It's time for the End of Month View, and for the first time I am going to feature one section of the garden. This is the Dry Corner. It's not very heavily planted yet, and what is there has yet to fill in. But it is taking shape a little. This corner will form the entrance/exit into the rest of the yard.
From the garden side...
and looking in from the yard...
It is meant to be home to some of the most adamantly desert natives I am growing - things that should not have much supplemental water at all. This where the acacia (
Acacia salicina) is planted (I do love the colour of the bark)...
...and some of the succulents, like Senecio "Blue Fingers"...
...and now Euphorbia "Firesticks". Is this the same as "Sticks on Fire"? I don't know. If it is, it can sometimes grow to a considerable height. At present, it's a little, glowing batch of fingertip branches.
There is also a tiny Sedum adolphi, with its plump leaves becoming ever more golden in the sunlight. It was sold as one of those miniscule succulents-as-houseplants that one finds at garden centres. It went out into the big world and nearly met with immediate demise. Betty the dog accidentally ran it down - literally planting her foot in the middle of it - as she greeted me because, of course, I was standing there admiring the new plant. The main stem was undamaged; and I plopped the other remnants back into the soil. It worked well with a bit broken off the Senecio. These look all right so far!
Anigozanthos "Bush Ranger" has been very pleased with this location. It has just been cut back so is only a tuft of flat, dark green leaves at present.
The Tetraneuris is also in this bed. For a while it had me worried: the leaves have such a dry, leathery texture that I kept thinking they were dying back. But no, it is producing a mass of little buds though the leaves still feel dry and crinkly to the touch. Healthy, I think?
At the moment, some of the strongest bloom is coming from Berlandiera lyrata. I am happy to report that the chocolate scent is distinctly smellable now. I can only send the picture... Here you can see the scalloped leaves that form a rosette at the base of the flower stems.
This bed will need a number of other plants to fill it out, but I thought I would begin focusing on it for the End of the Month View with Helen at the
Patient Gardener.
I can't leave today's post, however, without showing the first open bloom of Penstemon parryi. Just opened this morning!
It's great to see the Penstemon in bloom! But the spiky, narrow-leaf combination of acacia, senecio and euphorbia will really contrast with the tetraneuris & berlandiera when they both fill out. Matt
ReplyDeleteI look forward to the time they fill out, Matt, because right now it all does feel out of balance - definitely in favour of the spikes! The Berlandiera does exactly what is needed, but there's not much of it yet... Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteIt's great to see some longer shots of the garden. Don't be afraid of doing that, it's a new garden and some of us know exactly how that feels, especially when the plants you are putting in are small. But when you look back on it in a year or two it will be so rewarding to see how much has changed!
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your encouragement, Jessica, because I just haven't had the nerve to post long shots till now... But I know I'll be disappointed later if I don't have these early ones to measure progress by! I hope things will make more sense too after I get some paving down; I'm planning on doing that during the summer when I don't dare put plants in.
DeleteIt'll be great to see this garden area develop, Amy. I see that you, like me, like to start your plants small. It's the best way to go in getting plants established (as well as being easier on the budget) but it can get frustrating waiting to see if it comes together the way you see it in your imagination (at least it is for me!). The Acacia tree will be wonderful and I love all the other yellow and orange touches too!
ReplyDeleteYou're absolutely right, Kris! My imagination begins to fail when staring at half-size (or smaller) versions scattered around a flower bed, but I think everything will grow better for going in small. The yellow and orange hues are working better than I expected, and I think this bed needs some purple now to punctuate those warm tones. But I haven't made up my mind what plants to use...
Deleteyour garden reminds me (a little!) of mine in that the plants are still small - we designed our garden from scratch two years ago. The first bloom of your Penstemon is truly beautiful!
ReplyDeleteOne has to start at the beginning ;-) I'm glad you got to see the first Penstemon bloom; after all, I promised to put it up... They've been gorgeous at every stage!
DeleteIt is uncomfortable to share polka dot views of the garden - but those long views tell an encouraging story when they become Before.
ReplyDeleteI believe you're right, Diana. I look forward to the After ;-)
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