Hillside Garden Two Year Check-in

 It's been over 24 months since I first removed a strip of junipers along the front of a shared drive and began a new garden. One of the original questions I had was "How long will these plants take to grow?" They don't seem to grow much but looking back at earlier pictures it's obvious the plants have made steady progress.

These older posts show some of how we got here:

Beginning the Hillside Garden

New Plants in the Ground

Adding More Plants in the Front Yard

Expanding the Hillside Garden

One Year Check-in

Extending the Hillside Path 

Pictures presented with minimal comments.

A hillside succulent Garden with view in the distance
Mid-March  2021

Just for fun - below is the 'before' picture.

Planting area prior to demolition
Prior to completing the demolition


Curbside succulent garden
Plants enjoying the late afternoon sun on a cloudy day

Aloe chabaudii nestled between larger plants
Aloe chabaudii



Agave chiapensis with emerging bloom stalk
Agave chiapensis

Uh-oh - another Agave chiapensis throwing up a bloom stalk. The other two A. chiapensis bloomed last Spring.

Mangave in need of division
Time to divide these Mangave?


Agave celsii putting up bloom stalks
Four Agave celsii 'Nova' decided to bloom at the same time.


Agave acutissima in the landscape
Agave acutissima

 I don't think I've ever given the Aloe acutissima above any screen time - it just never seemed very special. But looking at it now... not bad.


Agave "Blue Glow" and Agave "Red Margin"
Agave "Blue Glow" and "Red Margin" side by side


the "Free Hugs" cactus
Countless "Free Hugs" given since 2019


Looking down the hillside garden path
Looking down the garden path

From the street this path is not visible so it ends up being a surprise for some garden visitors.

Row of lavender planted above seating wall.
Lavender above the seating wall - a kinder planting choice

Agave salmiana var. ferox planted too close to seating wall
Agave salmiana var. ferox

 Too close to the seating wall and path? I'll probably ignore this situation until it becomes a ridiculous problem. To be fair... the plant was there first. The path came later.



Agave offset
So many offsets

Aloe mudenensis growing in dry hillside
Aloe mudenensis hanging in there!

Geranium
I've tucked in a few Geranium's here and there as well

In the background just visible is the Fan Aloe that was planted last winter. Seems happy enough in the full shot below.

Aloe plicatilis aka Fan Aloe
Kumara plicatilis aka "Fan Aloe"

Looking up the garden path
Stepping back and looking up the garden path

Hillside garden path as viewed from below and from the side

Most of the plants in the foreground where planted over the last 12 months. The planting below this elevation feeds into the dry creek area which I'm starting to think of as a it's own "sub garden".

Until next time - get up, get out there and get some work done in the garden!


Comments

  1. You've done a magnificent job, Hans! My local botanic garden's succulent section doesn't look nearly as good. The succulents look very happy too.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Kris - it was actually your garden that inspired me to start using more Leucadendron! You can kind of see at what point I received that inspiration since they sit almost exclusively below the path.

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  2. Gorgeous! Are you already scheming on what to replace the blooming agaves with?

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! Good question. the only other one I've seen bloom in my yard did not die... it started growing side heads (if that's the right term) - not offsets. The plant took on a form that's not quite as attractive - but not terrible. I'll most likely remove a few and try to separate them... but I like the idea of leaving a bit more space between the existing plants.

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  3. You don't miss that gorgeous Juniper? Just teasing!

    You did a magnificent job.

    ReplyDelete

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