Milkweed in the foreground for the butterflies and Mimulus in the background

A close-up of Mimulus "Jelly Bean Fiesta Marigold"

Ceanothus thyrsiflorus Skylark which I hope and pray will stay small as promised

A smaller variety of oleander smothered in alyssum

Im thrilled for you and the results are charming. Here, I just shear off the sent allysum and it reblooms.

Ingrid, I'm all for your new garden direction, and I hope you will find the results fabulous! It sounds promising, good for everyone except the ground squirrels. I enthusiastically grow a number of the plants you list. By the way, I initially read "alyssum" as "asylum", which perhaps says something about how I see your garden as a developing oasis of green cool life. Good luck!

Thank you for the chuckle, Melissa. Asylum may just be an operative word in how I hope to see my garden as a refuge from the slings and arrows that life likes to throw at us.

Vapor, you're fortunate to have summer rain which we rarely have. The only reason the alyssum is so lush now is because of the bountiful winter rain we were blessed with. It wasn't much to write home about during the previous drought years, although it has always come back faithfully every spring, even though it was pulled out every summer. It's hardy stuff!

Ingrid, I'm so happy to read that you are getting pleasure from your garden again. You deserve every happiness.

Ingrid

What a satisfaction it must be to adapt to your environment and find new joy. As Trish said, you deserve every happiness. Those alyssum drifts are simply magnficent, Wild Edric is a lovely survivor, and I bet those natives blend seamlessly with the rugged beauty of your land.

It's so beautiful, Ingrid. I look forward to seeing your salvia bloom, too. Salvia is one of my favorite flowers. Your wild Eric is beautiful, too

Ingrid, your garden looks beautiful again!

So happy that you have found new plants to bring color and interest to your yard. Wild Edric is so beautiful. I'm glad that you have one rose baby to spoil.

I have several colors of alysum and noticed that the purple does better than the white with much less water and never gets to the point that I need to pull it out. Maybe try a patch of purple and see what it does for you.

It’s all looking so beautiful! Can’t wait to see what it looks like with your new plants from Annie’s, another plug for the alyssum-really giving cottage garden vibes. Even if it only looks good in the spring-I have lots of once blooming roses and shrubs and theybstill bring me joy

Hard to believe there's a rose that's rodent proof. I'm so glad you have Wild Ederic!! Everything looks lush and happy...an oasis for insects. :) :) My favorite is that marigold...I've never seen one like that before...I love it! Good job, Ingrid. :)

rosecanadian, it's not a marigold but rather a variety of mimulus that has the word marigold in its name. The people who name plants do like to confuse us! Wild Edric is not totally rodent-proof as I saw two furry bandits high up there munching away on its flowers the other day.

Kristine, I believe I had the purple alyssum at one time but it didn't linger. It figures, since I love purple flowers. I gather that in my conditions the white variety does better and I'm not about to argue with nature.

Your support means so much to me. As long as I can manage to keep my one rose alive I'm going to feel entitled to post here!

Your Edric is beautiful ! I'll be intersted to know how all your new drought tolerant plants do.

I’m so happy with you, Ingrid! I admire your attitude about life as well as your garden and I’m glad you still post here. I was a silent listener on these forums a long time before I ever started posting and I always enjoyed your pictures and posts and am delighted to know that you will continue.
I have grown pretty much all of the kinds of flowers you mentioned from Annie’s Annuals and they gave me so much beauty in California. Tough, drought tolerant and beautiful as well as unpalatable to nibbling critters. It’s a win-win!

Ingrid, I hope you will always feel entitled to post here, even if you don't have a green leaf in sight. So many of us have missed you.

Your new ideas and plants are great - congratulations! Is salvia leucantha (aka Mexican sage) one of the salvias you ordered? Here it is fabulous, planted in areas that get no summer water whatever. It llikes some winter rain, of course, but we do not irrigate it. It starts blooming here (Northern CA - zone 9 trending towards 10 - totally dry summers) in the Fall, and keeps it up all winter and into the Spring. There are 2 versions - ones with purple blooms, and ones with purple blooms with some white on them. Both grow all around with no care that I can see. Very full of smelly oils, of course, so no wonder the squirrels don't like them.

Jackie

Jackie, I grew salvia leucantha (the one with white and purple blooms) years ago and loved it. It did well for years and then deteriorated and died off, and I don't know why. Perhaps I'll try it again; you're right, I can't imagine the ground squirrels enjoying it.

Trish, thank you for those words; I can't tell you what it means to me. I think you've also had travails with your roses, although I dearly hope that you still have some to love.. I never would have thought that one solitary rose could mean so much to me.

Glad to see this after the rodent problems. Hooray for Wild Edric.

The fortnight lily is superb, a wonderful companion for Wild Edric, the alyssum and other plants. I've grown alyssum in past years, it's a charming groundcover that works well with a variety of plants.

Krista, the fortnight lily is in the front garden and Wild Edric in the back, but I wish they could be together. I might purchase another fortnight lily as the squirrels have left the one I have alone so far. I'm carefully noting everything they don't eat, but I've also noticed that they're rather capricious and one year will gobble something up and the next will leave it alone.

Trish, your mention of Mme. Lombard made me feel a little misty as it reminded me of mine, long-gone now of course. I'm glad yours is quite a big girl. I also had Marie van Houtte, but now can barely remember what it looks like. Encroaching trees are a big problem, and with Wild Edric I'm noticing that all the new growth is on the unobstructed side. I had to look up Bliss and Lioness - so pretty. One has to think of quality rather than quantity, and fewer roses of course means less work, I'm just so glad that you still have a good few to go on with.

A pleasure to see you posting here and enjoying your garden. I love the mimulus aurianticus - I have not grown it more years but must search out a source again as, unlike most mimulus, it was a good plant for my lean, dry soil.

Have a look at the shrubby salvias, Ingrid - the greggii, microphylla and jamensis hybrids will give months of bloom on mannerly shrubs. They are standbys in my dry garden (also afflicted with ravenous pests and an arid climate). It was on your recommendation that I first grew limonium perezzii - another stalwart for me (along with sphaeralcea and the beautiful romneya).