It feels like I’ve been working for years now to make our garden feel more enclosed and intimate. However it seems whatever progress toward that goal I had achieved has been completely erased, decisions we made (like having the privet removed) are to blame, but Mother Nature played a role as well.
Let’s start in the front garden. While “enclosed and intimate” wasn’t the goal I had in mind here I did love the way the Grevillea juniperina 'Molonglo' tied everything together. It just looked so right rambling to and fro, a carpet which grounded all the furniture…
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And now, without it, that area looks so wrong, or at least random and disparate like a wall of artwork with no order…
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Chaos, just the way I like it!
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Orderly, nothing touching, daring you to connect the dots, boring!
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So while I considered replanting the ground-cover grevillea I did not, it had grown wonderfully for years but if another severe cold snap could knock it back (yes some were dead, others were just too ugly to leave) did I really want to go through that again? No, it was too important to the scheme. Thankfully I scored the mother load of Juniperus conferta 'Blue Pacific' (aka Blue Pacific Shore Juniper) at Portland Nursery a couple of weeks ago (I bought three to go with the one I found last fall and the one already in the ground). This is such a cool plant and a great long term solution. Just look…
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Of course that one has been in place for years, they start out like this…
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Hence my heartache. Until they fill in things just look wrong!
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So in the meantime I decided to do what gardeners everywhere do (but I've never done), buy some annuals! Hopefully these Dichondra argentea 'Silver Falls' (silver pony foot) and Helichrysum petiolare (licorice plant) will fill in and meander here and there and help my eyes to see pretty, not ugly, when I look at the front garden.
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But then there's this. In the back garden I’m dealing with a different situation. Things were so enclosed last year. Then the Acacia pravissima (right as you enter) died, I moved the Fatsia polycarpa (left as you enter) and we removed the privet (far end).
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Now it looks like this…wide open!
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Augh. I get all sad just thinking about how exposed it all is. Not that I regret the changes, I just wished we’d done them years ago so it was all mature and recovered by now (hindsight, if only)...
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Things will grow, Clifford (the big leaf magnolia) will leaf out, it will fill in. But for now I'm feeling the loss of the overgrown-ness and sharing that feeling, in the vein of keeping it real. Gardening ain't for sissies.
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All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.
Let’s start in the front garden. While “enclosed and intimate” wasn’t the goal I had in mind here I did love the way the Grevillea juniperina 'Molonglo' tied everything together. It just looked so right rambling to and fro, a carpet which grounded all the furniture…
And now, without it, that area looks so wrong, or at least random and disparate like a wall of artwork with no order…
Chaos, just the way I like it!
Orderly, nothing touching, daring you to connect the dots, boring!
So while I considered replanting the ground-cover grevillea I did not, it had grown wonderfully for years but if another severe cold snap could knock it back (yes some were dead, others were just too ugly to leave) did I really want to go through that again? No, it was too important to the scheme. Thankfully I scored the mother load of Juniperus conferta 'Blue Pacific' (aka Blue Pacific Shore Juniper) at Portland Nursery a couple of weeks ago (I bought three to go with the one I found last fall and the one already in the ground). This is such a cool plant and a great long term solution. Just look…
Of course that one has been in place for years, they start out like this…
Hence my heartache. Until they fill in things just look wrong!
So in the meantime I decided to do what gardeners everywhere do (but I've never done), buy some annuals! Hopefully these Dichondra argentea 'Silver Falls' (silver pony foot) and Helichrysum petiolare (licorice plant) will fill in and meander here and there and help my eyes to see pretty, not ugly, when I look at the front garden.
But then there's this. In the back garden I’m dealing with a different situation. Things were so enclosed last year. Then the Acacia pravissima (right as you enter) died, I moved the Fatsia polycarpa (left as you enter) and we removed the privet (far end).
Now it looks like this…wide open!
Augh. I get all sad just thinking about how exposed it all is. Not that I regret the changes, I just wished we’d done them years ago so it was all mature and recovered by now (hindsight, if only)...
Things will grow, Clifford (the big leaf magnolia) will leaf out, it will fill in. But for now I'm feeling the loss of the overgrown-ness and sharing that feeling, in the vein of keeping it real. Gardening ain't for sissies.
All material © 2009-2014 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.