Wide Shots - October 2024

I'm late with my quarterly wide shots post for October.  At this time of year, I've got a lot to do in the garden and seemingly never enough time to do it.  I also struggled with the light the last few days when I finally got around to taking photographs.  After two attempts I ended up with some photos I didn't entirely care for but so it goes - the garden is calling for me to get back to work!

I'm starting with my back garden as usual and moving in a generally clockwise fashion around the exterior of the house.

View from the back door looking toward the hazy harbor.  The fountain was rehabbed by my husband in July/August after it'd sprung several leaks and we'd nearly given up on it. 

View from the main patio looking north.  The strawberry trees (Arbutus 'Marina') are literally covered in flowers, which has made the hummingbirds going crazy, exciting Meeko in turn.

View from the north end of the back garden looking south.  What looks like kernels of corn on the pavement and in the succulent bed are zillons of spent flowers falling from the strawberry trees.  I don't recall them ever making this much of a mess.

Back along the midpoint of the back patio, this is the view looking south.  A lot of my Osteopsermums and other small plants burned up during September's heatwave.  I've pulled many of them, covering the ground with mulch until I find replacements to fill the empty spots.

View from the south end of the back garden looking north

On to the south-side garden.

South-side garden looking west.  The Leucospermum 'High Gold' in the foreground on the right is invading the flagstone path.  I chipped away at its growth after it finished flowering but I clearly need to take the pruning to another level.

View from the small south-side patio looking south.  The peppermint willow (Agonis flexuosa) and the Vitex trifolia in the background have now combined to nearly mask a neighbor's house from view  I cleared the short path leading to the hedge in the background but the Cistus shrubs on the right need additional pruning.  The Cotinus will get pruned later this year.

View of the south-side garden looking east.  I'm planning to plant an Australian fuchsia (Zauschneria) in front of the dwarf Agonis flexuosa 'Nana' on the left once the plant recovers from the dieback is sustained during the heatwave.  The Zauschneria was one of my last purchases from Annie's Annuals & Perennials, now sadly closed.

Moving into the front garden, I veer into the lower level before returning to the main level.

View of the lower level of the front garden occupied by my lath (shade) house, looking down from a path above the area.  It needs a major cleanup but I've scheduled my annual tree trimming exercise for November 19th.  There's always collateral damage to this area so I'm holding off until after the work is done.

Back on the main level of the front garden at its southern end looking north, although you can't see much beyond the Magnolia tree. The Grevillea 'Superb' on the right is low on flowers at the moment but there are still enough to keep the hummingbirds and bees happy.

View from the front door looking southwest.  The barrel in the foreground is in need of replenishment as the Dahlia 'Labyrinth' that served as its centerpiece has given up for the season.

View from the driveway looking at the front of the house.  The 2 tree-like 'Copper Glow' Leptospermums have gotten taller than I'd intended.  I've asked the tree service to bring them down a notch when they're here in November. 

View of the bed on the south side of the path to the front door.  Protea neriifolia 'Claire' is barely visible behind the fernleaf lavender (Lavandula multifida), which I intend to replace with a lower-growing groundcover, possibly more hairy Canary clover (Lotus hirsutus, aka Dorycnium hirsutum).  The bush violet (Barleria obtusa) in the foreground on the right is just about to begin its seasonal bloom cycle.

View of the area on the north side of front door path, featuring some of my low-profile Halloween decorations 

View of the beds in front of the garage looking north.  The lavenders need to be cut back.  Self-seeding Polygala myrtifolia is slowly creeping into every available nook and cranny in this area but I have to give it credit: it's a resilient groundcover.

A different angle on the same area taken from behind the succulent bed in front of the garage

The succulent bed renovated earlier this year is filling in albeit slowly

On the other side of the garage is my cutting garden.

I took this photo of the cutting garden before the majority of the dahlias collapsed or were withered by last week's Santa Ana winds.  I'm planning to begin the process of digging up the dahlia tubers this coming weekend to make way for my cool season garden.

Turning around to face east brings me to the north side garden.

I've done some work to clean up the damage wreaked by September's heatwave but more is required to thin and cut back the plants that became overly exuberant following the heavy rain earlier this year

I made a quick trip down that gravel path to the bottom of the concrete block stairway to capture a photo of the slope.

Don't look too closely!  Other than the Agave attenuata, almost everything is in need of grooming.  The dead, dry and burned up Centranthus alone (much of which is massed under the lemon tree outside the frame of this photo) will take a couple of hours of work.  I'm waiting until temperatures have cooled down again and I can be reasonably certain that the fire ants won't be a problem.

Last up are a couple of photos of the street-side succulent bed.

I posted about work on this area in an earlier post.  I plan on replacing the burned up Aeoniums with cuttings once the heat is clearly behind us.

Side view of the the same bed

Time permitting, I'll share a few of my more recent projects in the garden in Friday's post.

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party