Salvia leucantha has a companion this year, the pink primrose, Oenothera speciosa. Where did she come from I wonder. Well, we all know that little plant. Then there is the spineless prickly pear putting on additional pads this year but no flower buds, as yet. In between there is a galvanized tub with fresh water for the deer. The pink poppies in the foreground were untouched by foraging deer. There's a Mexican mint marigold, Tagetes lucida, just peeking and Mexican feather grass, Nassella tenuissima. They are surrounded by a thick bed of ¼-½" granite gravel. If I was doing a garden again I would create large spaces with this granite with just a few individual plants like this.
Gravel gardens like this are getting a lot of attention up here as more sustainable etc.I will be reviewing a book on the subject soon. I love the look and it is perfect with the style of your house.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely garden you have and what a lovely blog !
ReplyDeleteThe open areas are a lovely contrast to the cottage gardens above.
ReplyDeleteI've incorporated a few border areas using gravel (with larger dug out rocks mixed in). My issue with it is that it serves as a marvelous seed catch for weeds, However mine is not as deep as yours and perhaps that makes a larger difference than I guessed in how easy weeding will be? (note to self - buy/install deeper layer of gravel!) I'm impressed the deer left your poppies alone - they've grazed mine regularly along with eating my Indian paintbrush to stubs several times over. Hmm - maybe I should move my little tank out front and supply them with water and they'll gratefully leave my flowers alone?
I love the Zen look of that gravel garden and I tell myself that's what I'm going to do each time I start a new bed. So serene and soothing. And then The Plant Collector persona takes over! No willpower, that's me ... I enjoyed this view of your garden. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to that Sandy but this is a pathway and my husband has told me" no plants in there next year" surely he will allow these ones .
DeleteSure you would! And then they would creep together and conspire to fill the space and you would expand the gardening space some more!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean "extra plants she can't give away?" Clearly you need more greedy gardener friends like me. ;-)
ReplyDeleteTruly beautiful. I love following your blog.
Seems that each section of your yard has a distinct personality and that adds to its charm. I will be featuring wide shots of my yard for June 1 entry.
ReplyDeletePots right along the wall, on the stairs?
ReplyDeleteA lovely scene!
The sparser look seems like it would be easier to maintain, but then, you'd have to be a ruthless weeder. I'm too sympathetic to all the little volunteer seedlings to pull them out.
ReplyDeleteAs this is outside the walls I may have to give in and let David have his way. He is the ruthless one at our house and as he says, this is a path.
DeleteSee, that's what I THOUGHT I was doing with my front gravel strip....and now it's full of plants, just like the rest of my garden. Funny how that happens. But the weeding was horrible otherwise. Spurge everywhere.
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