The Fun Continues

Work on the front garden continues between rainstorms.  I thought I'd provide an update, although I'm far from done with planting (and don't expect I'll be done until spring, if then).

The biggest change since my first report is that flagstones and the first plants have been installed in the area to the left of the walkway to the front door.  My husband is once again responsible for setting the stone in place.  For a change, rather than letting my collector tendencies run wild, I selected plants to create continuity with the area on the other side of walkway.

All the plants are drought tolerant to some degree.  Here's what's in place thus far:

• 3 Coprosma (1 'Evening Glow,' 1 'Inferno' and 1 'Scarlett O'Hara')
• 1/2 6-pack Erigeron karvinsianus (aka Santa Barbara daisy)
• 1 6-pack Gazania 'Kiss Frosty White Flame'
• 3 Lavandula stoechas 'Silver Anouk'
• 1 Leptospermum 'Copper Glow'
• 3 Lomandra longifolia 'Lime Tuff'
• 1 flat Thymus serphyllum (aka creeping thyme)

Top: Coprosma 'Scarlett O'Hara' (left) and 'Inferno' (right); Bottom: Coprosma 'Evening Glow'

Gazania 'Kiss Frosty White Flame'

Lomandra longifolia 'Lime Tuff' (which looks very similar to the L. 'Breeze' I used on the other side of the walkway)

I plan to use more thyme, Gazanias and other perennials, possibly Euphorbia, to fill in some of the empty space.

The biggest change on the right side of the walkway was the addition of 2 cubic yards of bark mulch around the Magnolia tree.  I also added a few more plants in the area beyond the tree.

View of the area to the right of the walkway

View of the back section (more stones were needed to give me space to move without tromping through planting areas)

Key additions included:

• 1 Abelia grandiflora 'Kaleidoscope'
• 1 Agave gentryi 'Jaws' (featured in my December foliage follow-up post)
• 2 6-packs of Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip'
• 1 Asplenium 'Austral Gem' (fern)
• 3 Plectranthus ciliatus 'Zulu Warrior' (grown from cuttings)
• 3 Zephyranthes candida (aka rain lilies)

Abelia 'Kaleidoscope' (there are 2 others in an existing bed along the house)

Another look at the handsome Agave 'Jaws'

The ferns, Plectranthus and Ajuga in the foreground will be part of an expanded  shade bed including the existing Arthropodium cirratum (Renga lilies), Pelargonium tomentosum (peppermint geranium), and Geranium 'Biokovo' among other plants

But it still looks bare.


All material © 2012-2014 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Renga Lilies Everywhere

In addition to putting in new plants, I'm taking advantage of the cooler temperatures to begin moving plants around.  In fact, I spent a good part of Saturday doing just that.  The biggest change involved digging, dividing and replanting 3 large Arthropodium cirratum (aka Renga Lily) I'd originally planted on our lower slope.  The summer sun was more intense there than I'd anticipated and, while the plants soldiered through the heat and dry conditions, they didn't look their best as the summer drew to a close.

Arthropodium cirratum in February

Arthropodium cirratum at the end of September 

The plants tolerate dry shade but dry soil in full sun was asking too much of them.  I moved some daylilies from the backyard border to replace the Renga lilies.  As the Renga lily clumps were large, I decided to divide them and spread them around the upper level of my garden.  The plants divided easily with just a tug.

Now I have Renga lilies in the garden bed bordering my neighbor to the northwest, where I installed 3 of the divisions.

The foliage of the Renga lily looks like a smaller version of the Agave attenuata to the right of it

Another division was added to the bed on the other side of the house near 2 existing plants of the same variety.

And the last 2 went into a nearby dry shade bed, where I haven't been successful in getting much of anything to grow.  I put 3 Renga lilies there this past spring so the additions make 5.  This may be overkill but, until I can come up with an alternative as tolerant of dry shade as these plants, they'll have to do.

I'd moved one Acanthus to a moister end of that bed earlier.  More recently, I transplanted cuttings of peppermint geranium (Pelargonium tomentosum), foxglove seedlings (Digitalis purpurea), and a mint bush (Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata').

The area's looking a little better but I could still use some drought and shade tolerant plants to fill in the bed's mid-section, which is exceptionally dry (probably due to tree roots).  I've tried Geranium catabrigeniense, Geranium macrorrhizum, Hellebores, various Heuchera, and Francoa sonchifolia with little success.   I'm open to any ideas!