Nice new natives

I can't believe I last posted in January...two months ago! And to think of those days as a new enthusiastic blogger when I posted every week. 

My excuse for not posting more blogs is twofold...
1) I've finished my novel and am currently looking for publishers for it.
2) I've started my second novel....

Lots of writing going on - just not blogging.

Also lots of gardening going on ... In fact, it's hard to keep up with the garden, things are moving so swiftly with it. The miture of much needed rain and warm spring temperatures has made everything simply bounce forth this spring.

I added a couple of new plants to the native garden, having taken out some of my dwarf coyote bushes that had gotten straggly looking.

Inspired by the beauty of my redbud I purchased another.

I never usually buy big plants, but it was the only one left in the store. At $49.99 I must have visibly quaked at the the price because the sales guy gave me $20 off on the spot!

As I dug the hole to plant it I was struck by how nice the soil was. Four years ago this was compacted, tried old lawn, now it crumbles like chocolate cake - yummy! Take note those of you who don't believe that a layer of cardboard, a six-inch layer of mulch and time to let the earthworms do their thing can produce great results - without removing sod and double digging!  You can see the new plant in the top right hand corner of the photo.

I planted a white sage. It smells divine and will  grow to be quite huge.

Good job I left plenty of space around it! In the foreground of the photo you can see the coyote mint and the Clevelandia sage - all of which smell wonderful in the heat of the summer.

I bought three ceanothus plants. I'm looking froward to the bloom on this Yankee Point next year.

This variegated Diamond Heights prefers shade, and its bright leaves do brighten up a shady corner. I tried one before under my Douglas fir but it died. This one is under the plum tree. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

And the Julia Phelps promises to fill the gap left by my removal of a giant volunteer coyote bush that had gotten too leggy.

An Impulse buy at the garden center, this Mendicino Reed grass is beautiful at maturity, but I hope this spot gives it the shade it likes. It just looks like a random clump of grass right now!

 As does the baby  Deer Grass.

I got it to match the beautiful one I already have... which certainly does look like a random patch of grass.

But the prize for stunning native plants went, this year, to the Dutchmans Pipe vine I have growing through my crepe myrtle. It blossoms with these unusually shaped flowers that  look like a string of novelty lights, and just at the time of year when the crepe myrtle is bare - a perfect complement for each other providing interest year-round.

 

And yes the thermometer in the background really is showing the temperature in the shade of 75F...sorry to nearly everyone else in the Northern hemisphere suffering from extreme weather.


As they say here in California - it is what it is!


Byddi Lee