Wide Shots - July 2023

I posted a detailed review of the southwest corner of my garden earlier this week but it's also time to share my quarterly wide shots of the rest of the garden.  While the marine layer and cooler temperatures have surprisingly persisted into the summer season here along the coast, most of the spring flowers are gone nonetheless while the Agapanthus have finally taken off.

I'm starting as usual in the back garden.

View from the back door looking east in the direction of the harbor's entrance.  In addition to the Agapanthus, the dormant variety of orange-red daylilies that came with the garden (Hemerocallis 'Sammy Russell') have shown up.

From the back patio looking east, this photo shows one of the several groups of Agapanthus spread throughout the garden.  This used to be the most prolific group when the mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) was in place but many of those bulbs were lost when the dying tree was removed.  The Ginkgo biloba 'Autumn Gold' that replaced the mimosa is coming along but it's still far from establishing the same presence in the garden.

View from the back patio looking north

View from the north end of the back garden looking south

From the middle of the back garden's flagstone path looking toward its south end.  That mass of Helichrysum thianschanicum 'Icicles' in the foreground on the right needs a serious trim now that the yellow flowers have turned a less attractive mustard color.  The mass of foliage on the left beyond the colorful Salvia canariensis is Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid'.

This is a frontal view of that Callistemon, which has become wider than I expected.  I removed several large branches earlier this spring.

This is a final view of the back garden from its south end looking north

 

Pivoting to the left from the direction of the last shot brings us to the south-side garden.

View of the south-side garden looking west.  The Agave 'Blue Glow' bloom spike has shed its flowers but it's yet to show obvious signs of developing bulbils.  However, after reviewing an online post indicating that it can take 6 months for these to develop, I'm giving it another month.  Meanwhile, like a neighbor's bloomed-out Agave 'Blue Glow', the plant itself is showing no signs of impending death.

 

View from south-side patio looking across a canyon at a neighbor's house in the distance

View of the south-side garden looking east

 

Pivoting left again brings the main level of the front garden into view.

The view of the front garden looking north is now significantly obscured by the Grevillea 'Superb' and Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' on the right

View of the same general area from the other direction.  Are you noticing a color theme in my summer garden?  Foliage and flowers in the orange-red range seem to have proliferated this summer.

View of the area surrounding the Magnolia grandiflora from the front door.  The Magnolia is dropping an endless number of leaves and flower petals.  Most of the leaves used to get caught in the roof's gutters but, now that we have leaf filters, the leaves drop all over the garden and I'm collecting them twice a day.

Front view of the house from the driveway.  The Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' are looking very red this summer.  They're also producing more sprays of flowers along their stems than they did last year so maybe I timed my pruning effort correctly last year (or maybe all the credit goes to our relatively abundant rainy season).

South (right) side of the front garden.  Gaura lindheimeri is also putting on a good show this month.

North side of the front garden.  The semi-evergreen Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia x blakeana) looks sad at this time of year.

Another angle on the front garden, taken from the driveway

This is the succulent bed on the west side of the garage in the front garden.  I still want to dig up and replant the entire area but, even though summer's heat has been slow to arrive here, I'll probably put that off until the fall.  My first step will be to get more rocks.

View from the walkway between the succulent bed and the other planted area on the same side of the driveway.  This area is still sparse, which probably means I've selected the wrong plants to thrive in an area like this, honeycombed with roots from the ornamental pear tree on one side and the Xylosma congestum hedge on the other.

 

The cutting garden is to the north (left) side of the house on the other side of the driveway.

The dahlias, zinnias and sunflowers in the raised planters are responding to the warmer temperatures but they're still a long way from reaching bloom stage

 

The north-side garden is just beyond the fence shown in the background of the last shot.

North-side garden looking northeast.  The Agave vilmoriniana in the background has also bloomed out.  Although it's showing signs of developing bulbils, I'm not sure I have the time or patience to collect them from 3 agaves so I may remove this one soon, even though it was the last of the 3 to bloom.

 

The back slope can be viewed as one proceeds down the concrete stairway that begins where that gravel path in the north-side garden ends.

I'm once again neglecting the back slope out of fear of the fire ants but I do need to get down there soon to cut down the spent Centranthus flowers

 

 

Finally, I have one shot of the street-side succulent bed at the front of the property.

View of the stretch of succulents planted in front of one section of the Xylosma hedge that runs along most of the street in front of our house

 

 

That's it for my wide shots until October.  Best wishes for a pleasant weekend!

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party