Wide Shots - March 2015

Rain was predicted for Friday through Monday this weekend but it didn't show up here until last night and it has been light thus far.  In anticipation of the rain, I took my wide shot photos yesterday, when the skies just held the portent of rain.

View of clouds over the Los Angeles harbor

The front garden, irrigated by sprinklers once a week and hand-watered as needed during dry spells, continues to fill in nicely.

Inspired by a recent series of photos from Rock Rose, I took a few pictures from inside the house this month.  This one, taken from our master bedroom, turned out better than many of my exterior shots.

Closer look of the front garden beds on the north side of the front walkway

Closer view of the area on the south side of the front walkway

View looking toward the driveway near the arbor entrance to the south side yard

Although raccoons still rummage through the south side yard one or two times a week, they seem to be doing less damage.  I've used the prickly seed cones that fall from the Magnolia tree and thorny stems from my pruned rose bushes to create rings around the newer and more fragile plants, which, amazingly, seems to put them off a bit even if it hasn't sent them packing.

The usual view through the harbor looking toward the harbor

Another photo taken from inside the house - this one was taken from the living room looking out on the side yard

The usual view looking at the side yard from the backyard

The backyard beds still have holes here and there that need to be filled but I'm holding off any work there until the tree trimming scheduled for next Saturday is completed.

View of the backyard taken from inside our dining room

Exterior view of the backyard, looking south

A longer view looking in the same direction - that "lawn" walkway is little more than a collection of weeds now

View in the other direction, looking north - the tree in the mid-border on the right, at the edge of the frame, is the one we're taking out next week to accommodate a neighbor who claims our trees obstruct her views

The backyard borders north of the main patio, both created last year, are also filling in well.

View of the 2 newest backyard beds, both filled with drought tolerant plants

View of the same beds looking in the opposite direction

Nothing much has been done with the dry garden in the last month.

Photo of the dry garden taken from inside the master bathroom

My husband helped me weed the back slope last weekend.  I did a little planting along the lower slope last month, adding 3 small Pelargoniums and two Agave attenuata pups taken from elsewhere in the garden.  I continue to hand-water the 3 Pittosporum tenuifolium I planted to create a screen between us and our neighbors but I expect it'll be a good year before we have any kind of real barrier there.  Meanwhile, I think the existing lemon, fig and peach trees are benefiting from the increased sunlight.

View of the slope looking down the cement block stairway - you can see the fig tree midway down is already leafing out

The usual view of the slope, looking up

I planted more sugar snap pea seeds to replace the seedlings previously nibbled by critters of some kind but the second round of seedlings disappeared as soon as they broke through the soil as well.  However, one of the sweet pea seedlings has already produced a bloom.  I'm seriously considering skipping vegetables altogether and using the raised beds to grow flowers for cutting instead.

A single sweet pea bloom can be seen on the plant growing up the yellow tomato cage on the right

I haven't touched the street-side succulent bed or the adjoining area I call the "glen" in the past month so little has changed there.

The succulents have filled in some but the shrub on the far left is clearly dead and will need to be taken out.  A neighbor told me that these shrubs, which I think are Auranticarpa rhombifolium, once ran the entire boundary along the street but, when they began dying soon after installation, most were were replaced with Xylosma congestum. 

The glen area is enjoying more light since the neighbors trimmed their trees and I just noticed that the pineapple gauva (Feijoa sellowiana) has already begun to bloom. (It's partially concealed in this photo, which shows it backed by other trees in the distance.)

That's it for this month's wide shots post.  My continuing thanks go to Heather of Xericstyle for inaugurating this monthly exercise.


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

Wide Shots - December 2014

I'm joining Heather at Xericstyle once again this month in posting wide shots of my garden.  Unlike virtually every wide shot post I've done since I began this monthly exercise last year, photos for this one were taken under gray skies.  But our first really significant rainstorm this season is expected to arrive tomorrow so, as far as I'm concerned, the outlook is bright and sunny even if the view is not.

As virtually all my free time has gone into work on the front garden for a couple of months now, the rest of the garden has been largely neglected, although I did get in a couple of hours of work in the backyard garden last week.

Usual view from the back door after a little drizzle

View from the backyard patio looking south with a few of my raccoon deterrents (aka tomato cages) in clear view

View of the backyard from the far left looking south

View of the backyard looking north

Both the border extending from the backyard fountain and the southeast side garden have suffered regular raccoon and skunk free-for-alls over the past month.  The tomato and upside-down gopher cages I've used in an effort to thwart them have protected the plants they cover but haven't kept these critters from digging around the cages, uprooting everything in their paths.  I generally make early morning tours of the backyard, replanting as I go.  I featured one of the raccoon rages in a November Wordless Wednesday post.  Here's a view of another bad one just over a week ago.

The raccoons don't seem to like digging in wet soil so I'm hoping for a post-rain hiatus.

View encompassing part of the side yard and the backyard

Southeast side garden, photographed from the south patio area

View of the side garden looking east toward the harbor

Planting is well underway in the front yard, at least on the right side of the pathway approaching the front door.  I'll post a detailed account of that effort separately later this week.  For now, here's the usual view of the front of the house, providing a peek at the focus of my current gardening activity.

My view of the neighbor's property across the street from the front door - they have the best fall color of anyone in the neighborhood

The vegetable garden, which I had been using as a staging ground for plants purchased for the front yard is mostly clear of nursery pots now but there are still no vegetables.

The only things left in the raised planters are perennial herbs

I've added a few succulents here and there to the dry garden but it otherwise received little attention this past month.

The slope got no attention whatsoever.  However, the neighbor's tree service crew arrived bright and early this morning and started work despite the threat of rain.  Their 3-day job will include cutting down the Yucca elephantipes that sits on the boundary between our 2 properties.  I have mixed feelings about losing the Yucca but, after expending considerable effort just to trim it back earlier this year, my husband wants it gone.  Next month's view of the slope will probably look very different (unless the rain delay throws the tree service's schedule off).

The massive Yucca is visible in the distance behind the peach tree uncovered when my husband cut back the Yucca earlier this year

View looking upward from the bottom of the slope

The Yucca won't be addressed until day 3 of the tree service's efforts.  Day one involved taking down 2 pine trees afflicted by pine bark beetle.  At the end of the first day of work, one tree is gone and work on the second is in process.

This tree was already dead

Our view expanded with the tree's removal

Second tree in the process of removal - I'll really miss this one as it partially blocked the view of the neighbor on the street below

Some garden changes are within our control and others are not.  The views next month will definitely be altered by activities undertaken this month.


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

Wide Shots - September 2014

Fall is officially 3 weeks away but, with Labor Day behind us, my fall planting plans are moving into hyper-drive, despite the fact that our daytime temperatures remain in the mid-to-upper 80sF (27+C) and no significant rain is expected until November.  I reached an agreement with a local landscape service on a price to remove my front lawn, which will make a dramatic change in the garden's overall look and feel.  While waiting for that work to begin, I've been researching landscaping ideas for lawn-free front yards and drought-tolerant plant selections in general.  I've started scouting the local nurseries too.

The birds aren't concerned about fall planting so long as the fountain keeps flowing

The wide shots of my garden, undertaken in connection with a meme started by Heather of Xericstyle last year, have been useful in my planning process.  In the case of the backyard, most of what I'm planning to do there involves filling in the holes in the borders created by the summer's heat- and drought-related plant losses.  The wide grass pathway between the borders will remain in place for now but I expect it'll go next year.  I couldn't face pulling it out this year given the expense and work associated with the overhaul of the front yard.

There are several pots sitting in the backyard borders, like the one with Rudbeckia shown here in front of the fountain, as temporary replacements for plants that fell prey to the heat and drought 

I have a working list of the plants I'd like to introduce in the extended fountain bed (described here) when the weather cools

There's an empty space under the peppermint tree (Agonis flexuosa) at the mid-point of the border on the right I need to fill but I've yet to be struck with inspiration

In the south-side garden, I'm focusing most of my attention on replanting the bed alongside the arbor.  When we moved in, this bed was occupied by a 60 foot (18m) Eucalyptus tree, which was removed at the instigation of a neighbor as it blocked her view.  The soil in that area is very dry, fast-draining, and light.  It's also the prime focus of the raccoons that pay me regular visits, perhaps because it's so easy to dig.

The arbor and most of the plants along the exterior edge of the bed on the right of it will be kept

The plants in the center of the bed as well as the Helichrysum, shown in this picture in the background on the right,  are slated for replacement.  I've already picked up a Grevillea 'Bonfire.'  Other plants on my shopping list include Agave 'Blue Glow' (I'm hoping it'll deter the raccoons), Lomandra longifolia, and Correa 'Dusky Bells.'

The sad Zinnias on the right side of the pathway in this picture will be pulled.  I've already added Grevillea juniperina 'Molonglo' and, while it's small, will fill in with some low-growing succulents.

I have to admit that I'm VERY nervous about pulling out the grass in the front yard.  I'd originally planned to take out only a portion of grass up front this year but, given our ongoing drought, as well as the current condition of the front lawn, it seems appropriate to bite the bullet and take it all out now.  We're going to cover the area surrounding the Magnolia tree with decomposed granite, expand the existing borders a bit, and add stone pathways.  I'm also considering the addition of boulders and large plants to create a visual break between the Magnolia and the south-side garden.

The lawn on both sides of the front walkway will be removed all the way to the side yard path

The vegetable garden remains woefully neglected.  Rather than filling the raised planters with vegetables, I may use them as temporary holding areas for plants to be installed elsewhere in the garden during the fall.  At the moment, the only concrete plan I have for that area is to move my Acer palmatum 'Purple Ghost,' presently in the bed I intend to renovate in the side yard, to the bed alongside the garage.  Acer 'Sango Kaku' has thrived there so I'm hopeful that the new location may be hospitable to 'Purple Ghost' as well - although it's not dead, it's barely hanging on in the side yard.  (I've blamed the raccoons for its condition but the Santa Ana winds that blow through that area are part of the problem.)

Acer palmatum 'Purple Ghost' is intended to fill the blank area below the garage window to the left of 'Sango Kuku'

I cleaned up the dry garden a bit in August, clearing out plants that weren't doing well to make room for the ones that remain.  I've replanted the statice (Limonium perezii) and added more hairy canary clover (Dorycinium hirsutum) and a few succulents.  The Cuphea 'Starfire Pink' badly needs to be cut back but I'm waiting until the weather cools.  I'll probably add more succulents and another Leucadendron salignum too.

A somewhat neater dry garden

The hummingbirds continue to visit the 3 Cuphea shrubs at the front of the front of this border despite their drought-stressed appearance

I've no specific plans for the back slope, which I'm currently letting get by on its own.  On the other hand, I'd planned to do some work in the lower area running along the street before my attention shifted to the front yard.  Time, energy and funds permitting, I'd still like to extend the dry stacked wall down there but my guess is that it'll be spring, at earliest, before I get to that.

For unknown reasons, the prior owners left the stacked stone wall along this slope half-finished.  As a temporary measure, I extended it with stone picked up here and there in the garden but I need to haul in stone and properly complete the wall as a precursor to replanting the slope.

That's it for this month's wide shots.  I expect I'm going to be quite busy.  I'll keep you posted on my progress!


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