Wednesday, October 4, 2023

Wide Shots - October 2023

The year is spinning by.  While I look forward to the cooler days of fall, I'm also sad to see the end of the longer days of summer.  As fall is the busiest season of the gardening year in my climate, I'm also feeling the aches and pains associated with my the end-of-summer cleanup, which is by no means complete even as my husband and I fill one green waste bin after another.  While I've done a little planting to fill a few empty spaces, I've got plant shopping and more planting in my future before our rainy season gets started.  And then there are the bulb deliveries I have to deal with when they arrive later this month. 

I'll start as usual in the back garden and continue roughly clockwise around the house.

View from the back door looking at the entrance to the Los Angeles harbor in the distance.  I replaced the woody Echium webbii that occupied the area behind the fountain but the new Echium is still very small.  Luckily, it grows relatively quickly.

View from the back patio looking north.  I cleared the majority of the succulents out of the bed in the foreground on the left.  I've added a few small plants but there's more to do there.

This is a view from the north end of the back garden looking toward the patio.  I recently cut a few plants nearly to the ground in the bed on the left.  The large container visible in the distance, placed underneath Leucadendron 'Pisa', has been planted with Dutch Iris bulbs to temporarily fill some of the empty space in that bed. 

Back on the patio, this is the view looking south.  While I cut back several plants on the left, I need to thin Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' again.  Note how tall the dwarf Jacaranda 'Bonsai Blue' on the right (near the house) is!

View from the opposite direction on the south end of the back garden looking toward the patio.  This area has become very shady as the peppermint willow (Agonis flexuosa) there has grown exceptionally tall and wide.  It's going to get a good trim this year, which may be only the second time I've had it on the list.

 

Next up is the south-side garden.

This is a view of the south-side garden looking west.  During the summer months, the bright blue flowers of Salvia clevelandii 'Winnifred Gilman' stood out in the background on the left.  Now the purple foliage of Vitex trifolia shines in the same general area.

View from the small south-side patio looking south.  The peppermint willow (the only Agonis flexuosa I'm planning to leave alone this year) is partially screening the home in the distance.

A final view of the south-side garden looking east through the arbor

 

As I recently published a post covering the lower level of the front garden as well as the street-side succulent bed, I'm skipping those areas so we'll move on to the main level of the front garden.

South end of the garden looking north.  The 'Cousin Itt' Acacias still need pruning.

View from the area next to the Magnolia tree looking back in the opposite direction.  The giant strawberry tree (Arbutus 'Marina') in the background on the right is also on the pruning list.  All the Arbutus are thinned every year to keep the canopy open and avoid the development of black mildew.

View from the front door at the area under the Magnolia grandiflora.  The Magnolia has a number of dead branches that'll be pruned out this year.

View of the front door area from the driveway.  The Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia x blakeana) has filled out again.  It'll get a very light trim to eliminate the bare twiggy stems.

View of the bed on the right (south) side of the front walkway.  The Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' in the middle ground to the right of the Magnolia is looking better now after shedding a lot of its leaves earlier in the year.

Pathway leading from the driveway to the lower level of the front garden (where the lath house sits).  Although it can't clearly be seen in this photo, there's a big Agave attentuata rosette, originally planted as a pup, now impeding the path (which isn't wide to begin with).

View of the area on the left (north) side of the front walkway.  I'm going to need to thin out the 2 tree-like 'Copper Glow' Leptospermums at some point too.  The chartreuse shrub is Coleonema 'Sunset Gold', which the gardeners like to transform into a cube.

View from alongside the north end of the house looking southwest

View of the area adjacent to the garage from the driveway looking north.  This area needs work once the ornamental pear tree (Pyrus calleryana) gets its annual trim.

This succulent bed next to the garage is the one I intend to revamp once the Arbutus and Agonis get their haircuts


 

The cutting and the north-side gardens are on the other (northeast) side of the garage.

I went dahlia crazy this year, even by my personal standards.  The sunflowers are mostly bloomed out.  Many of the zinnias were choked out by dahlias.

View of the north-side garden, which I cleaned up last month

My husband cut down the spindly Psoralea pinnata (kool-aid bush) to the left of the Arbutus last week and removed the trunk earlier this week.  I was in charge of cleanup.  I'm undecided about whether to plant something else there.  Clearing some of the ivy crawling up from the back slope under the hedge is my first chore.


The only area left to show is the back slope, reached via a concrete block stairway that lies at the end of the gravel path that bisects the north-side garden.  I'm almost embarrassed to share views of it in its current condition but the truth isn't always pretty.

I did almost nothing with the back slope all summer.  This was due partly to the strain going up and down puts on my right knee and partly to my desire to avoid the fire ants during their favorite season.  Everything, including 2 artichoke stalks, gobs of bloomed-out Centranthus, and rampant ivy (shown on the right), needs to be cut back.

 

Not all the work that needs to be done is mine.  My dependable tree service's annual visit is scheduled for late next week.  The heavier-than-usual rain this past year prompted major growth spurts so I'm having fourteen trees, as well as a hedge consisting of five tree-sized shrubs, trimmed by the crew this year.  That's not all my trees - by my count there are twelve more - but I can either manage the others on my own or live with them as they are.  Of course, there's advance work to be done to clear the way for the crew and more work to address the collateral damage that inevitably comes afterwards.  This crew is always careful but some damage is to be expected.  The garden should be considerably sunnier, though!

 

 

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

 

 


17 comments:

  1. Lots to do. I always find it ironic how for your area you are gearing up for gardening and planting whereas here I am busy shutting everything down. I love the area under the magnolia tree. Just invites you to sit down and enjoy being in the garden.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Winter is a foreign concept here, Elaine. The spot under the Magnolia is an ideal place to sit, even if I rarely sit anywhere when I'm in the garden ;)

      Delete
  2. Wow has your Agonis really filled in and filled out this year! Dramatic.

    The scene labeled "Next up is the south-side garden." is especially nice. You've got all the shapes of the Agaves plus a bit of trellis to give form and then the billowy shrubs and trees as a contrast. And blue sky, and the proportions good too. Lovely area!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Even the arborist who owns the tree service I use was startled when he saw how tall and wide the largest Agonis has gotten. I'm amazed at how dense the Arbutus are too - and I'm very glad that the tree service is responsible for hauling away everything they cut. I can't even imagine how many weeks of green waste pickups it would take to remove it.

      Delete
  3. Your garden is just incredible. That is all. I love the pathways and the plants. Autumn is beautiful and busy here, too. I don't mind a little winter, but I enjoy you your climate in February. LOL.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We generally consider February to be on the chilly side but I guess the temperatures are balmy by your standards, Beth ;)

      Delete
  4. I'm amazed at how quickly things grow in your garden, it looks so full! Twelve months of growth makes a difference. (We have winter that flattens everything to the ground, except for trees and shrubs, which become bare. Not looking forward to the dull months ahead.)
    I hope you post before and after of the tree cutting. I expect there will be a noticeable difference! Eliza

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The extra rain made a big difference in the garden this year, Eliza. While I've had 3 trees and a and one tree-sized shrub removed over the course of the 12+ years we've lived here, I think this is the largest pruning job I've ever undertaken.

      Delete
  5. Beautiful views in every direction. Love your dahlia bed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unfortunately, we have a heatwave plus Santa Ana winds this week and my dahlias don't care much for either, Susie. Quite a few of the dahlias have taken nose dives in the past 2 days. Hopefully, conditions will improve by the weekend.

      Delete
  6. I am always blown away when you share these wide views. Your garden is so beautifully designed. I love everything about it. My recent wide shots are all of problem areas.I’ve got bulbs arriving as well but it’s too warm and too early to plant them. But I hate doing it on a cold day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You and I both have to find the sweet spot for planting bulbs, Linda. I suspect that's easier for me to do than you. I can wait until November if necessary to plant my bulbs but November shouldn't be particularly cold.

      Delete
  7. That first photo as you enter the south-side garden is breathtaking! So I have a nosy question, feel free to not answer it. We all know how hard you're out there working in your garden, but you (on occasion) mention gardeners. What do they do? Besides prune the Coleonema 'Sunset Gold' into a cube I mean ;) I think of the gardeners that show up in our neighbor's yards, but all they do is your standard mow and blow routine—and you have nothing to mow!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The gardeners spend 15-20 minutes here each week on average. They principally trim the hedges (of which there are many), blow leaves out of paths (into areas where they build up until they, or more commonly I, clean them out), and they haul our green bins to the street for pickup the next morning (which they often stuff with a neighbor's plant waste). They occasionally pull dead foliage but I've never seen anyone pull a weed. I've often thought of ending the service but the hedges, which suffice as fences here, require a lot of boring work. Believe it or not, this service is better than the one I fired several years ago. I think they want to do a good job, hence the periodic shearing of what they see as "foundation shrubs" like some of my Leucadendrons and that Coleonema. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to educate them as to what they may trim and how, partly because the crew turns over with regularity. It's a frustrating relationship.

      Delete
    2. Thanks for humoring me. The hedge trimming sounds like a good thing to hire out for sure!

      Delete
  8. So many chores yet to do. You mention thinning the Leptospermum - Do you cut main stems back to the ground or just cut branches back or something else? I've got a Leptospermum rupestre that is getting quite large and I'm tempted to take a few stems completely back to the ground to see if it will resprout. It's risky, so maybe I will make sure I get a couple rooted cuttings off of it before I do so.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' has a tree-like shape so, in addition to cutting whatever bare twiggy growth I find, I cut back the tallest and widest branches to "downsize" it. (Left to their own devices my 2 shrubs significantly exceed the 6 foot height quoted when I purchased them by a good 3+ feet.) They bounce back pretty quickly. I've struggled more with the 2 Leptospermum scoparium shrubs. The prickly foliage of those seems to turn grayish during our long hot, dry summers so I try to cut out a lot of that but, in this case too, I'm usually focused on reducing their height and width. I'm not familiar with Leptospermum rupestre but I understand it's a low-growing, creeping form so your strategy seems worth a try.

      Delete

I enjoy receiving your comments and suggestions! Google has turned on reCAPTCHA affecting some commentator IDs so, if you wish to identify yourself, please add your name to your comment.