Front side yard update

Winter is the time for catch up, and I haven't posted an update on the front side yard since July.

The unknown rhododendron continues to thrive with a lot of water this summer. It has many buds and should bloom in the spring, which it didn't do last year. I'm still not convinced this is the right place for it because I don't want to water that much every year, but I'll see how it does with less water next summer.

The moss experiment next to the rhododendron is going well, a few weeds like to come up but the grass is pretty well gone.

Looking east

Back under the pine tree, I added more groundcover:

• White English bluebells, hyacinthoides non-scripta white
• Geranium macrorrhizum 'Ingwerson's Variety', 3
• Cardamine trifolia, 6 - an evergreen bittercress

Frosty cardamine trifolia in December

And more plants in the sunnier area:

• Veronica 'Waterperry Blue' - two more
• Sanguisorba officinalis 'Red Thunder'
• Sanguisorba menziesii, 2
• Lily flowering tulip bulbs
• Rock cress, grown from seed

Geranium thunbergii 'Jester's Jacket' blooming in September

I also added a cover for the drain that's on the corner of the garage, so I could stop worrying about stepping in it - on the bottom right of the photo below.

Looking south from driveway

Yucca in the snow in early November

I widened the path around the garage a little bit and started to fill in the rock garden:

• Jupiter's beard (centranthus ruber) - grown from seed
• Species tulips bulb mix
• Rock cress - grown from seed
• Lewisia cotyldon 'Elise'
• Two unknown lewisia transplanted from the sunny hillside

Lewisia cotyldon 'Elise' blooming in September

For now the rock garden is covered in wood chip mulch, but eventually will transition to more rocks. The brick path edging might or might not stay, it was a good re-use of material I had. If I keep them, I'll need to dig down and level the bricks. 

Looking east along the garage, rock garden on the left

Looking west along the garage, rock garden on the right

The other moss experiment is along the fence next to the garage. There are more weeds here, I noticed today that the shotweed (the invasive type of bittercress) is trying to move in. I have a red variety of aquilegia and foxglove all grown from seed planted in here too.

Moss experment

The plants are all still small and don't look like much in the winter but I think they will really fill in this year! I'm planning to water a lot less next summer too, most of the plants should need very little once established.