The Green Wall

After all these years I still struggle with this unresolved area. It's the expanse of green wall that I see whenever I enter my bedroom. It's the view out the slider, across the deck. It's a big solid nothing that ends abruptly at the stucco wall.

In winter, for a full six months, it's an expanse of ugly brown. 

When I had the patio table and chairs and umbrella on the lower level, they filled the space in front of the vine and it didn't look so long and unbroken. There was form and height against the fence. But it wasn't workable -- too cramped and we never sat there, so I removed it.

Now the umbrella and expanded seating area fills the upper level nicely, but the wall of vine is more visible. I have some nice things planted in front of it on the left side but it's not much.

And on the other end -- the expanse I see from my slider door -- I've had a narrow upright juniper for visual height and interest. But.

The first one, Skyrocket, was nice at first but got too open and unwieldy and scraggly. 

I took it out. I planted a Blue Arrow in its place, and hoped it would get full and dense and upright like Greg's had been.  And blue tinged.

** Now I think it was a mistake to put another juniper there. I took it out today**

The area between the deck and the vine is a cramped 6 feet wide. I don't want something bulky right by the deck edge that blocks any access around to the back of the deck

No tree, juniper or otherwise, narrow or conical, is going to fit and still let me pass by, even a limbed up small tree.

And I want to tie the birdbath strip to the corner of the wall where the potting bench curve garden starts. Right now between the two it's unresolved and empty and the stranded juniper there did nothing.

The two rescued flagstones I put there don't do anything either and should be moved to surround the birdbath base.

> So .  . I need an open path and unobstructed area plus an open view of the aspen trunks and back garden.

> At the same time I want something to look at against the fence.

Something. 

From this view last summer you can barely see the spindly juniper but as it gets larger it will interrupt the line of sight to the shady back garden. A solid bulky tree, even tall and upright, is too much. I had to take it out.

Okay, what can I put smack in front of the wall of green to look at from inside the bedroom? Not another tree or dense shrub. And I don't want more containers scattered about in my gardens.

(One answer would be something to look at on the empty corner of the deck, but whatever I tried there -- containers, the peacock, a stump and birdhouse -- all looked silly. I like the free floating edge of the deck and want to keep it open.)

The cute birdhouse would work -- but it's very heavy and needs a strong support, not a shepherd's crook. I already have the plastic heart on a pole hanging between the birdbath and brown urn.

But the heart looks a lost there smack in the center. It's small and the thin metal crook disappears against the vine, making the heart look oddly suspended in air. 

👉 Next summer hang a basket with blue lobelia instead of the heart-- maybe get a taller shepherd's crook as well and move it over toward the urn so it's not so rigidly centered. Stage the potted hakonechloa where the crook was, elevated a little.

On the right side hang the birdhouse above. Maybe add a division of my Black Adder agastache and a nice stand of Southern Charm verbascums. Both plants are vertical and upright, but not tall.

It's more open, it flows toward the garden on the right and there's some color. The birdhouse needs to hook to a sturdy arm on the fence and be out away from the thick foliage of the vine.

Hook for hanging birdhouse off fence  / and this one too.

I had it on an old wobbly wooden brace at one point, but the brace fell off. I think the birdhouse against the vine, having on a better hook, is the answer to what I'll do for visual interest against the wall of green.

I really do not want to add a shrub or tree -- too stiff and bulky. And I do not want more pots scattered about the gardens. So a small stretch of agastache and verbascums might be nice at the foot of the vine, with the birdhouse above. Nothing to look at in winter other than the birdhouse and stump, though.

Southern Charm

The verbascums are Southern Charm hybrids (from Bluestone) and they are pretty but quite small, only about two feet tall. But the foliage is impactful and the flower stalks are spiky, upright and very cottagey looking. They can be planted in that area where there are no emitters. They want dry gravelly conditions.

They are nothing like the Frankenstein forms of the wild mullein growing in front!

Frankenforms

I like the idea of tying the birdbath strip to the other end by the potting bench curve. 

I like not fussing with pots or anything structural other than a little birdhouse on the fence. It's a quieter look but nothing much to look at out the slider door, especially in winter.

Here's what Gemini A.I thinks this planting would look like in front of the fence: 

Nice. I might see if I can unpot one or two of the blue fescue grasses and plant them at the feet of these tall perennials. I like the blue accents in this shot. The grasses have been potted up for a few years and should be big enough to handle transplanting to this strip.

But once again I am creating a garden design that is small and busy -- little plants mixed together. See my prior post, lamenting exactly that. And here I am taking out a singular tree and substituting . . . um, lots of stuff.

Busy But Not Full

As I look over my photos from last summer and cruise Pinterest garden shots and think about what I want, I am struck by how my back yard garden is busy but not full.

There is so much going on, with too many tiny plants, lots of pots, small arrangements and placements and rock borders and stone patio and wood deck and some garden tchotchkes too. A lot of stuff.

But there is no fullness. It's just busy.

This is a nice shot, a nice summer view down the yard in late afternoon. I do have a big vine covered fence and tall aspens and some shade, but all else is a lot of mixed stuff. 

And this is the best of it, most everything around the white bowl in the circle garden is just mulch with some twigs stuck in. I know, know. The circle garden had many new plants added this past year that are not yet grown. Tiny things.

There are some plants in my garden coming along nicely and there is potential. I can see what the newer pineleaf penstemons will look like in a few years, and the lambsears have always been great and the Grow-lo sumacs thrive. Blue Ice amsonias, tucked away in the alley, have finally made a nice patch. Yes, there are successes in spots.

But even where things have settled in over years, they remain small. The redbud after eight years is nice and flowers well enough, but it's a stick. The kitchen courtyard rose and honeysuckle and veronicas are nice but don't blend together, not touching. Lovely, but clumpy.

I did plant so many new things this past year and need to be patient. And I am planning more for 2026! 

I think that in an effort to get a full look to my gardens and a serene cohesiveness to the whole back courtyard I am adding way too many small things and simply making it all too busy.

Conditions

It's the day before Christmas Eve and we haven't had winter conditions yet. Overnight gets down to just below freezing some nights, but not for long, and the days have been consistently in the 50s. This afternoon it's 60°.

But dry. No precipitation.

So I watered again. I had watered everything on the 14th, and this is just two weeks later. 

In winter a good soaking should be only once a month on a day when temperatures are above 50° but this unbroken mild weather is really more like a long Autumn and my plants need to go into real winter hydrated.

I wonder if I watered enough last winter. 

We had a cool spring, and nothing came up or grew very well. Rain in the summer helped, but perhaps my plants got a slow start because they had struggled in too dry winter conditions?

I got a couple new watering nozzles, but couldn't find the articulated Gilmour ones I like. So I got these Cytheria brand nozzles with a fixed head, and I don't like them at all.

They don't swivel to different positions and I don't like the thumb control. But they work well enough.

Penstemon Care

I've struggled with the Electric Blue penstemon in the circle garden -- it remains a tiny, tiny thing after two years. It's smaller than when I first planted it. 

I found these recommendations on the High Country Gardens site -- and haven't followed most!

Tips for growing Penstemon (Beardtongue)

> They need:

1. elbow room, and don’t like to be crowded by other plants.
2. maximum sun 
3. heat 

> Plant only in well-drained soils; clay soils are incompatible.

> Avoid overly enriched soils; too much compost and fertilizer will shorten their lifespan.

> They establish quickly and watering needs to be reduced after about 8 to 10 weeks to create dry conditions. When using drip irrigation, be sure to put the emitter off to the side of the plant, not right on top of the root ball to avoid overwatering the plant.

(I've been watering heavily for 2 years, thinking to get it growing)

> Plant high, leaving the top of the rootball just above the surrounding soil to avoid burying the crown of the plant.

(I didn't do this)

> Mulch with gravel in arid climates. Always avoid bark or compost as mulch materials. 

     (I have it in bark mulch)

> Fertilize sparingly. One time each year in the fall is enough. Don't use high nitrogen water soluble fertilizer like Miracle Gro.

     (I've been fertilizing)

To keep penstemon with finely textured or matted evergreen foliage looking best, deadhead them. Shear off the fading flowering spikes just as the plant is going out of flower. Recommended for Penstemon pinifolius ‘Compactum'.

So . . 

. . . dig Electric Blue up, pot it to see if I can get it to grow in a container, and replace it with a reliable and sturdy deep purple 'May Night' salvia.

Warm Enough to Water

It has been mild, in the 50s, and this afternoon was 55 degrees, with a strong winter sun. 

All the way up to Christmas it is forecast to be like that, 50ish temperatures and above freezing at night, with only two nights briefly at 33 degrees, all the other nights above that.

But it's been very dry and there is no rain or snow forecast. 

So I watered today. 

I got everything, even the oaks in the field. I actually hooked up the hose and gave all the gardens a good drink.

I brought the overwintering cuphea outside too, and took out the pinecone mulch and added fresh potting soil to the top around the plant. 

It has been regrowing nicely since I hacked it back and brought it in for the winter. I even see a couple little flower buds. I do need to remember to fertilize it, and to let it dry out between waterings.

The forecast is so forgiving, I even brought the pots of salvias and tickseed and obedient plants etc. out from the garage and I'll leave them outside while the next ten days stay mild and the nights above freezing.

They're tender perennials and can stay out but not if it gets really cold.

First Snow

It's gotten cold recently and last night we got our first snowfall.
 

It's not much on the ground, but it's messy and I have a flight out to California later today. 

It should be fine. The roads are mostly just wet, although the temperature is well below freezing, so ice could be an issue.

It does look a bit Christmassy this morning.

🎄   🎄   🎄   🎄   🎄   🎄    🎄   🎄

Leaf Litter and Mulch

A cold rain all day today, about half an inch. Yesterday was nice -- 52° but pleasant to work in. I spread leaf litter and a little bit of mulch.

Before Jim's back got really bad a few weeks ago, he vacuumed up some leaves and in the process the machine chops them into pieces. He filled a whole contractor bag with shredded leaves.

Later the bulk of the fallen leaves were cleaned up and taken away by Jeronimo's men -- the cottonwood and aspen leaves don't disintegrate and form huge mats all over and need to be removed.

So the gardens were cleared up, it had rained the other day so soil was moist, and I had a contractor bag full of chopped leaf litter to spread around.

I dumped it into the trug, added water and then kneaded and mixed it to get it all wet. I did several trugs -- a lot, actually -- there was a ton of leaf litter to work with. Then, after spreading it around the gardens, I used one bag of wood chip mulch to put down to hold the leaf litter from blowing away. 

It is fine and dry and I didn't want it to disappear in the wind.

The steady damp and rain today has tamped it down pretty well, and the soil from the rain we had before was moist underneath. Hopefully the leaf litter will add nutrients and tilth, the bit of mulch will hold it, and the gardens will be happy next spring.

November Rain

I woke to a cold fog this morning after a full day yesterday of off and on rain. We got almost half an inch total. 

The fog burned off pretty quickly to light up our wet world. But the patio cushions are soaked through -- I hadn't brought them in.

Jeronimo had just cleaned up the leaves the day before so the ground could soak in this rain. He charged $412 -- yikes.

Tomorrow, when the forecast is for milder weather, I'll spread some mulch to cover a few areas where bare dirt and some of the irrigation tubing is exposed. 

Corroded Fittings

I brought the hoses in today, disconnected the splitters from the faucet bibs and stored them in the garage. Cold temps are finally coming, with some rain and possibly snow.

The fittings on the hoses always corrode and are nearly impossible to get off. The one by the kitchen door came off, but I could not separate the one in front. 

Jim and I worked on it, used WD40 oil, got the hairdryer out to heat the metal threads and used the biggest wrench.

It came off after much difficulty, but destroyed the leader hose fitting in the process. 

So I ordered a new leader -- fortunately I had an Amazon record of what I got last time (in April 2024) and ordered exactly the same size, the same item. 

It worked well for my rigged extension system from the front faucet around to the back. It lasted just two years, but the replacement is only $17 and I can rescue the system next spring after our debacle getting the old one off.

I always need new Y splitters every year, they don't last long. I got these heavy duty brass ones ($18 each) with longer shut off levers -- the plastic ones I've been using are not as sturdy. 

Speedwells in Fall

I don't remember the Royal Candles veronicas turning any kind of color in fall. This year they are an attractive golden yellow. I cut the long spent stalks back and cleaned up a bit and there were these pretty little mounds of clean, colorful foliage.

It must be the long warm fall weather, with only a few mornings that have hit below 32°. A strange season this year.

The little golden clumps look quite nice.

Should I plant more Royal Candles speedwells, perhaps in the circle garden? I might.

They bloom vividly in June, with that upright spikiness I need around the circle garden, although once they fade the spikes get lanky and need cutting back.

They have been workhorses in the kitchen courtyard garden, and are surprisingly nice even now in fall.

Little Red Jewels

The crabapple's leaves are all down now and the red crabs look like jewels all over the little tree. 

I'm still amazed that there are so many crabapples. Spring flowering was sparse, yet there are tons of fruits.

Very festive and holiday appropriate as Thanksgiving approaches. If we get snow for Christmas it will be perfect.

The fruits are tiny and intact, not yet falling or turning mushy. 

It seems they dry out and get dark and smaller as they age, so I'm hoping there won't be any kind of mess on the ground. 

When they fall I'll have to see what that does to the walkway and gravel below.

Or maybe late in the season when freezing has made them more palatable, the birds will eat some?

Lit Up Perfectly

The way a shaft of morning sun comes through the glass doors of the two way fireplace and lights up the plant on the living room table always amazes me.

Somehow it finds the plant and only the plant. Nothing else in the room is illuminated, just the green leaves all lit up and shining. 

On these November mornings it happens just as I am having coffee in the red recliner, around 7:15 a.m. The timing, the light, the specific way just that one thing shines, is just striking.

It's a plastic Swedish ivy that I've had for decades. I packed it and moved it here. It fits perfectly into the white resin cylinder container that Hope made us a few years ago. 

And it sits perfectly on the glass table in a ray of morning sun that lights it up like it's alive. Wow.

Then, when the pot of ivy is no longer lit, the sun finds the lemon tree and lights that up.

Pretty spectacular.

Some Color

There's some real color in the bush clematis by the garage door this year. A bright golden yellow.

We're still only flirting with freezing temperatures at night. Every once in a while -- like this morning -- it gets down to 28 - 30 degrees. A freeze, but a light one and not for too long. I've unhooked the hoses but haven't brought them in.

Then the mornings go back up to high 30s and into the 40s for several days. 

Afternoons are pleasant.

But the vine on the back fence browned up long ago, and now the crabapple and the redbud are mostly bare. The aspens and the cottonwood leaves are about 3/4 down too. 

The Japanese maple and the plumbagos are deep scarlet red, mostly smothered by fallen cottonwood leaves, but still visible. The Texas betony and veronicas behind, and the columbines behind those, stay green.

The Wood's rose, just planted this year, is still a tall awkward shape. It's turning golden, and that's a nice complement to the reds nearby.

And here's some dramatic color captured last night at dinner time.

Autumn is well underway.

Salvia Greggii Radio Red

I got more Radio Red salvias at Newman's. 

I went in looking for a mum for the urn in front, but it's too late in the season. But they had a table full of Radio Red greggii salvias, and I've had that on my list to get more of next year.

It's my favorite red salvia, redder than Furman's Red, bigger, glossier leaves than the salvia (Hot Lips I think, and microphylla, not greggii) I got at Lowe's and more compact than Windwalker Red (which is actually S. darcyi x microphylla, not a greggii variety either.)

So I got several and plopped one in its nursery pot in the urn in front.

I have two that are in the kitchen courtyard. None of the pots I overwintered survived, but the two in the ground did.

Two of the new Radio Reds will go in pots at the deck -- the Windwalker Red really got too big and lanky in a pot there.

And one will be planted in the circle garden where the annual Strawberry Fields gomphrena was -- that never grew into much of anything.

It's too late to plant one in the circle garden, so all four that I just got will go in the garage when hard cold hits.

They are hardy to zone 7 and we are supposed to be 7 now, although I think we're right at the edge if not solidly in a colder winter zone.

(Advice from High Country Gardens is DO NOT cut them back for winter. (I did shear down the Hot Lips salvias, but left standing all the Radio Red salvias, both the containers and the ones in the ground.)

Mixed Flowers in the Center

My plan is to overwinter the David Verity cuphea so I can plant it out, mature and full, in the white bowl next spring. 

I may rethink that.

I might like a mix of sunny perennials and annuals all together, creating a real focal point of color and form for the center of the circle.

If done right all the plants would fill the bowl in a way the cuphea just didn't.

I rarely do mixed flower containers unless I get some already planted up from the nursery. But I'd try 

• Profusion zinnias
• A division of the blue carpet sedum I have
• Vivid blue lobelia
• Petunias and pansies of course 

. . . just a random mix of things.

I liked the cuphea well enough, but the Vermillionaire plant was a simple look.

I like David Verity better, and if I can winter it and keep it full looking, that's still an option for the bowl. 

If not, a colorful profusion of sunny flowers would be better and I'd put David Verity back in the blue container behind the deck. It did well there.

(I've since taken the Vermillionaire out. It looked fine after one morning this week that hit 26 degrees, but a couple days after that it was clear it was gone. The flowers were still bright, but the foliage had shriveled.)

26 Degrees

The first freeze of the season. It was 26 degrees overnight. 

But everything survived nicely, even the annual lobelia and the Profusion zinnias. The Vermillionaire cuphea is fine. I did bring the David Verity cuphea into the house after cutting it down as I get ready for winter.

The day dawned cold but still, and the hot sun quickly made things pleasant. A lovely fresh feeling day with quiet sunshine and cool air.

There are no more freezing nights for the next 10 days. Just warm days of sunshine in the 50s and 60s with little wind and overnight temps above 32.

I had unhooked the hoses but did not drain them or bring them into the garage. Now I'll have to hook them back up to do chores and water some things over the next weeks.

Cutting Back

I don't think I can bring the David Verity cuphea into the house to winter over as I planned unless I cut it way back. It's just too big and leggy. I tried it in the bathroom and in front of the sliders where winter sun would be good for it. But it's too much.

I did find an article that says potted cuphea can be brought inside, but to cut it back first. So I did, although I hated to sacrifice all the pretty flowers it was still putting out.

The only flirtation with overnight temperatures of 25° - 29° is one night next week, and then it rebounds to above freezing nights and beautiful warm days well into early November!

Will that one overnight freeze be enough to zap the cuphea? 

Assuming it might, I cut it down to just a few leaves at the base of the stems and put it next to to my laundry hamper in my bedroom.

It had gotten so leggy because I watered it too much. 

I did the same with the potted Windwalker Red salvia and the Black Adder agastache. Their leaves got so shriveled in the summer sun if I did not water, but the extra moisture made them tall and spindly.

The salvia was actually cut back in summer and it regrew quickly into tall stalks with vivid blooms at the tips.

I need to figure out how to keep these potted plants happy without over watering. 

The red salvia may go in the ground next spring, in a spot where there is no emitter. It needs water to flower well, and maybe I can keep it hose watered but leave it drier in between waterings.

Despite the continued lovely weather, I did cut back the tickseed that had gotten raggy looking, to get ready to put it in the garage. 

Still full and green and even putting out a few flowers, but it was time. What a performer it was all summer long, constantly in full bloom. 

In spring I will divide it and use the divisions in other locations. Maybe in pots, maybe I'll put one in the ground.

The Blue Ice amsonias are a nice yellow now in the corner by the guest room window. 

They are a cool, lemony yellow, bright and eye catching. I can't wait for the new ones I just planted to fill out around the circle garden and produce this elegant foliage and color in fall. It will take a good 3 to 4 years, though.

Some trees have lost leaves, the Virginia creeper is brown and kaput, but it's still so warm and beautiful.