Finishing up the Second Year of Landscaping

I'm almost done with this second round of landscaping.

The wildflower meadow on the side needs some stability of focal point when the wildflowers aren't active, so I've added some perennials.

These include: achillea millefolium rosea (Island Pink Yarrow).


Blue-eyed grasses (of differing sizes):





And an artemisia california (California sagebrush "David's choice")


The finished meadow:


I've also added a large rose buckwheat in the front where the royal penstemon died:


I've finished the front walkway and added ornamental pots by the porch:


Each pot contains a monkey flower. This is mimulus carnivale:


This is mimulus cardinale:


I've also finished putting in the Carpenteria in the front planter box.


I put in Margarita penstemon along the second path across the parkway strip:


The Indian mallows are doing fantastic and the bees love them:




The fuschia-flowering gooseberry has come out of summer dormancy and added lots of new, green leaves. I'm hoping it will flower this year.


The monkey flowers near the back porch are doing nicely.



Lots of lemons on the Meyer lemon tree:


I've planted beets in the garden (nothing to see yet).


I put in a brickellia californica (brickellbush) near my back bedroom window. They are supposed to smell fantastic when the flower.

Plant Sale - Round II

This morning was the annual native plant sale at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens. In preparation, I pulled out all the calla lilies from the front planter boxes. I had done this last year, but I wasn't careful and they all grew back. I tried to get all the roots and bulbs, though I expect I still missed some.

In order to prevent trick or treaters from running across the new plantings, I put up some cobweb fencing that actually worked.



This morning, I woke up early and headed out to Claremont at 6:45 am. The doors open at 8, but last year I got there at 8:15, ended up having to park on the street and take a shuttle, only to find that the place was packed. It was 50 F, as I waited in the queue, but I didn't have to wait long. When they let us in, the volunteer staff applauded us (you have to be a member to go in early).

I had a list and headed right for the Carpenteria californica. This is a rather endangered species in the wild, and all the pots I bought had a certificate that they were grown from cuttings in the botanical gardens, not taken from the wild. The popular name is Bush Anemone (cultivar "Elizabeth"). It has dark green leaves (somewhat resembling oleander but not poisonous), and when it blooms, it has large white flowers. It also likes light shade.



They had a handful of five gallon pots, so I bought all three. Two went in the front, near the front door:





The third big one I put where the dying chaparral currant was:



I noticed they had some really nice Sisyrinchium californicum (golden-eyed grass). This is tall and has bright yellow flowers. I thought it might brighten up this corner, so I planted it in front of the bush anemone:





I'm tweaking the wild flower meadow a bit. I think it needs some stable perennials to anchor it, so I put in some Sisyrinchium bellum (blue-eyed grass). This is a little shorter than its yellow cousins. I had planted a lot of this last year on the front parkway strip, but it needs summer water or it shrivels and dies. The meadow stays moist all summer, so I think it will work better here.



The decapitated blue sage on the parkway strip finally succumbed to the inevitable and died. I replaced it with a Salvia apiana (white sage). To get an idea at how fast it grows, compare this new one:



With this one that I planted a year ago:



Because all the blue eyed grass on the parkway strip died, I decided to use Erigeron glaucus "Wayne Rogers" (Wayne Rogers seaside daisy) to edge the path





I'm using something similar on the path to the front door. The Cape Sebastians are beginning to bloom:



Meanwhile, for reasons I don't understand, one of my heuchera (coral bells) has decided it's time to bloom:



Not much more to do. Later next week, I hope to pick up some brickellia (brickellbush) to put on the side of the house under my bedroom window (it's not a pretty plant, but it's supposed to smell very nice). I'm also thinking of using margarita penstemon to edge the other path over the parkway strip. It seems to do very well when given limited water and I'm interested to compare how it does versus the seaside daisy.