Friday, September 10, 2010

An Easy Solution

At the front gate of my SJC house is what has always been a problem planting bed. It was kind of a joke because every time I pulled up and saw it I commented that "I had to do something with this spot." It originally was a huge bed of Bird of Paradise, which although I like their easy nature and beautiful flowers, I am not crazy about the foliage and a whole bed of them as the first thing you see when you pull into the driveway was a bit much for me. I had made attempts to plant a number of combinations of other plants in this thin soil and shallow bed, but none of them were too happy and those that were became a feast for the many rabbits that hang out there. Last spring I finally just added to an existing clump of BOP with some of my old standbys from cuttings of other plants that were flourishing elsewhere like green agave and green aeoniums, threw in some native deer grass and waited. I lost one clump of deer grass, but everything else seems to be quite happy, rabbit resistant and flourishing. I need to fill in to cover some more of the bare soil and add a little color, but I am at last happy with this easy, drought tolerant bed that greets me when I come home!

6 comments:

Ami said...

I love the look of this bed. The thin strip of deer grass contrast with aeoniums and agaves very nicely!

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

Sheila, these are beautiful plants! And you found most of them in your own garden, which makes this bed special. Good for you!

danger garden said...

Nice work! Seeing those agaves every time I came home would certainly keep me in a happy mood!

Shirley said...

Looks like you have the right combination here. Great job!

Kathy Oberg said...

Simple, elegant combination. Very pretty.

Pam/Digging said...

I would be happy too. The plants look great with the soft apricot color of the wall too.