It is characteristic of me to be working in more than one place at the same time. A few weeks ago I turned by attention to the front of the house, abandoning some of the others areas I had been working on. The whole front needs a revamp which includes removing plants that have grown too big for the area. A huge A. weberi and two baja ruellia, Ruellia peninsularis. Baja ruellia, is a great plant, but when squeezed up against a wall and in poor soil with no attention but chopping they don't do well. No sooner do I say to David, this one is going and those two as well, than he is out there with his saws and choppers. It's a two day job.
We have garbage pick up twice a week and this is our way of disposal. It's a full bin every week.
There is also a giant hesperalo, Hesperaloe funifera, which David does not like which will remain for the time being. Purely a well established structural plant for now. And one Agave weberi at the back.
And a photinia, Photinia x fraseri, which will also remain for the time being. They add some height and winter structure, I am still thinking about what to put there. Maybe a desert willow. For all the bad press the photinia received in Austin, it seems to thrive here and no one would disagree with how wonderful the new growth looks in the spring. I read that it can be trained into a small tree so I will take a look at this one and see if that is an option.
It also does well as cut branches in the house. It is now blooming although as someone said the blooms have an unpleasant smell.
So with a good area now cleaned out I turned my attention to adding more rocks adding 12 more to the front. We have found a good local supply of both larger granite rocks and the Coronado brown rip rap that are used for erosion control. Monsoon season demands this. To bad we no longer have a truck but we are managing with car loads for now. We will eventually rent a trailer in order to bring in some of the smaller rock to use as a ground cover. I redid all the edge rock adding more around the sides.
Then planting began. I added the 3 barrel cactus I brought with me and purchased 3 Agave 'blue glow,' one A. parryi, a damianita, Chrysactinia mexicana, and a chocolate daisy, Berlandiera lyrata. The A. blue glow is a cross between A. attenuata and A. ocahui. It is prized for its blue green floiage with red and yellow margins and its compact size. I will see how well they do in this location, which is west facing. I removed a sad clump of claret cup cactus, Echinocereus triglochidiatus, that were rotting due to too much moisture. I am trying to rejuvenate the parts that still showed life but am not too hopeful.
I am on the hunt for a Whales tongue agave, A.ovatifolia, but as yet have not come across any.
I also found a home for the concrete balls I made for my Austin garden.
A nice specimen of the blue barrel cactus, Ferocactus glaucescens, is starting to bloom. It reminds me of the crown of thorns starfish.
The area at the back is where the clean outs are for our sewer line and for now I have just added a germander, Teucrium fruticans "Azure Blue'
I see lots of plants growing in gardens that I would love to have but it is a matter of balance between seasonal bloomers, structural plants and plants to carry the garden through the hottest months of the year. And we shall be gone for a few weeks this summer as we drive up to Madison, Wisconsin to attend he Garden Bloggers Fling. Click here for details.
Will you be there? I hope so.
