Wide Shots - April 2020

It's April and time for one of my quarterly wide shots posts.  After seeing what a great job another blogger, Cathy of Rambling in the Garden, did in conducting a full-blown video tour of her garden I - very briefly - considered doing one of these but I fear that both my camera skills and my narration would be seriously lacking.  So here's another round of still photos, starting with my back garden:

While air pollution is down here, clouds have dominated the sky during the morning hours.  They improved the quality of my photos, though.

I took this shot looking back at the house from the dirt path than runs between my back garden border and the hedge

This is a view looking north from a midway point in the back garden.  Leucadendron 'Pisa' on the left produced its first luminescent flower-like "blooms" this week.  Orange Leucospermum 'Brandi' is blooming too.

This is a view from the north end of the back garden looking back toward the patio area.  I wasn't sure about planting the white Argyranthemum 'Everest'months ago but the shrubs have added a fresh touch to this end of the garden.

This is the view from the patio looking south.  Most of the yellow Gazanias you see in the foreground were self-planted.  The shrub on the right alongside the house is Calliandra haematocephala (aka pink powder puff bush).  It's new foliage is fabulous when its not shorn into submission.

We're looking north in the direction of the mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) from the south end of the back garden.  The mimosa hasn't begun to leaf out yet.

We're looking west here.  The 'Blue Glow' and 'Blue Flame' Agaves on the left are living up to their names.  Leucospermum 'Goldie' is blooming on the right.

Here's another view of the same area from a different angle (once again taken from the dirt path between the borders and the hedge that surrounds them)

This view looking east shows off the California poppies and the fresh red foliage of the dwarf peppermint willow shrubs (Agonis flexuosa 'Nana') I pruned back hard in January

This and the following photo show segments of the south side garden that I often overlook.  Cistus x skanbergii is blooming on the right.  The succulents lining the path are mostly Graptoveria 'Fred Ives'.

This is the other side of the bed shown on the right in the prior photo.  The Cotinus coggyygria I cut nearly to the ground is rebounding but the ornamental grasses (Pennisetum 'Fireworks') have not done so yet.

This is where my lath (shade) house sits.  This view looking east hides a gopher burrow!

I've done very little with this area since I took down the remains of the 2 Agave desmettiana that bloomed last year.  The Xylosma congestum shrubs we added 3 (or more?) years ago to extend the hedge on the left that came with the house are finally beefing up, which may require that I edit this area sometime this year.

Path to the front door

This is the bed to the left of the path, dominated by the Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia x blakeana) and Leptospermum 'Copper Glow'.  Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' is currently in full bloom here.  I still haven't planted anything to screen the new air conditioning unit we installed last year.

Three different views of the large south end area of the front garden are shown here

These are 2 more views of the south side of the front garden.  The gardeners that maintain our hedges got carried away cutting things back alongside the house as can be seen in the photo on the left.  They meant well but I've asked them to leave that area alone in the future as they hacked up 3 clumps of Lomandra 'Breeze' and cut back my mature Grevillea 'Superb'.  The view on the right looking at the same area from the other direction isn't quire as painful.

This is the area on the other side of the driveway alongside the garage

The pathway shown in the prior photo leads to this succulent garden.  My husband is currently at work replacing the gravel path with one using the pavers you see stacked up near the fence, saved during last year's home remodel.  That spot currently occupied by the pavers will house the new compost bins he's building for me.

A last view of the front garden looking southwest

I was pleased with the Anemones in my cool-season cutting garden this year but the Ranunculus have been very disappointing.  The sweet peas are only just beginning to reach bloom stage.  The same is true of the larkspur (Consolida ajacis).

This part of the garden is getting a little wild and woolly in spots

View of the same area looking in the opposite direction

Looking down from the top of the concrete block stairway

The congested view along the property line.  I should have removed the Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri) behind the Ceanothus as I'd planned but somehow never got around to it.  I'll give it another chance to bloom before I tackle that chore.

The  area to the right of the stairway should show a lot more color when the Centranthus and Echium bloom