Garage area garden refresh

The area on the west side of the garage, sandwiched between the hedge that fronts the street and and the driveway, was the last area we addressed in our campaign to remove all our lawn after moving in.  In addition to the fact that we were running out of steam at that point, the area has been a challenge from the start.  Finding the right mix of plants has been difficult, complicated by a good deal of shade and soil riddled with roots from the hedge and four surrounding trees.

This photo, taken at the end of March 2019, shows the area at its best.  We had heavier-than-usual rain leading into spring that year.

By way of history, we didn't begin addressing this area until September 2015.

This photo was taken in September 2015, just before the sod was stripped away.  The roses on the right and the pineapple guava tree, Pittosporum shrubs and some Japanese anemones on the left came with the garden.

This was the area immediately after it was stripped of sod.  We spent the next couple of months clearing the soil of the sod's plastic netting, rocks, and plant roots before adding topsoil and a flagstone path.

This is the area after I replanted it in March 2016.  Some of the plants, including the Festuca 'Festina', creeping thyme, Moroccan daisies (Pyrethropsis hosmariense) , and Renga lilies (Arthropodium cirratum) remain but the Cyclamen, Heuchera and Violas I originally planted are long gone.

This path, created to move the garbage and recycle bins to the street for pickup, was one of my husband's pandemic projects in early 2020.  (Note: the succulent bed on the right side of the path is not a addressed in this particular post)

Instead of changing out three or fewer plants at a time as I've been doing, I decided the area needed a more extensive makeover, although I wasn't prepared to pull everything out and start all over so I'm calling this latest effort a refresh rather than a wholesale renovation.

This photo, taken for a wide shot post in October 2021, is the best I can offer of the area in its "before" state

This photo, taken last week, shows some of the shrubs that particularly bothered me prior to starting my "refresh"

I'd already removed the coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides) shown in October's wide shot when I took the last photo shown above but I dug out three Duranta erecta and the floppy Polygala fruticosa late last week.  After adding soil amendments, I filled in with recent purchases and some seedlings.  The replanted area still looks bare but hopefully the new plants will bulk up within the next couple of years.

This is an "after" shot taken yesterday, looking roughly northwest

This "after" shot was taken from the area's other end, looking southeast

Three new Polygala fruticosa 'Petite Butterfly' shrubs were added at the north end.  These are supposed to be dwarfs but I know from experience they can get bigger than their projected profile.  They're attractive plants and I love their flowers so I hope I can keep them within bounds this time with regular pruning.

I added Stachys byzantina and Saxifraga stolonifera here to fill in among the existing hellebores and Renga lilies surrounding the pineapple guava tree

I added a barely visible Boronia crenulata shrub, Gaura lindheimeri and groundcover Erodium here to fill spaces in between daylilies, Renga lilies and Cuphea 'Starfire Pink'

I removed a large clump of Aeonium arboreum that was crowding the Festuca california and a Dombeya burgessaiae in this area.  That removal also uncovered two Veltheimia bracteata I thought I'd lost.

I also cut back the Aeonium arboreum that had half-hidden this cat sculpture, a gift from my husband years ago.  I filled the area in front of it with cuttings of Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi', a more well-behaved succulent.

A passalong gift of the Dombeya burgessaiae late last year started my reexamination of the area.  I decided to lean into a pink, purple and white color theme with my subsequent plant choices.

The Dombeya was passed to me by Denise of A Growing Obsession.  She'd had it in a pot but thought it might prefer a spot in the ground.  I gave it that here but was concerned whether it would be a good fit.  It seems happy enough thus far.  It's even developing flower buds.

Clockwise from the upper left, a closer look at the new plants: Boronia crenulata 'Shark Bay' (2), Gaura lindheimeri 'White Dove' (3), Pacific Coast Iris* (5), Polygala fruticosa 'Petite Butterfly' (3, aka sweet pea shrub), Saxifraga stolonifera (3, aka strawberry geranium), and Stachys byzantina 'Helen von Stein' (5, aka lambs ear).  I also planted 2 6-packs of Erodium 'Bishop's Form' (not shown).  *The Iris were sold as 'Wilder than Ever' but the first to bloom isn't that cultivar.

The seedlings I added are still tiny but, as there's little rain in the future forecast, I decided they'd have a better chance of survival in the ground where they'll receive irrigation on a regular schedule than in pots, dependent upon me for keeping them watered as temperatures start to climb.  I didn't take photos of the seedlings but they included Echium handiense (3), Paeonia cambessedesii (4, aka Majorcan peony), and Plectranthus zuluensis (2).  I potted up several peony seeds a year and half ago and was surprised when some germinated but, still small, they died back in the summer just as the parent plant does.  They recently reemerged, still small, so into the ground they went.  They may not make it but I remain hopeful.

I left a lot of plants in place, only a small number of which I photographed for this post.

Top row: Arthropodium cirratum (aka Renga lily), Cuphea 'Starfire Pink', and Daphne odora
Second row: Festuca californica, Freesia, and Lomandra 'Platinum Beauty'
Third row: Lavandula stoechas, Limonium perezii, and Pyrethropsis hosmariense (aka Rhodanthemum and Moroccan daisies)

Existing plants not shown in close up photos include the following:

• Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku (1)
• Arctotis 'Opera Pink' (3)
• Barleria obtusa (1 clump)
• Carex 'Eversheen' (5)
• Eriocapitella hupehensis (3 or more, aka Japanese anemone, currently dormant)
• Feijoa sellowiana (1, aka pineapple gauva)
• Festuca cineria 'Festina' (12+)
• Freesia (numerous in blue, pink and white)
• Helleborus 'Pacific Frost', 'Wedding Bells', 'Confetti Cake', 'Flower Girl', and 'True Love'
• Hemerocallis 'Apollodorus', Joan Senior' (2), 'Plum Perfect' (3), and 'Prairie Moonlight'
• Hypoestes aristata (1, aka ribbon bush)
• Iris douglasii 'Santa Lucia' (several in addition to those purchased recently, aka Pacific Coast Iris)
• Oenothera speciosa (numerous, self-seeded plants)

The above list is as much for my own reference as it is for general interest.  While I've had some success with hellebores and daylilies elsewhere in my garden, these plants are questionable selections for this area, especially as rain levels remain low.  If they don't do well over the next few years, they'll be out in a future "refresh."

This project was the focus of my efforts in my garden this week, undertaken in part to distract my attention from newscasts reflecting the upheaval in Europe instigated by an authoritarian bully seeking to dominate his neighbor.  As that bully escalates his meritless claims, my heart is with the Ukrainian people and their desire for peace without relinquishment of their rights.

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

The evolution of the front garden

I spent some time looking back at the evolution of my front garden this week.  I've previously reviewed the development of the back garden, the north side garden, and the south side garden.  As the front garden was one of our most ambitious efforts, it seemed time to get to that.  As no garden is ever "done," there will undoubtedly be further changes to every area as time passes, some significant but many not; however, this review is a chance to look at what we accomplished, as well as an opportunity to evaluate the need for future changes.  This review only covers the area of the front garden directly surrounding the house.  The area on the other side of the driveway adjacent to the garage was renovated on an entirely separate schedule.

The front garden underwent relatively few changes during the first few years we lived here.  I was heavily involved in family affairs for three years.  Meanwhile, my husband was working full-time for the first two years after we moved in, and then was embroiled in family matters of his own for another year and a half or so. 

I pulled this photo off the internet from a prior real estate listing.  As I believe the dog belonged not to the gentleman we bought the property from but to the couple who owned the property before him, I'm guessing that this photo dates back to sometime in 2008.

We acquired the property in December 2010 but this photo of the front garden was taken by my brother just before Christmas in 2011

I took this photo on November 30, 2013 for one of my earliest wide shots posts.  As you can see from it and the prior 2 photos, there was a LOT of lawn.

I did some work in the back and north side gardens by myself in 2012 and 2013 but I needed my husband's help with jobs that required more heavy lifting than I could handle on my own so major changes had to wait awhile.  When time permitted, he helped me with the south side garden in 2013 but we didn't knuckle down to tackle the front garden until 2014.

We thought we'd make things easy on ourselves and hired a crew to strip the sod.  That task was completed in mid-September.

However, stripping the top couple of inches didn't really get rid of the grass roots.  We ended up digging most of the area ourselves in stages over a 2-month period.  As the Magnolia's tree roots were close to the surface, we created a circle around the tree, later filling it with wood mulch rather than trying to plant anything there.

We bought the same flagstone we'd used elsewhere and laid a pathway around the tree, connecting the south-side path to the front walkway in November

After adding top soil trucked on-site and other soil amendments, I replanted the area shown here in late November and early December.  Some but not all of the original plants are still in place, including Echium 'Star of Madeira', Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', Lomandra longifolia 'Breeze', and Phormium 'Maori Queen'.  The Festuca Iid installed in both the foreground and in the area beyond the Magnolia was eventually removed, as was the Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' when the spot became too shady for it.

I used many of the same plants in smaller number in the area on the north side of the walkway.  The Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' in this bed remains to this day.  The most back-breaking aspect of my planting effort involved adding plugs of creeping thyme around each and every flagstone in both areas.

During 2015, the new plants settled in.  I continued to tweak the planting scheme but we made no major changes.

This wide shot of the front garden was taken on March 30, 2015

This photo, taken June 30, 2015, shows the front garden from the south end looking north.  The Grevillea 'Superb' I'd planted in November 2013 (in shadow on the right) was already gaining in size.  I'd filled in the area in the foreground on the left with rooted cuttings of Pelargonium tomentosum.  While a bit of that remains, Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt' eventually took over the majority of the space.

This photo, taken in late December 2015, shows the addition of the bench surrounding the Magnolia, which my husband built for me as a Christmas gift

In 2016, it became apparent that the Ceanothus hedge along the moderate front-facing slope was deteriorating.  We started cutting it back, only to end up removing all the remaining shrubs.

The Ceanothus hedge, shown here in a 2013 photo, came with the garden.  It sat atop the stacked stone wall running along the front slope less than 3 feet from the Xylosma hedge that ran along the front of the property adjacent to the street.  It struck me as odd from the time we moved in.

In October 2016, what was left of the hedge looked terrible

We removed it later that month

We brought in stone to hold the soil along the sloped area and I replanted it using succulents in December

This photo looking across the main area of the front garden was taken on December 30, 2016

In 2017 and 2018, the plants themselves did all the heavy lifting.

This photo was taken from the same angle as the one above on September 30, 2017

This photo taken in early October 2017 shows the development of the succulent bed planted in December 2016 (viewed from the south looking north)

This photo was taken in late September 2018

Very little got done in the garden in 2019 as both my husband and I were preoccupied with our interior home remodel.

The area lining the stone pathway on the south side of the front garden was choking in clover in April 2019.  I think the clover came in with either the top soil or the mulch I added in the area.

Beginning in late June 2019, our driveway was occupied by a storage pod and a porta-potty for several months, as well as lumber and other construction related materials

Among other things, a gas leak was discovered during construction, which required digging a trench through the garden and along the chimney on the north side

This earlier photo, taken in June 2018, shows the area  affected by the gas line problem.  The construction crew was able to save the rose and the Phormium but the succulents had to be replaced.

In 2020 and 2021, the pandemic changed life for all of us.  My husband and I stayed close to home most of the time and I focused on small jobs in the garden I could manage without buying a lot of new plants, like the renovation of the area near our lath house.  I made no significant changes to the front garden, focusing instead on general maintenance.

My husband bought me 2 more half-barrels for the area between the Magnolia and the stone path as a birthday present in 2021.  If I remember correctly, he bought me the other 3 barrels for my birthday in 2020.

Cleanup in this area involved cutting back the Sesleria 'Greenlee's Hybrid' that had encroached along the path and laying cement bricks as a barrier to prevent the same grass from taking over the bed on the left.  The bricks came out of the backyard patio when we pushed out the wall to enlarge the kitchen in 2019.

This photo, taken in late September 2021, shows a garden that's on the verge of becoming unruly.  Among other things, the 2 Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' had grown into behemoths. 

The only visible change between the photo above and the one below, taken in early January this year, is that I pruned the two out-of-control Leptospermum 'Copper Glow'.

Additional pruning is needed, most notably in dealing with the over-sized Coleonema 'Sunset Gold' shrubs.  The Echium 'Star of Madeira' may also need to be replaced this year or next as it becomes more and more woody and I'm increasingly concerned that Leucadendron 'Safari Goldstrike' (added in 2016) may be too tall for its spot.  Tweaking on a smaller scale, of course, will continue indefinitely.

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party