Coneflowers and Cupheas

The Leilani coneflowers planted in the sunny kitchen courtyard have been long lasting and cheerful. The ones planted in shade under the dining room window have not been. They bloomed much later, more sparsely and went by quickly.

I should take them out of the shady spot and put them somewhere sunnier.

The Vermillionaire cuphea in the white bowl is starting to look nice. It still doesn't fill the big bowl, but it's getting bigger and blooming nicely and arching out. Morning sun slanting in through the gate lights it up.

The thyme carpet around the bowl is blooming in patches, but hasn't filled in the bare spots yet. We still haven't had warm nights or very hot weather. Afternoons are in the 80s and the house heats up so we need the air conditioning on, but it really isn't consistently hot enough for the thyme to spread I guess.

I like the shape and look of the David Verity cuphea better -- it is more upright and elegant. 

The leaves are a darker, richer green. It's in a container now by the birdbath. The pot is too small for this shrubby plant, but I'll see how it does.

With the rain and all my extra watering (and fertilizing) this year, most things look healthy and green and nice. But I think the long stretch of cold nights in the 50s are holding plants back from getting big.

I keep noticing that nothing in the ground touches. All my plants remain tiny and tidy and separate from anything nearby.

Replacements

Purslane in a pot

The red petunias were so great but by mid July they had gotten leggy and sprawly. So I replaced them with some stuff from Lowe's. 

I got a pot of portulaca - purslane - in bright colors for the table by the glider. 

I didn't realize they only open their flowers in bright sun but the foliage is plump and green in shade and in the evenings and mornings.

The Windwalker Red salvia had gotten way too tall and leggy in its pot by the deck. I should have cut it back in spring and maybe again by 4th of July. 

I loved how it looked all wild in what I call my prairie pot garden, but really it was way too lanky and big. So I cut it back to some basal growth at the base.

Radio Red Salvia greggii in the ground

I found Salvia greggii plants at Lowe's and got three. I replaced the big salvia with these three pots and I hope they bloom as long and brightly as the Radio Red Salvia greggii I had last year (none of those pots survived the winter in the garage but two transplanted to the kitchen courtyard did.)

And the trough by the kitchen door behind the bistro chair now has blue lobelia in it, replacing the elegant red petunias. The tiny vivid blue flowers are sunny and bright.

I got some black petunias mixed with red pentas to refresh the brown urn in front. There's something yellow and trailing in there too, but I lost a bit when I divided the Lowe's pot to make it fit the small container inside the mouth of the urn.

Petunias and pentas

The other half of the planting is by the table at the garage door. 

Looks nice enough. Summery and full. 

All the replacements lack the elegance, shape, and rich color of those red petunias, but the mix of things in pots is nice now and I bought them already filled out and big.

The back yard looks good. Most things are liking this relatively cool and wetter summer. The only things that seem "off" are the butterfly bushes -- they look sparse and aren't flowering much.

My orange rose, just planted, has a couple bright flowers!

Side by Side

The unit next to Greg's is identical but reversed. 

Some day he would like to buy that side and own both units of this tiny duplex house. We even talked about having me move in next door to him . . . if I find my self widowed and alone and elderly and needing help in my old age! A pipe dream, but a spark for the imagination.

His back yard is a beautiful rectangular garden with stonework and plants and green grass and nice tree shade. Very structural and composed.

The attached unit, separated by fence is neglected. If I ever moved in next door, here's a lovely example of what could be done.

It's all silly, thinking about me living in that tiny unit next to him. But not out of consideration if I was old and alone . . .

I'd plant the edges around the fences, add gravel (I wouldn't do any grass) and put some nice patio furniture and some pots out there, like this photo.

I would have such fun planting up that small space. I'm not sure how it would work living next door to my son as I age, but he seems genuinely eager to help me and wants it. 

And I love the compactness of  the little unit and the unlimited but small possibilities to make a quiet haven outside, next to his garden. There are lots of ideas to ponder for small urban rectangles, fenced on all sides.

And one more . . . 

Fun to imagine!

Lavender

The big lavender in the front triangle garden is looking the best it ever has. It gets irrigation, we've had early monsoon rain, and nights have been cool all spring and early summer. Good conditions for it.

It is swamped on one side by the rangy hesperaloe and overshadowed by the pine on the other side, but it does well enough. It was here when we moved in, I don't know what variety it is.

I trim off the dead flower spikes in winter, and try to clean out the middle where it's gotten woody and bare and leaves collect, but that doesn't really work. Still, it's nice.

Lovely Summer

Summer has been quite lovely so far. Mornings are cool and still and sunny. We're having a real monsoon season with some rain on a few days but a lot of afternoon big puffy clouds and storm cells passing by. Every day. 

I fertilized everything today.
 

With the rain, my greater attention to weekly fertilizing and the hand watering I've been doing, I am getting better and longer lasting results this year. 

The Coronation Gold yarrow by the driveway is still blooming nicely. 

The Sweet Summer Love vine did not reach the top of the shepherd's crook as it has in the past, but it is blooming way longer and more fully.

Other things that have not lasted long or looked very good are much, much better this year.

Water, water, fertilize!!

The kitchen courtyard looks lovely, although plants are still tidy things, not touching at all.

What looks problematic are the butterfly bushes, both this one in the corner of the fence, which is sparse and twiggy and blooming just a bit at the top, as well as the Honeycomb butterfly bush out front. It too looks sparse and not very full.

I guess I'll cut both down to a foot tall for winter and see what they do next year.

The fernbush in front is blooming. Subtle but pretty.

Wind Chime Spinner

I got this small wind chime spinner from Wayfair for $35 to hang on the shepherd's crook in front of the wall of green vine covered fence. 

It has a marble with glow crystals so it lights up at night. Modest and small, not a big chime or installation, just a little thing to break up the flat green wall.

But meh. It came broken, although I can still hang it up and the missing bit of plastic is not noticeable.

It just isn;t much to look at, doesn't;t spin really, and . . . not sure I'll keep it.

I had hung the hummingbird feeder on the shepherds crook in order to break up that expanse, and because having it where it was on the patio was not ideal -- the hummingbirds buzz our heads while we sit out there. Or they get scared away when we're there.

But it got infested with ants. Hung from the crossbeam of the patio vigas, the ants can't reach it, but stuck on a pole in the ground, they swarmed the pole and overran the sugar feeder. Ugh.

So the feeder is back on the chain hanging on the patio. It was too small to do much visually on the shepherd's crook, but the activity caught the eye and it was at least something contrasting against the vine.

This whole strip of garden is evolving. Not there yet. I want something to look at from the patio and from inside the living room. And something interesting in front of that long fence.

I'm not sure this small chime / spinner is anything I'll keep, but at least it won't attract an army of ants.

Observations after the 4th

Fourth of July was noisy but uneventful last night. Mornings are still beautiful and cool.

The Leilani coneflowers in the kitchen courtyard are looking nice and blooming cheerfully. There's an emitter there and I water frequently. But the ones in the dining room window are in too much shade and growing okay but not blooming well.

They need to go somewhere in more sun, but I don't know where.

The bright coreopsis by the deck looks great. It needs daily water in this terra cotta bowl.

The red lambs ears are blooming pretty well, and the white Icicle veronicas look nice with them. (But the one Icicle veronica that I planted in the kitchen courtyard is not doing well. It came up very late, and is still only a six inch blob of foliage, I don't know why. It has an emitter there and I water it.)

The blue fescues in red pots are struggling this year, even though I re-potted each with additional fresh potting soil. This one looks the best and is the only one blooming.

The new cardinal penstemon has glossy vivid red flowers, really nice. But so far it is a tall skinny stalk. It should in future years spread out to something like three feet wide.

Obedient plants are starting to bloom. Now that they do not compete under the birdbath in the thyme carpet, they are getting quite tall.

I love how the early sunrise light slants in through the gate area and lights up this part of the circle garden each morning.

With the rain we have had and the cool weather, everything looks good, even the field is green.

The Front Triangle

The tiny triangle by the front walk needs a re-do. 

The corner anchors the front of the house and is seen up close by all who walk by.

Two hesperaloe plants are too coarse and lanky. The foliage of Texas red yuccas is brown and scraggly, the fronds catch dead leaves, and the tall stalks are floppy.

The stalky blooms lean out over the walkways awkwardly.

The hummingbirds do love the flowers. There are several others in the front yard, so taking these two out won't matter. The others are set back, scattered in a few spots around the yard and not so visible close up as a specimen.

I tried interplanting other things in this little garden -- an upright orange globemallow, a little yellow threadleaf fleabane, two compact pineleaf penstemons, and three marrubium groundcovers to spread out, which they haven't. 

All the small plants get lost in the mess of the Texas red yuccas. 

But what to put in to replace the scraggly hesparaloes? There is irrigation in that spot, quite a few emitters as the space had a lot in it when they installed the irrigation.

And could I dig out the two hesparaloes myself? 

They are not tap rooted, they have fibrous shallow roots. But disposing of the bulk would be a problem. Maybe.

There is a large lavender that can hold its own with the hesperaloes, and it is nice, although it has gotten woody and open in the center. I'd leave that. →

And I planted two pineleaf penstemons that I'd like to keep, maybe add a third. 

They are overtaken by the arching narrow leaves of the yucca to their left.

I'd like something with a more solid form and bigger leaves to contrast with the thin leaved lavender and penstemons, something not so strappy and arching. But what?

This is my view from inside the house, sitting in my favorite chair:

But other than the truncated view from the front room, I rarely see this triangle. I'm not out in the front yard much and I don't walk by my house on the sidewalk. I don't like working out there so close to the road and parked cars and people going by. So I'd want something very low care.

Something round and shrubby? Something tall and narrow to screen our front sliders from passersby?

I need ideas.