For most of March, I felt that spring was slow in getting started in my area of coastal Southern California but, toward the end of the month, temperatures began to warm and, after looking back at last year's April wide shots post, I'd say the season is back on track. My garden didn't undergo any major changes last year but it has filled out a bit.
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| View from the back door looking roughly southeast toward Angels Gate, the entrance to the Port of Los Angeles |
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| This is the view from the backyard patio facing north. That wonderful plant with the orange flowers is Leucospermum 'Brandi'. |
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| This is the view from the back patio looking south |
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| And this is the view looking backwards toward the patio from the south end of the back garden. Thus far, there's no sign of leaves developing on the mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) visible in the distance. The Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' in the foreground on the lower left had already closed up for the evening when this photo was taken. |
A quarter turn at this point has us facing the garden on the south side of the house.
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| This is the view of the south side garden looking west. The Lotus berthelotii 'Amazon Sunset' I use as a groundcover is in full bloom. Leucospermum 'Goldie' (in the foreground on the far right) is just getting ready to bloom. |
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| View of the south side garden from the front garden looking east through the arbor. The purple smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria) is just beginning to leaf out. I recently planted 5 Agapanthus 'Stevie's Wonder'in the same bed and there are wire cages in place to help protect the new plants from the raccoons. |
If we turn 180 degrees and look downward into the lower level of the garden on the southwest side, we see my lath (shade house) and the area surrounding it.
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| I've added some seasonal color with Pericallis and Nemesia outside the lath house but the shade plant collection inside needs some work |
On the main level, we move into the front garden.
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| This is the view of the front garden from the south end looking north. The gold flowers on the left are Freesias. I thought I'd planted blue and white varieties here but what I got is yellow/gold and white. Buying Freesias in bags as bulbs seems to be a crap shoot. |
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| View looking backward from under the Magnolia tree |
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| View of the front garden from the driveway |
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| View of the front garden from the north end looking roughly southwest |
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| This area on the other side of the driveway next to the garage has filled out well in the past year |
My cutting garden sits on the other side of the garage.
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| The Ranunculus burst into bloom all at once but the foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea) have yet to produce a single flower spike. The sweet peas (Lathyrus odoratus) are also running seriously behind schedule this year. |
On the other side of the fence shown in the background of the last photo is the area I formerly called my dry garden. As all of the garden other than the cutting garden is now planted with mostly drought-tolerant plants, that name no longer fits but I haven't come up with a better name for the area.
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| The path leads to a steep stairway down into my back slope |
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| This is the same area from another angle. The 'Scarlet Sprite' Grevilleas and Osteospermums have filled out well over the past year, aided by our heavier-than-usual winter rainfall. |
With all the rain we had this past winter, the back slope is looking better than usual but it's probably a month shy of its peak.
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| The upper side of slope (on the right in this photo) is the biggest burr in my side. It's a messy mix of ivy, honeysuckle and weeds. |
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| The 3 Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Silver Magic' mark the boundary between us and our neighbor on the south side. The calla lilies (Zantedeschia aethiopica) are flowering well this year (rain is magic!) and it looks as though I'm going to get some blooms out of the California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) this year. |
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| This is the view looking back up the slope from the bottom next to the lemon tree. There are a few bearded Iris in bloom but the main Spring show will come from Jupiter's Beard (Centranthus ruber) and pink evening primrose (Oenothera speciosa), which I expect to start blooming this month. Both flowers are weeds here but pretty ones. I'm still trying to clear some of the ivy and honeysuckle that burned up in last summer's heatwave, hence the cardboard. |
The last area I have to show as part of my wide shots survey is the succulent bed that runs along the street.
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| The Agave desmettiana 'Variegata' here are still slowly dying but they look pretty in their pink foliage |
That's it for this quarter's review. Best wishes for a great weekend.
All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
