Every July, I wonder why I set up my quarterly wide shots schedule to include one of my least favorite months in the garden. A March, June, September and December schedule would have been much more civilized. By July, my garden is dry as dust and the heat is rising steadily. Plants that still looked good in June are starting to look sad and I know I can expect things to get worse in August and September. At least September has the redeeming feature of signalling the beginning of fall - and the local garden centers are getting in supplies of new plants. The best thing I can say about July is that it's the month my dahlias usually start to bloom.
I took most of my photos early yesterday morning when our famous "June gloom" was still in place. The marine layer that helps keep our afternoon temperatures down has been patchy of late, generally burning off before 10am. It's unusual for it to extend into July but occasionally it happens - it even has a name: "No Sky July."
I'll start my wide shots post as I usually do, with the back garden.
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View from the back door looking out over the Port of Los Angeles. I've never been especially happy with the red-orange daylilies (Hemerocallis 'Sammy Russell') that came with the garden but, having introduced a lot of red and orange foliage over the years, I have to admit that the daylilies offer a nice color echo.
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View from the back patio looking north. I've left the bird feeders in place but empty since winter ended. I've had far fewer issues with squirrels but I feel a tinge of guilt every time a bird lands on the feeder and leaves disappointed.
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View from the north end of the back garden looking back toward the main patio. The succulent bed in the foreground is filling out nicely, although I think I need to replace all the snow-in-summer (Cerastium tomentosum) I added as a groundcover with succulents as the former hasn't performed at all well.
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View from the back patio looking south. The rabbits are still here so there are lots of wire cloches and other protective barriers in place to keep them from eating everything in sight.
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View from the south end of the back garden looking in the direction of the main patio. The offset of the Yucca 'Bright Star' I cut to the ground late last year is growing, albeit slowly.
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View of the back garden from the small patio on the south side of the house
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Rounding the house in a clockwise direction, brings us to the south side garden.
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View of the south side garden looking west. This view looks largely the same from one season to the next, although the Agaves are steadily growing bigger. I dread the day that my 'Blue Glow' Agaves start to bloom.
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This view of the same area looking east shows the remaining influence of the morning marine layer
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I'm showing this area at the rear of the south side bed mainly because it rarely shows up in my photos. Salvia clevelandii 'Winnifred Gilman' still has flowers but they're on the decline. The dirt path behind the border allows the gardeners to trim the hedges, which aside from blowing debris out of pathways, is pretty much their only job.
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The front garden is up next.
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View looking at our front door
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The Magnolia grandiflora is dropping piles of leaves and flower petals in response to the higher temperatures
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This path behind the hedge facing the street leads from the driveway to the lath (shade) house on the lower level area of the front garden
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View from the area just outside the lath house looking east in the direction of the harbor. The succulents I planted on the slope in November 2020 are growing, albeit more slowly than I'd like.
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Back on the front garden's main level, this is a view from the south end looking north in the general direction of the garage. The Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt' in the foreground is crowding the flagstone path but I haven't had the heart to cut it back as much as I should.
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View of the same area looking south from the area surrounding the Magnolia tree
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This is the area surrounding the Magnolia. I now have 5 half-barrels here. I've tried to plant various groundcovers in the soil beneath the tree but the tree's roots provide too much competition.
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View from the driveway area next to the house looking southwest. The Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' are living up to their name right now.
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View of the garden area on the other side of the driveway, next to the garage
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The succulent bed alongside the garage in the northwest corner of our property. The pinhole leak in our irrigation system I wrote about recently is in an area at the rear of this bed near the peppermint willow tree (Agonis flexuosa) on the left.
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On the other side of the garage is my cutting garden. The first dahlias are getting close to blooming but they're not quite there yet.
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I pulled 2 huge clumps of Orlaya grandiflora out of the center raised planter earlier this week as it was rapidly going to seed. The Delphinium 'Cobalt Dreams' in that same bed is preparing to bloom again, as is Dahlia 'Enchantress'. At present, it looks as though Dahlia 'Southern Belle' in the raised planter in the foreground will be the first dahlia with "proper" blooms given that aphids have damaged the blooms on another dahlia that was originally in the lead.
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On the other side of the gate shown in the preceding photo are my north side dry garden and the path to our back slope.
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Nothing much is blooming in this area at the moment other than a scattering of flowers on the guava tree but the persimmon trees are already producing fruit
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I haven't been down to the bottom of the stairway on the back slope since my last ugly encounter with fire ants over 3 weeks ago. I need to suit up in protective gear and get down there to water as the whole area is clearing suffering.
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This is a view of the back side of the north side garden as I neared the top of the cement block stairway
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The only area left to cover is the street-side succulent bed.
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View from the street looking south
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View looking at the area straight on. The larger succulents are holding their own but some of the smaller ones would probably appreciate a bit more water but, given our recent leak, I've been stingy about offering any area extra water.
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Maybe we'll get a nice tropical storm or two this summer and October will be greener than July. That's unlikely but hope springs eternal.
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material © 2012-2022
by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Yeah, July is a stinker month for gardens in SoCal. Impossibly difficult, (and water intensive!) to fight the seasonal impulse to go summer quiet in such a large garden in such dry conditions — all your hard work has resulted in a beautifully durable July garden, and that’s quite an achievement.
ReplyDelete"Stinker month" is a good term for July! It's hardest when, as in the case of the current water year and the one that preceded it, we get too little water to get plants well-established before the heat compounds the stress of our ultra-dry conditions. I always tell myself I shouldn't plant anything after May (or, if I was really smart, after April) but inevitably I find myself buying 6-packs of annuals to fill in empty spaces here and there, only to watch with frustration as they struggle to survive.
DeleteWhat a beautiful place to spend time, and it is all your own creation.
ReplyDeleteDahlias make up somewhat for summer, but not entirely. Hope your weekend is a lovely one.
Nothing really makes summer fun in my estimation. The dahlias - and zinnias - just provide little moments of joy.
DeleteYou all seem to have the most perfect of climates, but I know I could never live in a place so dry. The truly hot weather always irritates me and I find myself grumpy more than I'd like. I was thinking just the other day, maybe midwinter is just as tolerable as 90's and high humidity. They both drive you inside and keep you there.
ReplyDeleteWe have had 3 weeks of hot 90+ degree weather with no rain and everything is struggling. The storms always seem to go around us and I find myself increasingly sad for the plants who are showing the stress. The water bill is going to be high this quarter.
At least where you live, you have plants more adapted to dry weather, even though they still struggle. Rain is such a blessing and cloud cover is the next best thing through these very hot months. And the hot months are just beginning. Our June weather has been more like July, and that is not a good thing.
Happy 4th of July and may some reprieve in the form of rain come your way.
Climate change is causing what used to be weather anomalies all over the country and around the world. Our summer heat is usually marked by low humidity (which of course heightens fire danger) but I've noticed that we're getting more humidity now than I can remember. Sadly, we don't typically get any rain between April and October. Sometimes a tropical storm blows off course but that's rare. We're not likely to see any rain until October at earliest.
DeleteYou have managed a beautiful and lush garden, regardless of the month. As usual, the view is breathtaking and my favorite bits are the shady ones.
ReplyDeleteI can't imaging gardening with such water restrictions: I get agitated if a week goes by without rain...
I wish there was a more appreciative term for your marine layer; it has critical positive aspects.
Chavli
People here used to complain about rainy days as people in many locations do but you don't hear that much anymore, Chavli. The marine layer is indeed a blessing but climate scientists claim that we're likely to lose that phenomenon to climate change eventually. I don't even want to contemplate the effect that'll have on temperatures along the coast.
DeleteAh to have even half the beautiful garden you have, I'd be in heaven.
ReplyDeleteAfter many years in a townhouse with a truly tiny garden, it was a joy to get half an acre. Now, if I could only get a little more rain...
DeleteHi Kris ... I know I have said it before but I can't help it .. your gardens are like a botanical garden on display ... everything is so beautiful and in such good shape with your hard work and attention .. with climate change and no hard core polies to combat it .. we are all in a sinking ship and this poor planet pays the price .. makes me feel so sad . However, we are gardeners and we keep trying our best right ? ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou're right that gardeners will always do the best they can with what they've got, CGJ. If only our government (and I include the US judiciary there) were on board on protecting the environment. By the time their grandchildren are condemning their actions (and inaction), I'm afraid it'll be way too late.
DeleteEven if July isn't your 'best' month, things still look lovely to me, Kris. Always a pleasure to view the garden in its entirety. Hope to see some dahlias in vases soon. Is that agapanthus just beyond them?
ReplyDeleteHave you tried spinosad to control fire ants? It comes in organic form, and is supposedly effective, but may need doing 2-3x/yr. Might help!
Eliza
There are no Agapanthus in the cutting garden, Eliza. The blue colors you see in that photo come from English lavender and 'African Blue' basil. There are still Agapanthus in bloom in the front and back garden areas, though I've already started cutting back some of the spent flowers.
DeleteThanks for the tip about spinosad. My husband sprayed something (definitely not organic) down at the bottom of the slope but whether it's made a difference is hard to tell since I've never been able to pinpoint the ants' nest(s) beyond the unpleasant evidence that it's somewhere down at the bottom of the slope. His spraying may have made a difference as, shamed by my own admission that I've badly neglected the area, I was down there yesterday to water the lemon tree and survived the experience without any more bites or stings; however, I was also suited up for battle ;)
Your garden is still looking lush despite the heat and dryness. Some spectacular agaves. When looking at your front garden shots it struck me how large your driveway is. We noticed a huge temperature increase when we got ours paved. How do the plants along yours respond to the increased heat sink?
ReplyDeleteIt is a big driveway. It came with the house so I can't assess the impact on plants before and after. The only plants that seem to struggle with the heat are the Aeoniums I planted along a section close to both the driveway and the street but then they go dormant in the summer anyway.
DeleteYour garden is so beautiful whichever way you frame it, Kris! I particularly love the bed with all the 'Blue Glow' agaves - perfection!
ReplyDeleteAbove comment was Horticat - did not intend to be anonymous!
ReplyDeleteThanks Horticat! As most of the 7 'Blue Glow' Agaves in that bed were planted during the same year, I fear the prospect of them all blooming at the same time.
DeleteThat would be spectacular! Although, of course, bittersweet.
DeleteYour garden is stunning no matter the season. Quarterly wide-shots are such an undertaking. As I started reading I was thinking "I should do that", but then I thought about the work that goes into my once a year photo album of the garden in late summer. Perhaps I will do a "then and now" look at a few areas—like a quarterly look at how the patio area changes—that could be fun. Anyway, thanks for keeping with this!
ReplyDeleteI've done a few of those then-and-now posts myself, Loree. My main tool to show differences over the years were earlier wide shot posts. Some of the older photos surprised even me - and I admit that there were situations in which I wished areas of my garden still looked like they did at an earlier stage in their evolution.
Delete