.

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  2. For a 'neglected' part of your garden, Kris, it still looks pretty good to me! I envy you your lemon tree. We spend a fortune on organic lemons! Hope it recovers from last year, and this summer isn't too hard on it.

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    1. For the first 5 years we were here, Eliza, that lemon tree had more fruit than we could use year-round (even though we gave lots of it away). But whenever we get a sustained heatwave with temperatures above 100F, as we did in 2016, 2018 and twice in 2020, it drops all the fruit and takes considerable time to recover. When I looked back at 2021, it wasn't actually as hot as I'd remembered - we didn't break 100F but the tree was still struggling, presumably due to last year's very low rainfall.

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  3. The Echium webbii looks happy. The trumpet vine is a native here and something we had growing naturally at our other house, but I didn't realize how valuable it is to wildlife and cut it out! Oh well. Your back garden looks well tended Kris. How nice it would be to go out and gather lemons!

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    1. The trumpet vine was planted by a neighbor decades ago when she treated the area as an extension of her garden (until an earlier owner of our property objected to her "trespassing"). It runs rampant in the area, spreading into the properties of both neighbors but they like it; however, it's growth is difficult to manage to say the least. The lemon tree is the most important feature of the back slope! Even my husband, who ignores most of the plants in the garden, worries about it ;)

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    2. Maybe it was just as well my husband cut down our trumpet vine then. Neighbors can be "interesting!"

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    3. I actually planted the same vine along a fence between our former townhouse and our neighbor's townhouse. Although beautiful, it was so difficult to control, I said I'd never grow it again - only to inherit one with this garden. As cutting its massive trunk down would negatively impact both my current neighbors more than the plant impacts me, I've learned to live with it ;) To say its "vigorous" is an understatement, though.

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  4. Looks very good considering the difficulties involved gardening in that area. Yes the lemon tree is the important thing! Lemons are wonderful.

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    1. Sadly, it looks its best only briefly. The ants on the main level of my garden have been active for awhile not so I'm avoiding the back slope again on the assumption that the fire ants are active as well :(

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  5. Your back slope really is tough spot. I'd plant more aloes and more agaves. They do well left to their own devices.

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    1. The Agave attenuata clearly do well on that back slope but it remains to be seen if Agave 'Blue Flame' will as well - it seems to be struggling. Facing east and surrounded by tall hedges on 2 sides, the area gets a lot of shade in the afternoon. However, you just reminded me that I have an Agave funkiana pup I could try there...

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