After the Lawn: A Progress Report

You may recall that we removed the last sections of lawn this past fall.  The process of remediating the soil in preparation for planting carried the project well into the winter months.  I started planting the area alongside the street at the front of the house in January and, although tweaking will continue ad infinitum, I'm declaring the project complete.

Here's what the area looked like in late January:

The succulent area in the distance was mostly planted but the area along the driveway was still relatively bare

Here's what the area looks like now:

I've finished planting out the area along the driveway, although the plants I've used are mostly small specimens that will take time to fill the space

This photo shows how the new area relates to the borders surrounding the front door in the distance

Turning around in the other direction, here's a closer view of the the intersection between the flagstone path and the railroad-tie/gravel path used to move our garbage bins to and from the street.

The area beyond the gravel path is planted mainly in succulents

About half the succulents in this area are cuttings from my garden and a friend's garden.  The 3 small Agave attenuata on the upper right are cuttings from the larger specimen on the left, which I inherited with the garden.

This photo of the same area was taken from a "doorway" entrance through the hedge adjacent to the street.  In addition to the succulents (described in my January post), I planted some bearded Iris (moved from elsewhere in the garden), plugs of blue fescue (Festuca cinerea 'Festina'), and alyssum. 

I haven't even tried to count the plants I've put in.  I've used cuttings, divisions and transplants where possible but I've acquired lots and lots of new plants too.

The Acanthus mollis on the left is one of 2 I moved from elsewhere in the garden.  The next two photos show Arthropodium cirratum (aka Renga Lilies) I divided from large clumps in the south side garden where they got too much sun.

New plants grown mainly for their foliage include, clockwise from the left: Dianella tasmanica 'Yellow Stripe' (2 plants were divided to create 4), Abelia x grandiflora 'Confetti', Asplenium x Austral Gem, Aucuba japonica, and Iresine hybrid 'Blazin' Lime'

New plants grown for both foliage and flowers include: Arctotis 'Opera Pink' and Heuchera 'Palace Purple', Ajuga genevensis, Geranium maderense, Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender' and Rhodanthemum hosmariense

Plants added primarily for their floral color include, clockwise from upper left: Cistus saivilfolius 'Prostratus' (aka sageleaf rockrose), Geranium 'Tiny Monster', Pericallis hybrids in shades of blue, and groundcover Prunella grandiflora 'Freelander Blue' shown with annual pansies

For some reason, I've accumulated a lot of garden ornaments in this area.  They're a little intrusive at this point but, as the plants fill in, I hope they'll become less so. 

Clockwise from the left: The concrete cat my husband bought me for Christmas years ago (he'd be happier if Pipig was also made of concrete); the smiling face I brought from our old house; a wine barrel placed in an area under a tree which would otherwise be impossible to plant; a small birdbath; and a hanging ornament that spins in the wind

Everything is settling in nicely, aided by two good rainstorms just this week.  At the moment, everything is looking up in the garden.

A rainbow appeared over the harbor after yesterday's storm dropped almost half an inch of rain

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

Need help creating a water-saving garden?

With drought conditions impacting many areas of the world, more gardeners are looking for ways to save water.  My husband and I have been water conscious for years - we installed our first drip irrigation system in the tiny garden I tended at our former home - but our consciousness was raised to a new level when we moved into our current place in December 2010.  Not only was our new property much larger and our water bill correspondingly much higher, but California entered a period of severe drought in 2012, complicating matters further.  Public notices about the drought began in 2013.  We began voluntary conservation measures in 2014 and, in 2015, mandatory water restrictions were implemented.  We'd managed to reduce our water use by about 25% in 2014 but the 36% reduction required of my community in 2015 (in relation to 2013 usage levels) was still painful.  With no end to the drought in sight, water saving remains an ongoing concern that informs most of my gardening decisions.  I'm constantly looking for ideas to up my game so I was very pleased when Pam Penick, author of the blog, Digging, and a book on lawn alternatives, Lawn Gone!, asked me if I'd like an advance copy of her newest book, The Water Saving Garden.  Of course, I said yes!

Reprinted with permission from The Water-Saving Garden, by Pam Penick, copyright © 2016, published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.

Pam's new book is a logical extension of some of the themes in her prior book, which I've had on my shelf since it was published in 2013.  Pam pointed out that lawns don't make sense in many areas of the country, like the arid US Southwest, where they require unreasonable amounts of water to be kept looking good.  While I removed the lawn in my former garden because it was tiny and I didn't want to give up the space to something as boring as sod, I began removing lawn in stages in our current garden almost immediately after moving in largely because it was a water hog.  I admit that the decision to eliminate all of our remaining lawn, a step we took this past fall, wasn't easy but seeing photos of lawn-less gardens, like those in Pam's book, her blog, and other publications, got me over the hump.

Photo of my front garden in December 2011 when it still was mostly lawn (left) and the same area in 2015 following removal of the lawn and replanting

Recognizing that many people have reservations about low-water gardens based on preconceived notions about what those gardens are like, Pam starts her new book with a look at a range of water-saving gardens in different styles and different parts of the country.  She points out that reducing water use doesn't automatically dictate use of cactus and rock.  While I've become very interested in succulents in recent years and portions of my garden are allocated to such plants, I also rely heavily on a range of Mediterranean plants that are adapted to drought conditions.  Very few people who see my Grevilleas and Leucadendrons turn up their noses.  In fact, some seem to think I must be gaming the water restrictions with such beautiful specimens in my garden.

Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' in my front garden

And almost everyone who strolls along our street offers positive comments on my succulent garden.

The second section of Pam's book is focused on water capture and retention.  Her suggestions include everything from permeable paving to the use of rain barrels to increasing shade cover.  We were lucky enough to inherit permeable paving with our current house.

The permeable paving in our front driveway, sporting moss growing between the pavers after rain

We've added flagstone paths as we've removed our lawns but all of these have ample spacing to allow rain to seep into the soil.

The gaps between our flagstones are filled with creeping thyme

As anyone who regularly reads my blog knows, I advocate rain collection.  I brought one 50-gallon rain barrel with me when we moved in but I've since added 2 more, a 160-gallon tank and a behemoth 265-gallon tank, which in total has given me 475 gallons of water collection capacity.  My collected rainwater has seen me through some difficult dry periods, while allowing us to keep our water usage well below the budget allocated by our water service provider, despite our 36% reduction target.  As Pam points out in her book, it's truly amazing how much rain one can collect off the average roof.  I was down to about 50 gallons of rainwater earlier this week but, with just over a half inch of rain on Wednesday night, I estimate I'm back up close to 350 gallons.

My largest rain tank, situated out of sight behind our garage, collects rain from the roof gutters 

If time and circumstances permit it, I also collect rain flowing down the rain chain outside our dining room in trugs.  I use some of this to water plants under roof overhangs with any excess going into whichever collection tank still has capacity.

Pam's book also describes ways of sculpting gardens to retain rainwater using berms, microbasins, swales and terraces.  I've done a little experimenting with the first two but, had I read her book earlier, I think I would have factored these strategies into my plans in a more deliberate way.

The third section of the book is focused on planting.  Losing, or at least shrinking, lawn areas is one theme.  In addition, Pam emphasizes use of adapted natives (with appropriate admonitions to define "natives" in terms of one's own microclimates), as well as other adapted plants.  Importantly, she also emphasizes the need to time planting with the needs of the plants in mind.  In California, if not all of the Southwest, that means doing the majority of one's planting in the fall.  I got that message years ago but continue to be frustrated by the difficulty of procuring the plants I want within the right planting window.  Local nurseries and garden centers generally sell most plants when they're in bloom or about to bloom rather than when they should be planted to ensure the development of healthy root structures.  In time, I hope they'll adjust their practices and expend more effort educating their customers.  I know from experience that planting at other times here, even in early spring, can be a recipe for disappointment.

The fourth section of Pam's book addresses the creation of the illusion of water in the garden.  This is a topic I haven't seen covered much in other books dealing with drought, water-saving or summer-dry gardens.  She talks about the value of recirculating water features and the use of both plants and stone to evoke the impression of plentiful water to visually cool garden spaces.  Like all the other sections of her book, this one is accompanied by lots of beautiful photos to prompt the reader's thought processes.

This photo from my own garden shows just how a simple recirculating fountain adds life to a garden

The final section of Pam's new book is a selection of 101 water-saving plants.  Of the plants she listed, I have more than one third in the same genera, if not always the same species.  My beloved Grevilleas and Leucadendrons didn't make the list but I admit that they're not adapted to broad sections of the country so I'll forgive Pam that omission.

Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' in my front garden

Pam's offer of the book was without obligation.  I offer this review out of my own enthusiasm for the book and the subject matter.  If you're concerned about water conservation but aren't sure how to get started, or simply want to step up your game by creating a more sustainable garden, I recommend picking up Pam's book.  It's scheduled for release on February 23rd but advance orders can be placed now.


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

A progress report

As those of you who regularly read my blog may remember, we had the last of our sod stripped away in late September.  That was followed by months of digging to remove grassroots and sod netting in the affected areas before we added topsoil and amendments.  I reported progress with the backyard area in late November and mid-December.  I'm finally ready to provide a status report on the front yard area.

As a reminder, here's what the area looked like at earlier stages in the process:

From the left: the area with lawn, the area after the sod was stripped away, and the area while digging was in progress

Here are a the most current photos of the same area:

View looking roughly northwest

View looking in the other direction toward the hedge lining the street

We completed our digging at the end of December.  We then added imported topsoil and amendments to improve soil drainage.  A railroad tie and gravel path was laid to connect the existing walkway to the street and a flagstone path was added to make it easier to work in the surrounding beds without stomping on plants.  Planting has begun but is by no means complete.

The area closest to my neighbor to the north, which is sunny for most of the day, has been planted with lots of succulents.

I used cuttings and ornamental grass plugs in most of this area

The Agave attenuata in the photo on the far left was in place when we bought the property but I've added cuttings of Aeoniums, Senecio vitalis and Sansevieria suffruticosa around them.  In the top row on the right, the photo shows 3 Agave attenuata cuttings, a mass planting of Cistanthe grandiflora (formerly known as Calandrinia) cuttings I received from a friend, and Echeveria picked up on a recent shopping expedition.  The bottom row on the right shows a noID variegated Aloe received from a neighbor, plugs of Festuca glauca, and one of 3 new fernleaf lavenders (Lavandula multifida).

The area on the other side of the gravel pathway, screened to a significant extent by the existing Xylosma congestum hedge, is much shadier.  Planting has only just begun in this area.  This far, I've relied mostly on shade-tolerant plants and divisions of plants from the side garden.

Two Acanthus mollis were moved from this area where, since the removal of the Eucalyptus tree in 2013, they were getting too much sun.  I also dug up and divided the huge mass of Arthropodium cirratum (Renga Lily)  shown here, which netted 27 divisions, some of which I replanted and many which I gave away to friends and neighbors.

Clockwise from the far left: One of 3 Acanthus mollis (2 of which were moved from elsewhere in the garden), Abelia 'Confetti', one of the many divisions I took from a large mass of Arthropodium cirratum I removed from the side garden, one  of 4 divisions I made from 2 recently purchased Dianella tasmanica 'Yellow Stripe', and a mass of wooly thyme planted from flats

This is a working area of the garden rather than one for resting and relaxing.  The railroad tie and gravel path is intended for use in moving our trash cans to and from the street.

We were unable to find a contractor to extend the existing paved area over such a short distance so we made do with a path constructed of railroad ties and gravel.  The ties are placed to allow the wheels of the garbage bins supplied by the sanitation department to roll along them rather over the gravel.

A potting bench, inherited from my mother-in-law, sits alongside the garage near a compost tumbler inherited from the house's prior owner.

Garden accents are few but there are a couple.

The cat figure is an old Christmas gift from my husband that's been hidden behind shrubs for months.  The half barrel was moved from the vegetable garden to this area that's so embedded with tree roots it's otherwise impossible to plant.

The biggest source of frustration with the area thus far is the arrival of the raccoons.  They've ignored this area for the 5 years we've had the house.  Did they dig when the area was covered by lawn?  No!  Did they dig once the sod was removed?  No!  Did they dig at anytime during the time we ourselves were actively digging in the area?  No!  But, 2 days after I planted the area, they've laid their claim.

I came across evidence of the digging here this morning (not to speak of the mess they made in the side garden for 3 days running)

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

Wide Shots: January 2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I haven't included a complete garden overview in my monthly wide shot posts since August.  The new year seems an appropriate time for such a review so here it is.

We finished digging up the backyard in late November.  Paving stone was laid and planting began.  Finding plants to fill the empty space was a problem in December as local garden centers shifted their attention to Christmas trees and holiday merchandise and many mail order providers went on hiatus.  I'm hoping that local nursery stock will expand this month and I can begin to fill in the blanks in my garden before the rains associated with El Niño are over (assuming those rains, which have yet to make an appearance, aren't a myth perpetuated by NOAA).

The usual view from the back door looking out toward Angel's Gate, the entrance to the Los Angeles harbor

View from the far north end of the backyard space looking south

View from the south end looking back northward

The area on the south side of the house has been undergoing a bit of renovation as I try to improve the flow between it and the backyard.  As this is also the raccoons' favorite playground, I've been putting in more spiky succulents in the hope of putting them off.  I can't claim this strategy has been entirely successful but that's the direction I'm currently taking.

View of the south side garden from the backyard looking toward the arbor that leads to the front garden: Although difficult to see in this photo, succulents have been added on both sides of the flagstone path.  The large green plant mid-way along the path on the left, a huge clump of Arthropodium cirratum, is slated for removal.  The bulbous plant will be divided and used in a shadier area in the front garden along the street.

View of the south side garden from the patio alongside the house

My favorite view of the side garden looking through the arbor toward the backyard and the harbor

Heading into the front garden, the area on the south side is more subdued since I pulled up the ratty remnants of the Gaillardia and cut back many of the other plants.

View of the front garden looking northward toward the driveway and garage: Nothing in this area is at its best at the moment

In an effort to keep our neighbor up the street happy, I had the majority of our trees trimmed in mid-December.  The impact is particularly noticeable in the front garden.

Front garden photographed from the driveway

This view of the south side of the front garden shows how much more sun it's getting now that the trees have been thinned

The north side of the front garden

Work continues at the north end of the front garden along the street.  We're almost done digging up the area.  Our plan is to finish that in the coming week, then mix in some imported topsoil, lay flagstones, and begin planting.  Our first El Niño rains are predicted to arrive during the middle of next week so we're a bit behind the game but at least we're still making progress.

Photo of the project area taken 2 days ago - the digging has been slow going due to the care we're taking to avoid damage to tree and shrub roots here

The remaining garden areas were sorely neglected in 2015 despite plans I had for each.

Vegetable garden: I'd intended to use the raised beds mainly as a cutting garden but somehow this has never made it to the top of my priority list.  I did plant sweet pea and other flower seeds in the bed in the foreground back in September, only to have the raccoons rummage through the seedlings.  I recently laid down chicken wire and replanted the area but there's not much to show of the effort yet.  On the positive side, the navel oranges (middle tree along the fence) are almost ripe.

Dry garden: There's very little in bloom here at the moment.  Grevillea lavandulacea 'Penola', normally the star of my winter garden, has yet to bloom.  I cut the 3 Cuphea 'Starfire Pink' (middle, foreground) back last month but they're showing little sign of life and may require replacement - they prefer the areas of the garden that are irrigated more regularly.

The back slope is shown looking downward from the top of the cement stairs on the left and from the bottom looking up on the right: With only 1.44 inches of rain for the season to date (October 1 to the present) and little supplemental irrigation, this area is suffering.

The "glen" sits below the front garden adjacent to the street on the west side.  I had plans to add another layer of rock to the upper, sloped area to level the soil somewhat and improve water retention but, when our focus shifted to lawn removal, I never got around to this.  The Ceanothus hedge that lined the top of that slope has been dying away in sections and I've been slow to replant.

The succulents in the street-side bed adjacent to the "glen" are doing fine but the Auranticarpa rhombifolia shrubs that formerly backed the succulents are dying.  We've already removed 3 of these shrubs and now the one in the center is almost certainly dead.  I was hoping our winter rains might make a difference but I think it's too late for resurrection. These shrubs connected to the more robust Xylosma congestum hedge that borders the street elsewhere (visible on the far left).  Replacing the Auranticarpa with Xylosma would be one solution but it wouldn't leave much room for the succulents so I'm considering other screening options.  Any ideas?

That's a wrap on my wide shots update.  My thanks again to Heather of Xericstyle for setting me on this monthly task.  Best wishes to all for a very happy new year - may 2016 bring you the garden of your dreams!


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

Slow but steady progress

Late last month I provided an update on my progress with my lawn removal and replacement project.  Work continues and, while I'm making progress, it's slow.  With my former garden, a postage-stamp sized lot, I could bring home a trunk load of plants and utterly transform the space within hours.  My current garden absorbs trunk loads of plants - and hours upon hours of work - and still looks mighty bare.

Not much has happened on the narrow north end of the new backyard space.  The house itself shades much of the area after mid-day so I need plants that can tolerate dry shade.

Thus far, I've planted Seslaria 'Greenlee's Hybrid', a short clumping evergreen grass (shown on the left), and some Aeonium arboreum cuttings.  I want at least a dozen more of this Seslaria but I haven't been able to find it locally.  I have an endless supply of the Arboreum.

If we walk south on the paving stone path we come to the backyard patio, where I've begun installing succulents.  The soil in this area is sandy and plants must be able to handle full day sun.  I've bought a few succulents but I'm also using cuttings from elsewhere in the garden.  With no overall plan, it's a bit of a hodge-podge collection thus far.

In the bed to the north of the path's intersection with the patio (photo on the left), I'm planning to use plants with orange highlights, including Euphorbia tirucalli 'Sticks on Fire', which I clipped from a more mature specimen, and Aloe 'Blue Elf', which I moved from a pot I'd woefully neglected.  The middle photo shows the bed on the other side of the bisecting path, where I've planted Senecio vitalis cuttings and 2 Agave lophantha quadricolor.  Two pots, shown in close-up in the third photo, contain varieties of Kalanchoe and other noID succulents.

Beyond the patio on the right (west) side, I've added a larger number of plants but, as most were planted from small pots, they're not yet having much of an impact.

The fountain bed formerly ended where the Stipa tenuissima (Mexican feather grass) is planted

The left-hand photo shows Santolina chamaecyparrisus (green form), Lavandula x intermedia 'Phenomenal', Lavendula angustifolia 'Superblue' and Gazanias I've moved forward from the edge of the former bed; the middle photo shows Salvia chamaedryoides, Argyrantemum 'Madeira White', Euphorbia characias 'Black Pearl, and Santolina chamaecyparrissus (gray form); and the last photo shows Echium fastuosum 'Pride of Madeira', planted just in back of the Mexican feather grass to replace Coreopsis I've moved elsewhere

On the other (east) side of the path, I've tried to create continuity with the former backyard border by using more of the plants I already had there, most notably Erigeron and Achillea.

I moved Erigeron glaucus 'Ron's Pink' forward, added more Erigeron glaucus 'Wayne Roderick' and Achillea 'Moonshine', and introduced a new low-growing Hebe called 'Purple Shamrock' here

Further down the path on the right (west) side, I've picked up on the orange, yellow and lime green tones I've used on the east side of the backyard border.

In addition to the Arctotis 'Pink Sugar', Abelia 'Kaleidoscope and Santolina virens 'Lemon Fizz' I showed in my earlier post, I've added Papaver nudicaule 'Champagne Bubbles' (shown in the photo on the left) and more Gazania from the 'Flame' series (shown in the photo on the right).  I've also moved some of the smaller semi-evergreen Hemerocallis I had in the main backyard border to this area but these aren't readily visible in my photos.

On the left (east) side of the paving stone path, as it connects to the south end side garden, I've added more succulents to link the areas.

The photo on the left shows 2 small Agave attentuata, a somewhat larger A. attenuata 'Raea's Gold' (one of my biggest splurges thus far) and Agave bracteosa in addition to Coprosma 'Pacific Sunset', Leucadendron 'Red Devil' and more Iceland poppies; the photo on the right shows the Furcraea foetida 'Mediopicta' I moved from a pot, 2 Agave 'Joe Hoak' (one a pup I received from Denise of "A Growing Obsession" earlier this year), Agave 'Cream Delight' moved from another area of the garden, and more Aeonium cuttings

I've also been working on changes to the south side garden.

In this area I've added a Agave ovatifolia 'Vanzie' (another splurge), 2 more Aloe Dorotheae, 3 more Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote', an Agave 'Blue Flame' pup, 3 Carex testacea to mirror those planted on the other side of the path, more Gazania, and an Agave americana mediopicta pup (received from Hoover Boo at "Piece of Eden")

Meanwhile, work also continues on our digging and sifting exercise in former front lawn area alongside the street.  My husband spends a little time there early most mornings and I spend a little time there in the late afternoon, usually as it's growing dark.  We're making progress, even if it's slow.  I also put in a few plants mail-ordered from a California native plant nursery late last week in the area left bare by removal of a mostly dead Ceanothus.  They're very small in relation to the size of the area so it also looks a little sorry at the moment but I hope to add some groundcovers before the heaviest rains arrive.

The plant on the upper left is a Garrya elliptica 'James Roof' and the 2 on the right are Salvia 'Celestial Blue'

I took cuttings of Pelargonium tomentosum and Plectranthus ciliatus 'Zulu Warrior' for use in providing cover for the bare soil

I keep reminding myself how bare the main section of the front garden looked last year when I started planting.  Hopefully, next year at this time I'll be as happy with the current project as I am with last year's project.


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