My neglected north side garden

I've largely ignored the garden on the north side of the house for the last couple of years, letting it get by on benign neglect.  This week, without any kind of plan in mind, I decided it was time for some tidying up.  The prostrate rosemary I planted years ago was completely out of control.  Perennial shrubs had been allowed to sprawl.  Weeds and rampant self-seeders were swamping other plants.  Fallen leaves were piled ankle deep in spots.

As usual, I failed to take any "before" photos so photos taken earlier this year will have to do.

This photo, taken at the end of October, hides a lot

This photo of my two largest agaves, taken in July, gives some sense of how crowded they were

I pulled out the Santa Barbara daisy foliage (Erigeron karvinskianus) that had formed lanky clumps more than a foot high.  I yanked several sprawling Hairy Canary Clover plants (Dorycnium hirsutum), confident that they'll  reappear from seed.  I cut back a lot of the ivy creeping up under the hedge from the back slope (although more work is needed there).  I cut back two rockrose (Cistus) shrubs that had lost all shape and lopped several large limbs of Leucadendron salignum 'Chief'.  The prostrate rosemary got a trim.  Tubs of guava tree leaves were raked up to be shredded for reuse as mulch.  In the process I uncovered two agaves I'd entirely forgotten were there.

Agave desmettiana 'Variegata' (left) was a pup I planted years ago.  Agave 'Cornelius' (aka 'Quasimoto', right) had been overrun by Hairy Canary Clover.

Two of my largest succulents, Agaves vilmoriana and ovatifolia, gained a little breathing space.

Although you can see that the Aloe vera is still in danger of being swallowed up by ivy

The "after" photos  may not reflect all the work that went into the process but I can testify that my back and shoulder muscles feel the impact.

There's more bare space but the Erigeron will certainly be back to fill in by spring if I don't find something else to plant before then

View from another angle

There's now a line of sight from the back of the north side garden looking south toward the backyard patio

Other odd jobs done this week included replanting some pots.

From left to right: I planted a half-barrel with snapdragons and primrose; a terracotta pot got a trio of Pericallis (aka florist's cineraria); and I spruced up two of the large pots by the front door with an underplanting of Bacopa (Sutera cordata) and pansies

I guess it's time to tackle Christmas decorations.  That's my weekend project.  What's yours?  Best wishes however you're spending your time.

All material © 2012-2020 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wide Shots - Odd Angles

I've made a habit of taking my monthly wide shots from the same vantage points in my garden to facilitate comparisons over time.  This month I decided to change things up a bit by posting photos taken from less obvious angles to provide a different perspective.

In some areas, getting a different angle is easy due to level changes.  While my backyard may appear flat in most views, it slopes down a foot or more in front of the hedge (before plummeting steeply behind the hedge).

The usual view from the back door looking toward the harbor

View from the dirt path that runs behind the backyard border in front of the hedge, looking north toward the mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin)

Another view further along the path: you can see the earth sloping downward beyond the Mexican feather grass (Stipa tenuissima) on the right

View from the same path, below the mimosa here, looking back toward the south

View between the trunks of the mimosa looking north toward the dry garden

The path through the dry garden leads down onto the back slope.  When we moved in, there was no path, nor any stairs leading down to the bottom of the slope.  I didn't even know that section of the garden existed until I happened upon it during the pre-purchase home inspection.

The usual view, focused on the gravel path we installed through the dry garden in 2012

View from under the grape arbor looking back toward the house

View from the upper portion of the cement block stairway that runs down to the bottom of the back slope, looking back upward toward the grape arbor

After curving around the hedge, the stair my husband constructed leads almost straight down, pivoting just in front of the lemon tree.  The property slopes down again about 12 feet beyond the lemon tree but that second drop represents the property line.

There are level changes in the front garden too.  The driveway slopes downward to the street.

The driveway slopes downward on a gentler gradient than the back slope

This photo was taken from the dirt path that separates the Ceanothus hedge on the upper level from the Xylosma hedge that runs parallel to the street

This photo was taken from the far northwest corner of the property behind a large Abelia shrub, looking past the garage on the left toward the house

And this photo was taken from under the Magnolia tree on the south side of the front door looking toward another area where the ground slopes sharply downward

Peering downward, you can see the flat area below our stacked stone wall and a peek of the succulent bed that runs below it along the street

Just to the left of the red-trunked Arbutus 'Marina' shown in the last photo is the arbor that marks the entry into the south side garden on the level of the house.

The usual view looking at the side garden and the harbor beyond

This photo was taken from yet another dirt path leading up from the area shown in the second to the last photo above

And we come full circle here with this photo taken from the path behind the backyard border looking back toward the south side patio and arbor 

That's it for my May wide shots post.  While these monthly photo shoots are useful to me in assessing developments in my garden, I expect the often subtle month-to-month variations in my photos are less interesting to those who read my blog.  Rather than post monthly updates, I'm going to move to a quarterly schedule.  My next wide shots post is planned for July.


All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wide Shots - The Dry Garden

This month I'm using my wide shots post to take a closer look at my dry garden, which sits on the northeast side of the house.  Although I hadn't placed a priority on this area, by happenstance it was the first one I tackled after we moved here in late December 2010.  The driving force behind my initial effort was to create a path through the area to enter the hidden slope at the back of the property.  The area was originally half grass, in terrible condition even in winter, and contained a hodge-podge of fruit trees.  I have no "before" photos.  The earliest photo was one taken by my brother in December 2011, after we'd already pulled out the lawn, installed a gravel pathway, removed a few poorly performing (and over-crowded) fruit trees, and begun introducing drought tolerant plants.

The resin solar birdbath shown here was a housewarming gift from my mother-in-law.  It didn't hold up to the weather and has been replaced with a birdbath-style succulent planter.  (Photo courtesy of ericnp.net)

My earliest photos of the area, taken in May 2013, featured the garden at the height of spring bloom.

While the dry garden was also more colorful in spring 2014 and 2015, I don't think it's looked this good since irrigation levels were cut back in early 2014

It wasn't nearly as colorful in July 2013.

There were more evergreen perennials and fewer succulents in 2013 than there are today

My first wide shot post showing the dry garden was published in December 2013.  The view was much more somber than the colorful spring photos but many of the elements of the current garden were already in place.

The photo on the left was taken from the side yard patio and the photo on the right from the backyard lawn area

Photos taken for my November 2014 wide shots post show more mature plants but the thyme groundcover shown in my 2013 photos had died back.

It apparently rained on November 1st last year.  No such luck this year, although there is a slight chance of rain on Monday evening.

Here are the photos of the dry garden today.

Photo taken from side patio

Photo taken from outer edge of the backyard

Photo taken from the end of the gravel path as it extends down the back slope, looking back at the house

Photo from the slope looking back toward the house

I'm not going to show wide shots of the rest of the garden this month.  The backyard is still torn up, although we're almost done clearing the grass roots and sod netting from the former lawn area in preparation for adding topsoil to improve drainage.  It's been a long, slow, painful process (and I haven't even begun work on the former lawn area inside the hedge along the street).  I really underestimated the scope of this project - the area is significantly larger than the front yard area we tackled last year.  The last section of the former lawn area in the backyard nearest to the dry garden has been the most difficult.  Each shovelful of soil is 25-33% rocks, some as large as my fist but most gravel size.  All this rock is being used elsewhere, mostly as gravel mulch.

The former backyard lawn area, photographed from near its terminus looking south

My thanks, as always, to Heather of Xericstyle for starting me off on the process of looking at the bigger picture in my garden.


All material © 2012-2015 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wide Shots - April 2015

My garden is sunnier in this month's wide shots.  No, this isn't due to the weather - in fact, we've had fog every morning this week.  Removal of one tree (discussed here), trimming of other trees and foliage, and the sudden demise of a section of hedge in the front garden is letting in more sun.

The change is most pronounced in the backyard border, where a tall Agonis flexuosa was removed in mid-March.

The photo on the left shows the back border on March 1st and the one on the right shows the same area on April 1st

View of the backyard looking south toward the remaining Agonis

Photos of the backyard, looking north toward the mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin), which is just beginning to leaf out

2 views of the backyard from the north, looking south

The mid-section of the back border has been replanted, although I haven't decided if I'm satisfied with it yet.  After great suggestions from commentators, much deliberation, and a round of several nurseries and garden centers, I selected Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' to fill the vacancy left by the tree.  The Callistemon, only 3 feet tall now, will reach 10 feet at maturity, not tall enough to become a source of any future complaints on the part of my neighbor about her view of the harbor.  However, it'll be a few years before the area fills in and additional tweaking is likely.

Two-thirds of the plants in the mid-border were in the area before or were moved from nearby sections of the back border.  New plants include the Callistemon (shown in close-up on the lower right), 3 Digiplexis and 2 Salvia 'Wendy's Wish.'

The area on the south side of the house experienced relatively few changes, although it too is getting a bit more light due to the thinning of trees at the front of the property.

The usual view of the south side garden, looking through the arbor toward the harbor

Other views of the south side garden

The area I call the "glen," which sits below the south side garden and next to the street, is a lot sunnier. Two of the neighbors south of us cut back their foliage and we, too, trimmed hedges to eliminate obstructions to the views of the neighbors directly across the street.

From left to right: path from side yard down into the glen; the area looking to the upper level; and the recently pruned hedge material

I've filled in more of the blanks in the front garden area.  Everything is filling in nicely.  I've lost only one of the plants I put in after the front lawn was removed.  However, as mentioned, a large section of hedge died off suddenly this month, leaving a gap on the upper level.  As I'd already lost one of the shrubs along the street, this has left what was a relatively private area of the garden exposed to the street.

The usual view from the driveway looking at the front door

On the left: a view of the bed on the left (north) side of the front walk; on the right: the 'Joseph's Coat' rose that grows up the chimney just outside the frame of the photo on the left

Photos of the garden beds on the right (south) side of the front walkway, viewed from 2 directions

These photos show the gaps left behind by the loss of a large section of Ceanothus hedge on the upper level and removal of the dead Auranticarpa rhombifolium along the street.  I'm currently leaning toward filling the gap along the street with another Xylosma shrub, expanding the existing Xylosma hedge (visible on the left in the photo on the far right).

Circling around the house to the north, I still haven't done much with the vegetable garden.  My Coriandrum (cilantro) and lettuce are bolting in response to the intense heat we had in March.

Like the south side garden, the dry garden on the north end of the house hasn't changed much, except that the grapevine and deciduous trees have leafed out.

More plants are blooming every day along the slope.  Carpenteria californica surprised me by blooming this year.  Centranthus ruber and Oenothera speciosa are flowering but are weeks away from reaching peak bloom.

From left: the view of slope looking down from the stairway behind the dry garden; the view of the area looking up from the bottom level; and a view of the boundary between our property and that of our neighbor, showing the 3 Pittosporum tenuifolium I planted in February

That's it for this month's wide shots update.  My thanks again to Heather of Xericstyle for getting me started with this exercise.  In the future, I'll be moving to a quarterly overview of the entire garden, while perhaps featuring reviews of specific sections of the garden in between.


All material © 2012-2015 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party