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California Gardening

OK, I couldn't wait for fall. Photos of new garden!

11 years ago

After advice to wait for fall to plant my new gardens, I decided after 1 week of waiting and after getting new patio furniture that I just could not possibly wait! So I will be watering a bit more this summer and perhaps some plants will not make it, but I went with pretty hardy, inexpensive and drought tolerant plants so far they seem to be thriving.

I just did the back patio area so far not the larger and hotter/sunnier front gardens yet. Those I still need to remove the ivy and overgrown shrubs, etc.

For our back garden I used:

- spanish and english lavender

- catmint

- russian sage and 3 other lovely sages (yellow, pink, and purple ones!)

- some mounding silvery plant I forget the name of

- echinacea

- a potted "little ollie" olive topiary tree that I may later plant in the ground once the rain starts... probably in front garden which gets more sun

My planning was basically to plant the shade-tolerant plants on the side of the patio that gets shade and to put taller growing plants at the back/corners.

I will be adding redwood mulch but OSH was out of it on my last trip, so I have to wait for them to re-stock.

These photos were taken in the evening, it really is sunny out there in the daytime! Too bad the magnolia tree on the other side of the fence is shedding leaves like crazy.

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I really love this purple sage on the left they only has 1 left at the nursery

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Comments (9)

gobluedjm 9/18 CA
11 years ago
Very cute and nice. You should get hummers around if they see them.
But I do think you have them to close together for 3 years from now.
Tmnca
Original Author
11 years ago
Yes I am sure they will spread, I may end up having to move some but I didn't want it to look too sparse for the first 2 years.

Any advice on maintaining sages so they don't get too leggy/woody - can they be trimmed or pruned and if so when/how?
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gobluedjm 9/18 CA
11 years ago
I deadhead mine constantly, but major pruning I do in the spring. Some of mine are 3 feet wide so I just grab branches in handfuls and cut back about a third and reshape if needed. But mine are further away from any seating so you might want to be a bit more selective for appearance sakes.
hosenemesis
11 years ago
I love your patio furniture- the color is gorgeous. The patio already looks like a little paradise- I can see why you just could't wait!

You made some nice choices. If things start to grow together, no big deal. You can remove a plant less favored for the ones you like best.

Your little olive goes so well with your patio set!
calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
11 years ago
I think you are doing a good job selecting the plants and the patio furniture looks great. There is only one distraction that could be easily remedied. The corner of the original concrete slab which has broken due to lack of support and too thin as well. If you can not make the repair yourself any handyman could do it. As it is now your eye is drawn to it and away from your good work. Al
Tmnca
Original Author
11 years ago
calistoga I agree about the broken slab, I noticed it even more in the photos than I did in real life. I am planning to fix it, I'll pull it up, add some more support underneath (maybe a metal bar too) and then patch the crack.
buddyben
11 years ago
As for plants getting too leggy, the thing to do is regularly pinch the terminal tips of young perennial plants. THis forces the plants to branch and become more dense, the opposite of leggy.
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
11 years ago
It looks great and mulch will make it even better.

I would be tempted just to take out that broken corner of slab , or get a guy with a concrete saw to cut it out straight, and voila, room for another plant! ;^)

Great job!
Tmnca
Original Author
11 years ago
hoovb, Hmm, that's a good idea! If I plant some border plants along there to cover the edge, i could work... but I am a bit worried about impacting the stability of the whole slab. The HOA replaced the fences recently and you can see, so it may have been their digging the new posts that caused it to sink and break (it was like that when we bought the place in May) so maybe they will repair it for me.

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