Friday, July 28, 2017

Front side yard update

Cedar sage, grown from seed

The front side yard has changed a lot since early March! The grass is buried under mulch, the wall of bricks is taken down, and plants have been planted.

First, the existing rhododendron is much healthier, thanks to a little pruning, regular watering and fertilizer. It didn't bloom this spring but is growing a lot of new leaves. I'm trying to keep the moss around it but kill off the grass and weeds - I used cardboard which worked pretty well but may need another round to get the rest of the weeds. 

I've added just a few plants around the rhododendron:
  • Hummingbird sage, salvia spatacea, one to the right (east) of the rhododendron and one on the other side, they should spread a lot
  • Satureja douglasi 'Yerba Buena', trying one as a groundcover in front of the rhododendron and in a couple other areas around the yard
  • Inside out flower, vancouveria hexandra, way under the pine tree behind the rhododendron
  • Sword fern, polystichum munitum, two on the shadier side of the rhododendron
Rhododendron
Looking east
Behind the rhododendron / under the pine tree

The open area next to the driveway is completely covered in mulch and I've been slowly putting in plants:
  • Cedar sage, salvia roemeriana, planted from seed
  • Day lilies, hemorocallis 'Pandora's Box'
  • Geranium macrorrhizum 'White Ness' 
  • Geranium thunbergii 'Jester's Jacket'
  • Verbascum chaixii album 'Wedding Candles'
  • Veronica 'Waterperry Blue', trying as a groundcover under the yucca
  • Fringecup, tellima grandiflora, right in front of the yucca
  • Bleeding hearts, dicentra formasa, may be too dry here but trying anyway

Looking east
Looking west
Little plants are trying to spread
Mullein in front of yucca bloom

The area next to the garage has changed the most with the removal of the brick wall, and re-use of the bricks as path edging. I wouldn't have bought them as edging but decided I might as well use them. I'm still playing with the shape, the top of the path needs to be a little wider. I had hoped to plant a large bush in place of the wall, but turns out our power, gas and cable lines all run right next to the garage, so I'm limited to perennials and groundcover. 


Looking east
Looking west from the gate in the fence

Planted on the south (fence) side:
  • Kenilworth ivy, cymbalaria moralis, planted one along the walkway
  • Creeping phlox, phlox stolonifera 'Sherwood Purple', planted one under the easternmost yucca
  • Foxglove, digitalis purpurea, along the fence, grown from seed

The fence side is shadier and I'm trying to keep the moss here but kill the weeds (thus the cardboard). I have aquilegia seedlings to plant in here too. 

Planted on the north (garage) side:
  • Penstemon serrulatus
  • Rock cress, aubrieta 'Audrey Purple Shades'
  • Sedum oreganum, grown from pieces 
  • Kinnikinnick, arctostaphylos uva-ursi

The garage side is sunnier and I have visions of a rock garden, although it's mostly covered in mulch right now. I have Jupiter's beard (centranthus ruber) and rock cress grown from seed ready to plant in the fall.

Looking west from the very bottom

Everything needs to grow in, I have more to plant, and have to decide on the final position of the brick border, but this project is coming along nicely. 

Sunday, July 23, 2017

In bloom this week: July 23, 2017

Clematis

The curse of July is that the constant sunshine makes taking pictures difficult. And occasionally it's a little too hot for me, but really we've had amazing weather this month. 

In the rose garden, many of the roses are taking a break between blooms, but still a lot in bloom:

Aquilegia reblooming
Gladiolus
Anise hyssop, with catmint in the background
Aquilegia reblooming
Phlox
Lavender and mint

North side of the house, I need to plant more but this will be my late summer/fall garden:

Fuchsia 'genii'
Hydrangea 'pinky winky'
Hydrangea,star gazer (too lazy to look up the full name)


On and around the patio:

Dahlia
First cosmos bloom
Poppy leaning against a sunflower
Balloonflower
Nigella aka love in a mist
Two types of monarda and salvia
Fuchsias and other annuals
Clematis
Climbing rose, not climbing yet
Strawberries reblooming
Nasturtiums

At the bottom of the yard:

Echinacea
Clarkia, not sure which one
Coreopsis, tickseed
Gaillardia
Crocosmia, so bright it's hard to get a good picture

Friday, July 7, 2017

New grape trellis

July 3, 2017

One of my projects for 2017 was to replace the grape and kiwi trellis. We put in the new round kiwi trellis in March but I didn't write about it until April, when we pulled out the grape trellis. It took a few more weeks before we got the posts and wires installed. We re-used the old posts and amazingly still had leftover wire sitting around in the garage from the original trellis, so it was just a matter of digging the post holes and putting it together.

Late January, grapes needed pruning
April 28, ready for new trellis
April 29 - looking south
April 29 - looking north

I'm finding it a lot easier to keep the grapevines pruned back now that I can easily walk along both sides - but they are pretty wild still, they grow so fast. This is only two months of growth and I've already been pruning off the longer vines!

July 3 - looking south

July 3 - looking north

I have cardboard under the vines to kill off the weeds, and looking for a good groundcover to plant. Any ideas? I am testing native wild ginger, asarum caudatum, but not sure if there is enough moisture for it. The area gets a lot of light in the winter but of course is hidden under the grape vines in the summer.

The kiwi are growing nicely too, although never as vigorous as the grape.

Kiwi, July 3

Monday, July 3, 2017

In bloom this week: July 3, 2017

Bee balm

Hello, July! I'm not too excited by fireworks, but have plenty of red, white and blue in my garden:

Salvia and bee balm
Balloon flower and salvia 'hot lips'
Lavender and daisies
White lavender and catmint
Mullein 'wedding candles'
Yucca
Seaside daisies
Harebell
Radish


Plus a few other colors too!


Crocosmia
Gaillardia, blanket flower
Coreoposis
Experimental lawn alternative

Poppy
Dahlia
Clematis
Clematis
Zinnias, grown from seed
Fuchsia 'genii'
Dwarf phlox, salvia and chives

What's next? Hydrangea wants to bloom, but it'll take some time: