Palm Alley

This is one of my favorite spots in SJC. We call it Palm Alley because it is a narrow strip connecting the pool area with the meditation garden that has about a dozen queen palms lining it, creating a shady canopy. It is one of the few really shady areas in the entire yard and I love shade gardening. When we moved in here a couple years ago it was a soggy, wet, grass area and of course the palm trees. My son put in the flagstone path to keep our feet dry and we added hydrangeas, foxgloves, azaleas, ferns, fuchsias, baby tears, ajuga, Australian violets and a number of other shade-loving plants. As planned, the moisture loving plants suck up the water that accumulates in this low area of the property and it is no longer a swamp, but a pleasant path to enjoy the lovely plants that I can't grow anywhere else on the property because they would require too much water.