End of Month View February - Front Yard Side Bed

Hard to believe for me that it is already the end of February and it is time again to participate in Helen's (The Patient Gardener) End of Month View meme. Where did this month go? I was very busy in the garden this February and yet it doesn't show much in the comparison between this month photo of the Front Yard Side Bed, the area of my garden that I have chosen for this meme, and last month photo. The reason for that is that in February my main effort is to fertilize and mulch all the roses in the garden and when that is done to fertilize and mulch all other plants in the yard. There aren't any resources for the time consuming digging to plant something new. That's being said, let's have a look at the progress, that is made in this bed in the last month.  

February 2016

The most visible changes are, that the two roses in this bed have leaved out, that the rest of the lawn to the very left was removed completely and that the bed is mulched, which gives it this nice dark look that you expect from fresh good soil. What you can't see though, is that the whole bed is fertilized, which helped the roses and the alstroemeria in the middle of the bed to gain momentum and grow vigorously and the palms to green up.

 January 2016

Here is the photo from January for a comparison.

But there was more work done that is not so obvious. The whole irrigation system in this bed was checked and sprinklers that didn't work anymore replaced and others adjusted so that the water is distributed over the bed in an optimal way. In the right front corner there is a new sprinkler installed. I started to mulch over the utility lid a little from the sides, but I think I can cover it up more to the first "real" lid. The problem is though, how to keep the mulch in place. I am thinking of trying to place bender board into the slid between the outer rim and the first inner lid and see if that could work.

One thing that makes me really happy is the sight of this rose, 'Charles Darwin'. Last month I wasn't even sure if it would survive, but now it has leaved out nicely and there is no question that it will make it. It is a truly beautiful soft yellow rose with very full and luxurious flowers. I can't wait to see it blooming in my front yard for the first time. 

The Front Yard Side Bed shown from another perspective. 

Even though not so obvious in the overview photos the alstroemeria 'Little Miss Sophie' has bulked up nicely. Unfortunately it hasn't started to bloom yet, like my other variety in the back yard. It would bring some much needed color to this bed!

Rosa 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' is a mature rose that has made the most progress in comparison to the other two plants within the last month. Since it is so established it is growing like gangbusters. It is also a very early bloomer...

...and, zooming in with the camera, you can see that it is already setting buds!

This is the area where there was still lawn last month. We are completely lawn free in our front yard now. I actually like lawn, but grass is simply not climate appropriate in our area anymore, since the climate change is to dramatic and we are in a four year drought. The other thing is that in this bed the lawn always looked out of place since my neighbor took his lawn out and replaced it with a drought tolerant landscape. My remaining strip of grass was simply too small to have a pleasing impact, which made it easier for me to let it go.

Here you see the area, where the lawn was removed from a different angle. Now the question is what to plant there. I am not decided yet, but I have given up the idea of planting one more rose to the left side of the palms also because of our drought. I am now contemplating to plant some bluish agaves around the palms, which hopefully also can keep up better with the palm root competition than a rose ever could.

My plan continues to remove the alstroemeria completely and to plant altogether three roses in this bed. I would like to place the rose nearest to the street closer to the utility lid than 'Our Lady of Guadalupe is in the moment, so that ideally it would drape elegantly over the lid and cover it partly to make it less of an eyesore. For that reason 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' needs to be either lifted and moved forward or be replaced by another variety. I have not made up my mind, yet. Stay tuned, next month most likely the decision will be made. Another thing I need to ponder is which rose variety to plant in the middle of the bed and in case I remove 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' with which rose variety to replace it. I have plenty of roses in my pot ghetto, so I have definitively enough roses to choose from. Rosa 'Charles Darwin' will stay where it is (rose closest to the palms), since it was planted in December last year already in foresight of the make over of this bed.

Do check out Helen's post about her End of the Month View and also visit the other participants of this meme (you find the links to their blogs under the comments tab of Helen's post). Many of these garden transformations are very inspiring to watch.

Wishing everyone a lovely Sunday. I will certainly be out in the yard tomorrow and enjoy myself to the max!

See you in the garden!

Christina

I am linking to 

Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden

End of Month View - Front Yard Side Bed

This year I want to try again to participate in Helen's from The Patient Gardener's Weblog End of Month View meme. Last year I joined by featuring my White Garden Bed and I felt it was extremely helpful to blog about that bed at the end of each month and document the changes. My White Garden Bed has really benefited from being so closely looked at. Unfortunately I fell of the wagon in July and didn't continue to post about the White Garden Bed anymore. Hopefully this will not happen this time around!  

For this year I have set myself a real challenge. I have decided to choose the side bed in our front yard for the End of Month View meme. This is one of my most difficult areas to garden in for the following reasons. The bed is very narrow and therefore difficult to plant. As if this wasn't enough at the left side are growing two mature Queen Palms that suck up a lot of water and nutrients that are meant for the other plants. Because the bed is surrounded mainly by concrete it is getting very hot in the summer.

The bed lies on the right side of our front yard and is part of the first thing that you see of our house and garden. So, of course, you want it to be as pretty and interesting as possible. I hope that if I make a concentrated effort this year, that I can improve its look.

What has happened already is that I took out 'Sweetness', a lavender colored Hybrid Tea rose, that was planted the closest to the Queen Palms, because it couldn't withstand the root competition with the palms anymore. I substituted this rose last month with 'Charles Darwin', a vigorous Shrub Rose bred by David Austin and hope that this rose will be more successful in this location.

On the right side of the bed there was also still some grass growing, which was taken out. The grass was very hard to maintain in the drought that we are having. It was also difficult to mow and edge, since you can't really operate a mower properly in such a small space. Last but not least I always found that it looked out of place, because it was just a tiny patch.

This photo shows a frontal view of the bed with the two Queen Palms. Just last week we had the palms trimmed. Old brown palm fronds where removed and the palms was limbed up. They look a little naked right now, but new fronds will grow in no time and the palms will appear more full, again.

Besides the palms there are only three other plants growing in the bed right now. The before mentioned soft yellow 'Charles Darwin' rose. At this point I am not even sure if this rose is growing or dying. It is a little suspicious that the rose is not leaving out since the transplant in December. But time will tell soon, if it will make it or not.

Then there is alstroemeria 'Little Miss Sophie'. A beautiful dwarf light pink/white flowering alstroemeria.

And in the foreground is the light pink flowering Floribunda rose 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' planted.

In the very front of the bed is a "lovely" utility lid that houses the water meter, which to be honest is a real eyesore. The middle of the lid needs to be kept open since the person who reads our water meter needs to have access to it. But my idea is to plant something that covers the lid from the side, so that it is at least partly hidden and not so in your face anymore.

If you look closely at the photo you can see the mulch and then in the foreground soil that is lighter in color. This is where the grass had been growing that was removed.

So here is my initial plan for what should happen with this bed. First the irrigation has to be checked and if necessary repaired. There is definitively a new sprinkler needed to the right front side of the bed. The remaining grass in the back of the bed will be removed, too. The bed has to be well fertilized to green up the Queen Palms and to provide nutrients for the existing plants to grow despite the competition with the roots of the palms. The alstroemeria will be removed since it goes completely dormant in the heat of summer and just leaves an empty spot in the bed and will be replaced with another rose. I am debating with me if I take out 'Our Lady of Guadalupe' as well, the rose in the very front, because it suffers from powdery mildew each year when the conditions are right and frankly I am sick of that. But on the other hand it is an established rose in this bed and it is a very prolific bloomer. So something to ponder...

Please hop over to see what Helen's garden and other gardens over the world look like at the end of this January. I am sure it will be an interesting read!

See you in the garden!

Christina

I am linking to
The Patient Gardener's Weblog
Bernideen's Tea Time, Cottage and Garden