Plants surprise me every time. I know they grow and all, but holy moly, the lengths to which they go. When we removed our 12′ x 40′ section of mass planted juniper, I didn’t have an exact plan. Except for the little lower bed which spoke to me right away: Sedum Corner. And I am happy to report that in just its second season, it’s fabulous.
I must have take a picture of the shrubs planted in this space before, but darn if I can lay hands on it. It had a several spireas and azalaleas, which are perfectly fine–but not here.
When I say “we” removed, I mean Bill and Elliot. But I provided strong moral and editorial support.
This stage of the project is always nerve-wracking. Getting to where you want to go entails a big impossible-looking mess. It reminds me of being in the dentist chair after Dr. Jeff has drilled a gaping hole my tooth. Dear dog, please don’t let anything go awry at this delicate juncture: I do not know how to fix it myself.
Since I knew what I wanted to do here, moral support included encouraging the guys to go faster. “No hurry, take your time.”
Those scalloped hoohahs mentioned above, I flipped them upside down and planted Dasylirion longisssimum and Agave bracteosa behind them. Flipped is better, don’t you think?
At this stage, I had every intention of tracking plant identifies–with one of my many failproof systems. This one is not bad. Imagine if I were consistent.
I’m so happy when I take the time to do this, stellar photo or not.
And I just realized another benefit of taking photos of the tags, I’ve got some plants in there that have overtaken by others. I’ll have to dig those out and spread the wealth.
I admit that I’ve a wee tendency to cramscape. But look how few and far between these groundcovers seemed. Reasonable, no?
That looks like Scleranthus in the bottom left corner. I’ll have to take another look there too. The only certain casualty was the Agave ‘Silver Surfer’. Funny thing is, it never felt right in that bed. Still, I’d imagined that corner had some of the best draining in the whole yard; but that poor little Agave could not take incessant rain this past winter. (There are, however, a couple Agaves in the back garden, planted in soil far less drainy–and they seem to be doing fine. Hmmph.)
I had previously purchased sedums individually, but couldn’t resist this mixed tray found at Little Prince of Oregon.
The upper tier of Sedum Corner is bursting with with plant life too. I hear those Dasylirion get big. We’ll see.
At the far end of the above shot, Bolax gummifera. I LOOOVE this plant.
I don’t know where that little piece of granite came from, but I like how it’s insinuated its way in.
Plump juicy sedums. Sumptuous.
Sedums winding their way through hill and dale.
Dividing and rearranging to ensue.
Cheers
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