In an online group which sprang up during the COVID plague devoted to sharing tours of ones garden, I just posted one including a series of photos of just one same place in the garden over the last 25 years. I posted 14 photos there. I'll try to cut that down to 12 make that 10.
1 - About 25 years ago. Here I had already replaced the gate between the side and back garden and built a greehouse lean to over the front of an old shed. That is the area shown in all these photos. You can also see the outline of the crescent shaped bed where the garden began (pitifully, as I had to learn everything).
2 - Originally I thought of the area as another garden bed and had a Fremontadendron growing in both this and the next photo. My memory of the dates for most all the rest is fuzzy.
3 - I put in two metal trellis arches in the garden. This one connects the crescent to the 'greenhouse'. That is 'Autumn Sunset' growing on the left side with 'Flutterbye' on the right, and fronting the crescent bed is a yellow flowering daylily.
4 - Here the roses are well established and and I've added four orange/burgundy daylilies in a small bed in front of the 'greenhouse'. There are also two David Austin "The Prince" roses in there with a Caesalpiinia gilliesi in the center. I've added a gravel as a floor all through this area.
5 - I found and installed the blue fountain here and that made it clear this would never be another bed but a place for pots. I also put a two tier bench in the corner to the left of the greenhouse. It gave me a way to hide the solenoids for the watering system while still making them accessible.
6, 7 - Two views of the fountain while it was accompanied by only a brown foliaged plant (name forgotten) in the ground beside it. This is the most subdued planting I've used and in many ways still my favorite, espically #7.
8,9 - The next iteration included a pink pelargonium and a succulent called 'Dew Flower' or Drosanthemum mikans. The flower made the most vivid contrast with the fountain, but it was short lived. So after rreplacing it once I went another way.
10 - Just a couple years ago I dug up those yellow daylilies and everything else in facing side of the crescent bed. I pushed the bed out into the gravel entryway more and raised it up. This gave me better drainage, extra seating and a pleasing contrast to all the organic shapes of the plants.
Wonderful!!! What a marvelous space(s) you have created. Makes me what to grab a cool drink and saunter through. I really appreciate all the work you have put into this lovely garden. Rosemary
Thank you. But you know how it is, most of the work is unplanned. One minute you're sitting in a chair with that cool drink and a good book and the next you notice a branch whose absence would totally improve the view or begin to think what if ...
Now that it has sort of come together I need to give it more regular maintenance as we have a lot of friends who visit and I'm way too bourgeoisie to have other gardeners over without sprucing up a bit.
It's great that you include before, during and after photos. I take photos during the stages of projects and it's fun to see what has been accomplished over time.
gorgeous! I continue to do battle with herbivores who indiscriminately eat my plants.
Are any of them tasty?
I just had one of those who managed to find a weak spot in my garden and headed right for the plum tree. Most of the lower leaves were gone before I could chase it out. A friend said get a gun and shoot the deer. Problem is, that may take care of 1 deer but what about all the others that will find their way in? Better spend energy in fixing the fence.
@JackPedigo true. I had often thought of becoming Elmer Fud... not that the chase ever ends well for Mr.Fud.... I hope you plum tree recovers well and the fence repair holds!
@Donna_I The fence repair should hold (unless they find another weak spot). The tree has lots of plums and now I can see them. Still, it's a tall tree so there were lots of leaves they couldn't reach. I discovered a repellent called liquid fence. It is garlic based and really works. I sprayed some on the fence repair and plum. This usually works up to a month.
@JackPedigo that is good! I am glad the tree is doing well. I have never been a big fan of plums but they are pretty.
@Donna_I Thanks. They ate the lower leaves of a pear across the street so I adjusted the fence so they couldn't reach the leaves. I looked today and all the leaves we back. Hopefully this will be the case with my plum. I have come to actually prefer plums. Had so many apples I am getting a bit tired of them.
Posted by FrostyJim...I have enough room for a few good people.
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Posted by Diaco Black Sapote - The chocolate pudding tropical fruit! (2 videos) [youtube.com] [youtube.com]
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Posted by FrostyJim.