I took advantage of a morning lull in the rain on January 2nd to take photos of my garden for my quarterly wide shots post. The garden is well-saturated and, at present, the longer-term forecasts suggest rain may continue off and on through the middle of the month. Previous forecasts have suggested that the remainder of our rainy season (February-early April) could be relatively dry but it seems all bets may be off for now.
I'll follow my usual route around the garden starting at the back of the house.
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| View from the back door looking in the direction of the Los Angeles harbor, which has been invisible for much of the past week |
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| View from the back patio looking north. I pulled a lot of succulents from the bed in the foreground because they'd gotten out of control. This area is on my list to be reworked. |
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| South end of the front garden looking north. The succulent beds shown here are finally fleshing out. |
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| Wide shots hide a lot, as demonstrated by this view from the back patio looking south. I cleaned out the plants that didn't handle the summer well and there are quite a few holes, which I look forward to filling once the garden centers replace holiday items with new plant stock. |
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| This view of the back garden from the south-side patio shows more of the empty spots. I planted a lot of bulbs throughout the area but most haven't made an appearance yet. |
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| View from the south end of the back garden looking north. I'm looking forward to the day that the 2 Yucca 'Bright Star' pups barely visible in the foreground on the right have as much impact as the more mature specimen nearby. |
Pivoting to the left, we face the south-side garden, which has one of my densest succulent collections.
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| View looking west. To my surprise the largest Agave 'Blue Glow'on the left, which has been showing signs of preparing to bloom for months, has yet to produce a bloom spike. |
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| View of the south side garden from the side patio looking south. I still need a tree to fill the spot left empty by the dead native Toyon to hide the house and the sad Eucalyptus trees in the distance My first candidate didn't survive. I'm now considering a crape myrtle or a dwarf olive. |
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| This is a shot of the lower level of the front garden from the south end garden looking west |
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| This shot from the lower level shows that the area I replanted in late 2021-early 2022 is filling out at last |
Moving back up the path from the front garden's lower level, we look out on the front garden's main level.
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| View from the south end looking north. Despite periodic trimming, the Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt' in the foreground looks like it's taking over, which perhaps it is. |
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| This shot from the middle of the front garden looking south shows that it's still possible to walk between those Acacias, if only barely |
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| View from the front door looking at the area under the Magnolia tree. I received another half barrel (as requested) for Christmas but I'm now debating exactly where to put it. Meanwhile, I'm unsure that the Echium candicans 'Star of Madiera' in the distance (right) will survive beyond this year's bloom cycle. |
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| View of the front of the house. I spent 3+ hours pruning the 2 Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' on either side of the front path during the course of the past week but I think they still need a little more off the top. |
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| Bed on the right side of the path |
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| View of the path from the driveway to the lower level of the front garden. After several rainstorms, the path's now covered in moss. If you look closely, you can also see that the flower stalk on Agave 'Multicolor' has grown taller since I discovered it in late November but it hasn't actually bloomed yet and my guess is that won't happen until warmer temperatures return. |
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| This is a view of the area on the other side of the driveway adjacent to the garage, looking northwest. I consider this one of the most sorry-looking areas of my garden. I've yet to find the right mix of plants to compete with the roots of the ornamental pear tree and the Xylosma hedge. |
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| I'm also unhappy with this succulent bed on the other side of the trash can path. I'm thinking of replacing the struggling fan aloe with a larger, more vigorous aloe variety or perhaps a trio of matching agaves. |
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| Bed on the left side of the path to the front door |
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| Broader view of the north side of the house. I pruned the climbing rose planted against the chimney while my husband was away on an errand and his truck was (briefly) out of the way. The shrub on the chimney's left is one of the 'Wilson's Wonder' Leucadendrons the gardeners pruned like a hedge a month or so ago. I'll do more to reshape it after it "blooms" this winter (assuming it does). |
Next up is the cutting garden.
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| The raised planters don't look like much at the moment, although 2 of the foxgloves planted there have already produced flower stalks and the seeds I've sown have sprouted in all 3 beds |
Beyond the fence is the north side garden.
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| North side garden looking toward the the cement block stairway that leads down the back slope. I started pruning the Leucadendron 'Chief' (behind the guava tree) 3 weeks ago but I haven't yet made much of a dent in controlling its size. |
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| I took this photo from the concrete stairway looking back toward the house mainly to show how floriferous the prostrate rosemary is at the moment |
Pivoting to the left, we look at the back slope.
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| View of slope looking down in the direction of the property line (beyond the lemon tree). The rosemary here is also in full bloom. |
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| View looking back up the slope. In November, I spent several hours cleaning up the back slope, including cutting all the Centranthus and artichokes to the ground. I actively avoided work on the back slope when the weather was warm so as to stay out of the way of the fire ants. |
Hiking back to the driveway, we get views of the street-side succulent bed.
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| This bed is looking okay, although I think the Euphorbia 'Sticks on Fire' are on the verge of getting out of control |
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| This broader view from the street shows the Aeoniums sticking out from underneath the Xylosma hedge. Aeonium arboreum throughout the garden have sprouted bloom spikes. |
That's my quarterly update. If our current streak of rainstorms continues, I may have a wonderful spring story to tell about the garden come April when I publish my next quarterly wide shots post.
All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
