With our new water restrictions assuming full force and effect today, it's going to be interesting (that's the polite term for it) to see what effects these have on my garden over the course of the summer. My husband and I are still adapting to the the new requirements and the changes in our household routines. Showers are shorter. We wash fewer dishes by hand, relying more on our water-thrifty dishwasher. We save shower water in buckets each day for use in topping off the recirculating fountain, dumping the rest into our 50-gallon rain barrel, now empty of rainwater, for use in the garden as needed. The graywater collected from the kitchen is used to water pots. Graywater from the washing machine waters the back slope. The rainwater I collected last month in my 2 new
ginormous rain barrels allows me to provide supplemental water to my newer plantings, although my supply is depleting faster than I'd like and there's little likelihood of rain until November. When I discovered a valve leaking in the vegetable garden last week, I nearly had apoplexy. How long had it been leaking? How much water did we lose? Every day, the
Los Angeles Times seems to publish a story on the water nightmares of residential users so it's hard not to fall prey to a degree of anxiety on the subject.
I didn't plan on preparing a full set of wide shots of the garden this month but I came close so I'll post what I have, concentrating on the back, south side, and front areas. In time, the photos may help me assess if and where I need to swap out my plant selections. I started my rounds taking photos in the backyard under the "June gloom" characteristic of most mornings at this time of year.
![]() |
| Backyard view looking south |
![]() |
| View from farther north - I still have to arrange removal of the remaining grass |
![]() |
| View from still farther north |
![]() |
| View from the south looking north toward the mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin), which will soon begin to bloom |
Moving into the south side yard, I took some photos in the morning and others later in the afternoon after the sun had emerged. The harbor remained hazy all day.
![]() |
| View from the pathway through the side garden looking back toward the backyard |
![]() |
| View from the path behind the backyard border looking west in the direction of the arbor |
![]() |
| View from the south side patio |
![]() |
| View through the arbor looking east toward the harbor |
The front garden continues to fill in nicely. Contrary to my earlier plans to halt any further planting until fall, I
continued to add new plants in the front throughout May, especially on the far right (southwest) end of the garden.
![]() |
| View looking toward the front door from one of my 2 remaining patches of lawn |
![]() |
| View of the left (north) side of the front pathway |
![]() |
| View of the area to the right (south) of the pathway to the front door |
![]() |
| View of the same area looking north |
I did a little work down in the area I call the "glen," which sits below the main level of the front garden, adjacent to the street. I lost a large section of
Ceanothus hedge in March and, without a clear plan for the sloped area, I resorted to planting
Aeonium cuttings in the hope that, in time, these will form a mass like those I saw during a recent visit to an Orange County garden center.
![]() |
| The larger clumps of Aeonium formed from cuttings planted last year - most of the single rosettes are newly planted cuttings |
![]() |
| With 2 of the Auranticarpa (Pittosporum) rhombifolia shrubs gone in the street-side bed and the subsequent loss of a portion of the Ceanothus hedge, this side of the garden looks bare and exposed to me but I haven't found the replacement Xylosma hedge material I've been looking for |
The last area I'll show with this post is the dry garden. After 2 rainstorms in May, it's looking pretty good.
![]() |
| I've planted more Aeonium 'Kiwi' on both sides of the path to continue the massed planting I started from cuttings 2 years ago |
![]() |
| View from the rear of the dry garden looking back to the patio area - the 160-gallon rain tank, now partially emptied is on the right side of the patio |
I've reviewed the "water budget" posted on-line for our property by our water provider. The budget for our area calls for a 36% reduction vis-a-vis our 2013 usage level but as we reduced our use substantially last year in response to the call for a voluntary 25% reduction, we don't have too large a leap this year. If last year's usage patterns hold this year, I think we should be okay, although the data suggests we could have an issue in October. Why our water use seems to spike in October wasn't immediately clear to me but, as this generally marks the end of our hottest, driest weather, as well as the start of our fall planting season, perhaps it makes sense. Our rainy season doesn't usually get rolling until November. There are theories that we may have an unusually wet winter this year, courtesy of
El Niño, but there's never a guarantee that such predictions will come to fruition.
That's it for this month's wide shots. My thanks, as usual, to Heather of
Xericstyle for starting me on this monthly exercise.
All material
© 2012-2015 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
