My Sexy Garden

This picture has everything I love about a garden. Beautiful, loose flowing roses, a bold iris, fragrant lavender, waving grasses. There is even an orange tree in the back with sumptuous fruit. Everything intertwined making a feast for the senses. This is a sexy garden!

Grasses Are To Fall...

...what flowers are to spring.

When everything else is looking tired and ready for a rest, ornamental grasses are blooming proudly.

There is something about the light in fall that compliments their airy texture. Any subtle breeze causes them to sway and add an element of grace to an otherwise still space. They are certainly an object of desire in my fall gardens.

Cutback Time

Although some of the ornamental grasses were cut back in the fall, most of the big fountain type grasses (like this purple fountain grass) start showing signs of new growth around this time of year which is the best indicator for our area that it is time to cut them back. I know it is necessary, but they look so sparse and sad for a couple months that I try to put it off as long as possible, but it is better to just bite the bullet and cut them back now so all the plant's energy can go into the new growth.

Cutting Back the Grasses

Many of the tall ornamental grasses in my gardens have been looking a little tattered and floppy for some time now, but I have been waiting for signs of new growth to show in the center before cutting them back. As you can see on this variegated miscanthus sinensis, the new shoots are coming up which is a good indicator that the plant will withstand a sever cut back, look tidy all winter and be ready to bounce back in the spring. Finally!

A Love/Hate Relationship

This bright grass in the front SJC garden is Japanese Forest Grass (hakonechloa 'Aureola') and I love it in the spring, fall and winter months when it gets mostly shade in this spot and turns a bright chartreuse color. The texture is beautiful and it brightens the garden of greens and purples wonderfully. However...
...for a few months in the summer it gets full sun here and turns pale and scraggly looking. I'm inclined to dig it up and move it to full shade year round, but it just goes so well in this bed. We'll see.

Appropriate Name, or Not?

Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceumis) one of the most appropriately named plants that I can think of, with a true "fountain" shape. But it really isn't purple, is it? More like a burgundy. Hmmm.... wonder why it wasn't called Burgundy Fountain Grass? Anyway, it is at it's glory this time of year and truly adds a fall feeling to the garden. It is starting to show up on some invasive plant lists, but I have never had much of a problem with it spreading in my gardens (unlike it's cousin, the green variety), so I will continue to grow it and recommend it for people in our area.

Blackbird and Silver

One of the easiest and most dynamic plant combinations in my perennial garden this time of year is this dark euphorbia 'Blackbird' next to the Japanese Silver grass. I swear that euphorbia has looked just like that for well over a year. Excellent staying power with very little care. Of course the grass gets cut back in the late winter, but comes back with a surge in the spring and looks great all summer long. Summer should be about easy plants.

Glowing Foliage

This is one of my favorite garden beds in SJC. Of course it has many of my favorite flowers and favorite colors, but I think one of the things that I really like is the bright shades of foliage. There are many hues of green here and many textures, but the lightest, brightest ones steal the show. The large pale green shrub at the top right is helichrysum petiolare 'Limelight'. The almost-yellow ground hugging plant to the bottom right is Creeping Jenny (lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea'). The three spiky plants across the bottom of the photo is Golden Japanese Forest Grass (hakonechloa). The bright green spot at the top left is a chartreuse cultivator of spiderwort (tradescantia). Even on a gray day like we had yesterday, this garden glows!

A Fine Combination

Iris 'Hollywood Nights' and Miscanthus Sinensis 'Adiago'

When I was a little girl my grandmother had a bed of iris outside the back door. They were all the same kind, a purplish-brown and yellow type. I vaguely remember the flowers, but I distinctly remember the foliage. It reminded me of a patch of four by four feet of sharp swords sticking out of the ground. It's amazing to me that these became one of my favorite flowers, however I certainly do not grow them in their own beds. They are one of the few plants that I purposely dot throughout the garden, one here and one there.

Iris 'Vizier' and Miscanthus Sinensis 'Variegates'

This year I have noticed that the ones that seem to be most pleasing in the garden are the ones that are planted near and among ornamental grasses. I think the soft, breezy nature of the grass softens the sharp iris foliage and serves as a neutral background for the stunning blooms. Iris are very stiff plants and grasses are very fluid. A fine combination in my opinion!

Tall Grass

This tall arundo variegata is a lovely sight this time of year. Its green and white color along with its tendency to sway with the slightest breeze creates a soothing, cool mood in the Moonlight Garden. It gets to be about six feet tall and it is considered somewhat invasive here in Southern California so we make sure it is tucked away and the occasional flowers are promptly removed.

Silver Grass

About a year ago I was given a couple dozen five gallon pots of Silver Grass, or miscanthus sinensis after they had been donated to a non-profit function I was working on for decoration. They were almost all brown and in desperate need of attention. We planted them throughout the SJC garden as background foliage. They died back and after a year are finally in their graceful glory once again. I highly recommend them as they are drought tolerant and add a bright element in addition to movement to the garden beds.

Poor Planning

With 12 month gardens comes the added responsibility of making sure there is plant interest every month of the year. It is one of the elements of a well designed garden. The picture above illustrates what NOT to do when designing a garden right outside your front door! Do not plant materials that require cutting back at all the same time! The result, however lovely it may be in June, is not worth the look of sad demise that January brings about. Cut back grasses and roses along with a dormant birch tree just looks bare. There are many plants that look great this time of year and this area desperately needs some of those!

A Season's Growth

This is the little garden area outside my front door in SJC. This photo was taken on May 21st, 2008.
This is the same area on September 1st, 2008. It is hard to see in this photo, but the white birch on the left side has grown a number of feet, the purple fountain grass is in full bloom and the thyme growing in the cracks of the walkway has filled in considerably. I am planning a whole overhaul for this area because we have a new sculpture going in here where the birdbath is now located

End-of-Summer Haircut

I love Mexican feather grass (nassella tenuissima) although I know it may be an acquired taste for some people because it sometimes looks past its prime when it is at its best. In the third photo you can see it in the bottom left hand corner. It moves with the slightest breeze and is very soft looking as you can see in the top two photos. But once a year it needs a haircut and mine got the annual shearing last week as shown in the last picture. When you can see lots of new green growth coming up from the base it is time to wack it down to about four or five inches from the ground. It will rebound in a few weeks and be as lovely as ever, you just have to bear the growing out stage, much like a bad haircut!