My colorful back slope

I completely lost track of time this week and, although this post has been in process since I took photos last week, it didn't click that today is Wednesday until this morning.  The focus is my back slope, an area I largely ignore for much of the year.  I have a bad knee that my orthopedist thinks is ripe for replacement and I inevitably strain it whenever I spend any significant time working there (as I did last week).  In addition, I've had three run-ins with fire ants there during the warmer months, which also keeps me away.  But, in spring, the area is at its best and it deserves some attention.  This post is a tribute to its fleeting beauty.

View from the upper section of the stairway looking down

The upper side of the slope, shown to the right of the concrete block stairway installed by my husband years not long after we moved in, is covered in ivy and honeysuckle.  The upper section of the slope on the left is covered in prostrate rosemary.

The gardeners take electric pruners to the ivy a few times a year but that's the only tending it gets, other than my periodic (and somewhat futile) efforts to pull out grass weeds embedded in the thicket

While the ivy has been there forever, I planted the prostrate rosemary.  I've been trying to keep it under control using hand clippers but I think I may need to invest in my own electric pruner soon.

I've used concrete bricks to level areas of the lower side slope to facilitate planting, making it more interesting.

View from the midway point on the stair looking down

Another view of the area from the dirt path between the lower border and the hedge marking the division between our property and one of our neighbors

Another view of the same area in different light.  The back slope faces east so it's in shade much of the day.

I'm happy with this vignette consisting of Aeonium arboreum 'Velour', Euphorbia 'Dean's Hybrid', and Lampranthus 'Kaboom'.  The Euphorbia moves itself around.  I've planted other Aeonium cuttings here and there.

I moved a handful of Centranthus ruber seedlings around here years ago and they've gradually taken over.  I cut it back to the ground each year but it continues to spread like the weed it is in my area.  It covers entire hillsides along some of the nearby roads.

I planted the artichokes (Cynara) many years ago when I had a 6-pack of plugs I didn't know what to do with.  They surprised me by coming back every year, bigger and bolder than ever.  They're already producing chokes too!

I added Pelargonium 'White Lady' and Santolina chamaecyparissus (aka lavender cotton) years ago as well.  Both continue to spread as low-level groundcovers.

The lower level of the stairway and the relatively flat area at its bottom are the most densely planted.

View from the bottom of the stairway looking up

Another view of the same area from a slightly different angle in lower light

In addition to Aeonium arboreum, I've planted Agave attenuata, Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi' and 'Kiwi Verde', Aloe striata, and Aloe elgonica.  Almost all were grown from cuttings or divisions.  There's a pup of Agave 'Blue Flame' buried in an upper section of the border too.

I don't know what I was thinking when I planted a 4-inch pot of Echium webbii here several years ago.  It's way too big for the area now.

There are noID bearded Iris partially buried under the Echium.  I moved them here from elsewhere in the garden many years ago.  They're the only bearded Iris in my garden that bloom reliably each year.

The bottom of the slope is dominated by a lemon tree that's been there for decades longer than we've been here but there's a lot more there than the one tree.

A few very bad heatwaves and the persistent drought have lessened the citrus tree's lemon production but this year's rain has given it a boost

This orange trumpet vine (Campsis radicans) was planted by the neighbor on the other side of the fence decades ago when she gardened this area (until a former owner of our property had the area surveyed and informed her that the area wasn't hers).  I've been tempted to cut down its massive trunk as it's nearly impossible to control but that'd worsen the sore spot the one neighbor already has about the area.

The Ceanothus arboreus 'Cliff Schmidt' I planted here has already finished its bloom cycle for the year.  The house and trees you see in the background are on our south-side neighbor's property.  There was once a monster-sized Yucca elephantipes sitting along this property line but my husband had it removed because it was out of control.  (The Yucca still attempts periodic takeovers.)  There are 2 barely visible Pittosporum behind the Ceanothus.

The Centranthus has planted itself under the lemon tree too

More Centranthus, along with calla lilies (Zantedeschia aethiopica) and Osteospermum, between the lemon tree and the Ceanothus.  The calla lilies were planted by someone else decades ago.  They disappear every summer and return with the winter rain.  The Osteospermums planted themselves here.

Closeup of the calla lilies.  There are many more blooms than last year but still fewer than in the early years following our arrival.

The area is bordered on the east side by a laurel hedge and by on the south side by the rampant ivy that creeps over from the neighbor's property.

This bay laurel hedge (Laurus nobilis) sits alongside the wire fence that divides our property from that of our neighbor to the northeast.  The property lines are odd, the products of dividing the original lot occupied by our house into 3 lots.  The 2 lots on either side of us are "flag lots".

We're not entirely sure exactly where the property line is drawn on this south side.  We've treated the mass of the ivy here as the dividing line but, as the ivy is always expanding, it's fuzzy.  The property drops down again somewhere in the middle of that mass.

The ivy isn't the only problem.

I planted a Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri, left) next to the Ceanothus, which was a big mistake.  We've tried digging it out without success.  I cut it down to the ground every year.  I've already cut it back once more this year.  It's about the bloom.  We didn't know there was a peach tree (Prunus persica, right) here until the Yucca was removed.  It's never produced fruit and it's routinely afflicted with peach leaf curl even when I remember to spray it.  I'd like to take it out but it provides a modicum of privacy between us and our south-side neighbor.

Weeds run amok in the area, especially following the rain.  In addition to the 2 shown here, scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis, left) and Geranium incanum (right), sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) and dandelions are everywhere.

Much as I've love to pull out all the ivy on the upper side of slope and terrace it, I've finally accepted that it's not practical.  There's no way to get heavy equipment down there and it would be very expensive to have all the work done manually.  As I've made periodic stabs at clearing the ivy along the stairway, I've learned it's also beyond my capacity - it grows faster than I can remove it.  However, nature has made an effort to help me out.

Centranthus ruber has planted itself in areas I'd (temporarily) cleared.  And it appears that a peach tree has planted itself behind it in the middle of the ivy too.

So that's the rundown on the current state of my back slope!  I'm sure it'll continue to change in minor ways.  The Echium webbii, for example, has to go once it finishes blooming.  I'll probably replace it with succulents.  Adding a groundcover to combat the out-of-control weeds is also something I'd like to do before next winter's rain arrives.

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party