March Garden Report

February was extremely dry, but we had a bit of rain this weekend, so I'm hoping Mother Nature will take over the watering for a while.

It's a typical March so far; lots of camellias still blooming, lots of azaleas starting to bloom, ferns sending up new fronds, and hundreds of baby oak trees sprouting everywhere.

And weeds, lots of weeds. Like these wild onions, Allium triquetrum, also called three cornered leek.

White Allium

Its close cousin, Allium neapolitanum, also grows in my garden, but somehow it looks more acceptable. I think I'll encourage it by spreading the bulbs around a bit.

Most of my azaleas are solid colors, but I recently found this bicolor azalea. I'm trying to photograph and catalog all eighty-five azaleas here, but it's quite a time consuming challenge.

Now that the saucer magnolia and flowering plum are done, this flowering cherry is starting to bloom.

We have several ferns and this Holly Fern, Cyrtomium falcatum, is one of my favorites. Their fat, furry fronds always make me smile.

There are several clumps of Spanish Bluebells, Hyacinthoides hispania, in various places around the yard. That's another one to divide and encourage.

I planted this Yerba Buena, Satureja douglasii, last fall and its performance has been encouraging. It creates a shade tolerant, non-invasive groundcover about 2" tall.

Please stay tuned next month when one of my favorite flowers, Lilac, will be blooming.

The Landscape Puzzle

For over a year I have studied this wild garden trying to develop a master plan. I've identified and evaluated the existing plants, plotted paths of travel, identified service areas and entertainment areas, and removed several trees and plants that just didn't fit in.

Parterre Garden 2020

Fitting all the pieces together is complicated by the irregular shape of the parcel, the angle of the house, and the (does not match the house!) angle of the pool. The front yard is all sweeping curves: public sidewalk, driveway, walkway to porch, planting beds. The backyard is all straight lines with crazy angles that don't parallel the property lines. Further nagging details are the angle of the master bedroom, the heritage oaks which can't be removed, and the strange masses of mature azaleas and camellias, which would be difficult to move and sad to lose.

Parterre Garden? 2019

Before we bought the house, weird "curvy-lurvy" beds had evolved with deeply eroded areas where the leafblower-wielding gardeners blew leaves and debris from the lawn into the beds. Mowing these crazy curves was a royal pain and the ditch between the lawn and flower beds was unsightly. However, the beds contain some very nice soil; ten years of accumulated oak leaves have built a nice layer of compost.

During this first year, in addition to removing several sick trees, acres of ivy, bamboo and agapanthus, I have tried to fill in those ditches, smooth out the curves, and open up the planting beds with some aggressive pruning. The results have been satisfying.

Filled In and Smoothed Out

And now it's time to develop a master plan. Our goal is to incorporate several large, smoothly paved areas for entertaining, an outdoor kitchen, fences to screen service areas, a nice rectangle of lawn for croquet, a vegetable garden, a shady azalea garden, and a hidden fern grotto.

Formal Parterre Garden

I'm thinking the azalea garden could be a pseudo-parterre garden around two of our Valley Oaks. This area already has lots of azaleas and maidenhair ferns, and with a fountain and brick pathways, I think it would make a peaceful place to wander with pleasant views from the house.

Possible Fountain

But here's the problem: straight walkways would require moving a lot of plants. So I'm thinking of twisting the inside design a bit, and making slightly curved paths to avoid the largest plants. I'd still have straight perimeter lines though to tie into the rest of the yard.

Working on the Plan

Whatever we end up doing with this area, at least we have a vague master plan now and I can begin moving plants and defining the areas with more confidence.

I'll keep you posted.