Plastic Grass or a Tree?

 The other night it was so refreshing to wake up and hear the sound of rain! Walking through the gardens after a rainfall is something I can barely remember since it has been at least seven months since we have had a drop. We didn't get much but it was enough to wash the dust off everything and you could almost hear the plants giving a sigh or relief, however so slight. But now the weather report is showing another heat wave coming this week with temperatures reaching the eighties again. So much for getting out the sweaters!

 

 Last week I was someplace and I overheard a conversation between two young couples discussing how they were coping with their yards and their concerns over their landscaping and the drought. One was talking about how they were looking at synthetic lawns and the other mentioned that they had just let their yard "go" and would wait and see what happened. I can only imagine how hard it is for the average homeowner to know what is the right thing to do, both from an ecological point as well as an economic point but just as important from an aesthetic point of view. A landscape is a large part of what adds value to a home as well as value to the way a home is enjoyed by a family.

If I had to suggest to someone what to do to add value to their landscape in this day and age when trying to reduce the lawn and water use is to plant trees. I must admit I love to plant trees and in my lifetime I have probably cut down more trees that I have planted than most people have ever planted, but that's okay. Just plant trees is my motto! The more the merrier. You can always cut them down later! Once established the right tree will live just fine without you and as long as you don't live where you block people's view, they can grow without needing much pruning (although I have put many of my tree trimmers children through college, but that's okay). They never need fertilizing and they give back much more than they take. 

I see people struggling with trying to remove lawns and put in something that will be attractive when I think, just look for a tree (or two or three or five) that will do the job, put them in and be patient. Trees do take some patience, waiting for them to grow, unless you have access to the space and enough money to put in a full grown specimen, but I like to plant babies and watch them mature myself. The right tree requires no pesticides, provides food and homes for the wildlife, adds all kinds of good stuff to the environment to offset your carbon footprint and cools the air and soil around it. Just do some research and pick out a yard partner for the next 25 or 30 years.

These pictures show what our back yard looked like in 2006 when we moved in and what it looks like now. I planted three California pepper trees from 25 gallon pots, a liquidambar, and an arbutus tree. The boxwood hedges and perennials are reminiscent from the gardens that I put in for interest while the trees grew to size, but at this point I could remove everything else in this yard, put down a lovely, crunchy pea gravel and never water again.  If not gravel than at least a red fescue that would take some water to become established, but then only occasionally during the summer require watering and let it go un-mown giving it a lovely meadow feeling. Add a few hammocks and we would probably be out there all summer long under the shade trees. I still haven't made up my mind yet.

Weather Woes

 Our weather continues to be unusually hot and humid. Days where the temperatures hit the 90's are not unusual for October for us, but they are usually accompanied by dry Santa Ana winds, not high clouds and humidity and they don't go on for weeks at a time. We are becoming addicted to air conditioning  and rarely head out to the yards because there are no enticing breezes at all to lure us to visit.

 



I must admit I've been feeling terrible about how the fall months are slipping by, usually the best months to get things done in the gardens, without much being accomplished, until I talk to other gardeners and they share the same sentiment. I'm not the only one with bare ground where there once were lush beds. Other than the professionally kept up affluent grounds that are planted only in heat and drought loving plants, almost everyone is feeling the pain of the drought and high temperatures.  The ocean fishing has been exceptionally good this year, which usually means there will be a wet winter. Let's hope that holds true. I am at least thankful for the shade trees in the back yard. It at least looks cool. The Mexican sage that I planted last year doesn't seem too bothered by the weather, but it is a stand alone oasis of color in an otherwise sad looking garden bed. I must admit I have been seriously considering tearing all the flower beds out and replacing everything with a tall fescue that would not need mowing. Kind of just make the back yard a wild field of abandon. But.. maybe I should wait and see how I feel next spring.

Summer Show Offs

Last February I was complaining about these narrow little planters and how bare they looked in the winter along side of the weeping cedar. I think I vowed to plant something other than the 'Black and Blue ' salvia that has been there for the past few years and only looks good during the summer months. But as I look at it now, it really does look quite lovely, and since I never did get around to replacing it, I guess it will stay for another year! I do love the combination of the bright green foliage against the dark purple flowers and it is hard to get a color combination that doesn't clash with the house color when it is that close. I must remember my own advice that not everything looks great all the time and just let the tree take center stage in the winter months!

A Front Door Feast

 I must admit one of the favorite parts of my gardens is the small area right outside my front door in SJC. It was a small patch of grass when we moved in which I promptly ripped out and planted a birch tree. The color scheme in this area is one of my preferred - purple, chartreuse,  and gold. Roses, iris, euphorbia, heliotrope, hardy geraniums, flax, status, lavender and many other annuals in addition to background shrubs, grasses and annuals make it a feast for my eyes and nose.

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!

Consider Ajuga for Sun

I think one key to a lovely garden is choosing the right groundcovers. I like to think of them as little throw rugs in my garden. They add interest, color and texture, but probably the most important role they have is just what their name implies, they cover the bare soil which means there is little chance for weeds to get started. This dark bronze groundcover is a patch of ajuga reptans, sometimes called carpet bugle, that is growing in my Laguna garden and has been for probably the past eight years. It has charming little vertical purple flowers in the spring, but the bronze foliage is the real reason to grow it. I had always thought of it as a shade plant and used it that way, but it seems to grow even better in this full sun area in our mild climate. This bronze cultivar (I think it is 'Chocolate Chip') also adds a nice contrast to the typically green shrubs and perennials that it surrounds. Pretty, easy and prevents weeds, what's not to love?

Blooming On Queue

I've been busy this month with projects other than my garden. New gates, decks, carpeting and minor construction have used up all my creative juices and I have just waited patiently for my gardens to wake up and get started on their own. The spring blooms are arriving on queue and they remind me that I just have a supporting role, they are the stars! 

I am a list maker and trips to the nursery with a few notes on what I need appear on my weekly to-do list regularly. Sometimes I make it, sometimes I don't. Hauling bags of organic fertilizers are a must for this time of year for the citrus, roses and grass, so I often have to look the other way (okay maybe I snatch a few flats of flowers) when I pass all the beautiful annuals and perennials luring me their way. 

Then of course I have the on-going chore of purchasing all the large screening shrubs to replace the dying oleanders along our perimeter fencing. That must be done too and will be a priority this week once again.

But the yellow and orange clivia lilies are blooming as they should and my favorite "Frequent Violet" iris are waking up and blooming all over my little garden by the front door in SJC. They hardly miss me!

Wisteria and Roses

I am not a great photographer. I've taken classes and read books, but I pretty much just walk around snapping pictures as a way of recording things. This is kind of a shame. We have a daughter who is an amazing professional photographer and I really should have her spend more time with me showing me some techniques to improve my pictures. Anyway, I had planned on going back out to the front pergola and getting a better picture of the beautiful scenario going on there this month with the old-fashioned roses and wisteria blending together for a lovely and fragrant setting, but we had fierce winds yesterday that stripped most of the petals, so I guess I am too late. This really was beautiful except for the lower plants at the bases of the pillars. There are roses and lavenders as well as some groundcovers that have looked wonderful in the past, but may be ready to be replaced. The lavender is just leggy with sparse blooms and the roses are spindly and small. I suspect there is not enough light anymore for the lower sun lovers and maybe not enough water. Back to the drawing board!

Flying Rabbit Island Evolves

First Year

Third Year

Fifth Year

Fifth Year

Fifth Year

The weather is still in the high 80's around here. Although September and October typically have some very hot days, overall it tends to start cooling down. I am waiting patiently, still pretending it is summer, although the days are getting considerably shorter and the calender says it's fall. After a year of little change or additions, there is one big thing (other than the privacy screens) that needs to be addressed. When I put in this large island in the middle of the backyard lawn a few years ago, there were two things I wanted to accomplish. First I wanted some shade. The yard seemed very hot and unappealing in the summer. Second, I wanted something interesting to look at from the windows and the chairs on the patio outside the living room doors. When we moved from Laguna Beach, we gave up a lovely view that we really missed. I decided to create my own views and Flying Rabbit Island was one of the first (named after a lovely sculpture we installed the first summer). When I planted the island of dirt that we dug out of the middle of the lawn, I planted three California Pepper trees. I know they aren't everyone's favorite, but I like their fern-like foliage, the way they sway gracefully in the slightest breeze and their multiple trunks. I know they are messy, but in a large bed, away from any pathways or patios, the debris doesn't bother me. When they were planted they were rather small. Fifteen gallon pots were all we could easily get through the gates. I planted a whole bed of flowers all around them that was quite stunning for the first few years. At first the trees suffered from too much water as I tried to get the perennials established, but then we cut back the water and everything was happy. Until this year. It turns out the trees have grown into a lovely respite of shade, making the sun loving roses, iris and daylilies quite unhappy. Although one side of the "island" still gets enough sun for those plants to thrive, my other lovelies are without blooms this year. It is time to make a change to a more shade loving group of plants that don't need a lot of water. As soon as it cools off a bit!

Cool Summer Shades

This is the garden right outside my front door in SJC. It is a bit of a hodgepodge, but the color scheme is pretty consistent. Purple with lots of shades of green and a bit of gold thrown in for good measure. It has not been looking great this summer, but as the temperatures climb it is starting to bloom beautifully and the cool tones are a much appreciated view on these hot days. I have been considering removing the purple fountain grasses because they only look good part of the year, but they are such a lovely touch now with lots of movement, I am reconsidering. The reblooming iris, Frequent Violet, are all blooming in unison after a long rest and they are lovely. Not the fanciest iris out there, but their tendency to bloom at times when most iris are only a memory earn them lots of real estate throughout the gardens. I need to think long and hard about how to enhance this area in the fall, but for now I'm just enjoying the show!

Summer Perennials

Can't complain about the summer weather this year, it has been lovely compared to the past couple summers. Cool overcast mornings quickly turn into sunny days with temperatures in the high 70's. The garden is looking like summer too, with wispy, tall perennials that start blooming in the spring and will go all season long. The gaura and hardy geranium (Rozanne) in this bed have taken over and are waist-high and wonderful! What started as a few one gallon plants have turned into a full flower bed spilling over the boxwoods intended to keep them contained. I am making note of what needs to be added next fall in the back to provide some depth to this bed, but right now I'm just sitting back and enjoying the summer display!

A Do Over

Whenever people ask me how to get started on redoing their yards, I always tell them to start with the first thing they see when they get home. Pulling in the driveway or opening the gate to a beautiful garden that makes your heart skip a beat will give you the inspiration to keep going during the challenging times. That is why I'm going to focus on redoing this little space that faces the front gates in SJC this fall. The 'Joseph's Coat' roses that are wrapped around the columns have never been happy. They are one of my husband's favorites and I put them in to please him and because they are one of the few climbing roses that don't look terrible against that bold gold color of the stucco. I only get a few blooms every year and like most roses grown against a building, they are prone to being attacked by rose slugs. Not happy. I have put in a number of groundcovers that have never taken off and even the iris and daylilies rarely bloom. I'm assuming that because it is a northeast facing wall, things just aren't getting as much light as they would like. That and maybe the meager water is not their optimum cultures. Although the lavender does do well, it is a few years old and ready to be replaced.
Here is a picture I took a few years ago (at twilight to show the lighting I'm assuming). This was as good as it ever got for this little vignette. You can see that the sago palms that were there when we moved in have grown a lot. the only problem is one is a male and one is a female so they have grown very differently and have lost their symmetrical aspects. I would love to pull out the female (on the right in the photos) because the sharp fronds scratch those walking by, but it is clearly the most robust. Hmmm....... decisions, decisions. Anyway, this just does not delight me and it is time for a change!

Colors From The Perennial Garden

Blues and Purples

When I went out to take some photos yesterday, what struck me was not individual flowers as much as the entire summer palette in the Perennial Garden in SJC.

Greens

Most of the roses have been cut back and stripped after their big show for the spring. The excess rain and overcast days have done a number on their foliage, but they will bounce back in a few weeks.

Yellows and Oranges

There are still a few iris blooming adding accents to various beds. Of course this time of year the agapanthus are bursting like small fireworks displays.

Reds and Corals

There are some lilies in bloom to draw the eye, but it is mostly the mass flowering perennials like gaura, hardy geraniums, mums and lavender.

Pinks and Peaches

Many of the native plants are in full bloom this month and with a little water will maintain those flowers throughout the summer. Plants like California fuchsia, penstemon, salvias, and yarrow are the foundation for the summer show of flowers.

Along the Street

I must confess that I don't see much of this garden in SJC. It runs between the front wall and the street and because I pull in and out of the driveway before I pass it I usually only glance at it once in a while.
It is fairly large and was one of the first things I worked on when we moved in four years ago because it was some really bad grass around the tall queen palms and not what I wanted the world to see. It is comprised of a gravel path, rocks, a pot of succulents as a focal point and a number of native and drought tolerant plants. I use woolly thyme and rosemary as groundcovers.

Many of the plants here, especially the succulents, have been started as cuttings from other places in the yard. It does get watered in the summer from the automatic sprinklers that have been adjusted from when it was lawn.
There are summer blooming shrubs and perennials such as lavender and lantana for color. Every once in a while when I go out the gate specifically to look at what is happening out here I am pleasantly surprised that it is doing so well and there is always something that amuses me. Usually it is a really big, thriving weed or a piece of trash that has ended up in a bush (I have to get out here more) or even a small aspen tree that has sprouted from seeds the giants across the street drop. But this week there were some interesting things in bloom that I will share later.

Relocating Tomatoes

It is with a heavy heart I have been transitioning the vegetable garden into a rose garden. Well, maybe that's a bit dramatic because I have been having fun searching for roses and clematis (who wouldn't?) but the other day at the nursery I wandered into the vegetable section where the isles were filled with eager gardeners, mostly new gardeners, based on their questions, and I was a bit sad to not be able to join in the frenzy of peppers and eggplants. Then I reminded myself that I was still going to grow anything I wanted, just not in the same fashion. So now I have reverted to growing the tomatoes (I did not get a single one last year due to the cool weather and foraging animals including my own dogs) among the perennials. This is where the first tomato lives (see the obelisk?), hopefully tucked away and in disguise from hungry predictors. Now if only we get some warm weather this summer!

Iris in the Landscape

I have been asked about how to use iris in the landscape and I must confess I had never thought much about it. Looking back, I remember my grandmother had an iris bed, about 6' by 6' outside the back door. I remember how amazing those purple, yellow and brown flowers were when they were in bloom, but also how intimidating that bed was to a young child when they were not in bloom!

Although I like the stiff, sword like foliage as a contrast to soft, round foliage in the garden, when grown alone, they look like a bed or swords sticking out of the ground. Not very pretty or inviting.

I like to grow them in front of a large shrub that will set the blooms off nicely my creating contrast and a pleasing background.


I have always mixed iris in with other plants, mainly because they bloom such a short time that there needs to be other interest to make the bed attractive the rest of the year.

I use them as focal points, fully integrated into a complex combination that includes other plants with similar cultural needs like daylilies and roses. They are a good mid-size plant that makes the bridge between taller shrubs and low-laying groundcovers quite nicely. These in my SJC garden are only a couple years old and haven't developed the large base of foliage and multiple stems that they will in years to come. I look forward to that display someday, but I am thrilled with what I have now too!

Exuberant

Even I am in awe of this exuberant show being put on today by the roses. The climbing rose is 'Royal Sunset', a great rose with lots of interest as the large blossoms evolve from a deep peach color upon opening to a soft pink when fully open. The rose hedge further back is the 'Disneyland Rose'. A prolific, compact floribunda with orange-pink blooms. And these are all growing in a bed of about two feet across!

Boxwood Borders

I have been undergoing some changes to the back yard in SJC, adding structural interest in the way of small boxwood hedges to the flower beds bordering the grassy paths.

You can see by the top two pictures that the beds are like I like them, lush and overflowing with a jumble of perennials, shrubs, bulbs and vines, growing around and through one another.

But every yang needs a yin and that is what the boxwoods add to this garden, an important element of structure to contain all that exuberance!

Even though the new hedges are still a little rough (as far as hedges go) you can see what a difference they make.

What The Visitors Will Miss

There is no perfect day to have a garden tour, at least not in my garden. When you plan for a four season garden there are always blooms coming and going and it is hard to say when the ideal time to open the garden to visitor should be. The first of the tours in my garden start in three weeks and by then I'm afraid this display of Spanish lavender and roses will be past its prime, having already been in bloom for a good month or maybe longer. But other roses are just starting to open and there are only a few iris and daylilies doing their thing right now so as the season progresses there will be other scenes that come into their own in time for guests. And I always have to remind myself that although I will miss these beautiful beds when they are done with their first flush, they will still be lovely, just not so colorful.

Well, Finally!

After about two or three years of waiting for the roses to come into their own in my SJC garden, I am finally starting to get some big, full beauties! These are just a few of the lovely 'Graham Thomas' roses that are opening right now. Although the blooms are great, the stems are still too weak to hold them upright very well.
I attribute this long wait to my impatience about getting the garden planted and not doing diligence with the soil. The soil in my Laguna garden was so hard packed clay that it had to be double dug and amendments worked in just to be able to dig a hole to plant anything. The soil in SJC was not hard and so I just went ahead with the popular "do not disturb the soil" method and added top dressings in the way of organic fertilizers, compost and mulch. Unfortunately, the soil was workable, but dead. Where there are flower beds now, were once lawns treated with all kinds of chemicals and there was not a worm in sight when the holes to plant something where dug. I wish I had done the hard work of double digging nutrients into the soil to give the plants a better foundation for growing, but now I know. In my next garden...