Landscape artist & photographer Dan B:
Several weeks ago the back was a sea of blooms. I planted for the Garden to look best when the weather is nicest. This year we got many days in the 90’s and it went fast.
On the side of the raised terrace is a collection of Daylilies. I use the secondary color of the flowers to select companions.
By the pond we had a white Datura come up from seed. It looks great with the hardy red Hibiscus. We often sit in the toolshed and look across the pond at the flowers amid the Tomatoes. We only had one Datura so somebody carried the spiny seeds around. It’s deadly poisonous so this poses a mystery.
On the terrace are lots of Alstroemerias. The yellow is Inca Gold which is reputedly hardy to Zone 6B. It’s a vigorous clumper unlike the foreground Alstroemeria Princess Federicka which is much slower.
At the entry is a big Red Bomb Peony, some Pacific Coast Iris in dark blue, and a Rosa glauca, Blue Leaved Rose. It blooms once and then covers itself with dark orange hips. They’re quite fertile which is how we have this one that came from a nursery I had 25 years ago. It arrived in a groundcover pot and sprouted fourteen years after we planted the garden. Stealth rose!
On the front porch are containers with a Coral Pink Canna. The resident Hummers visit them every day. They also feed on the white Vitex agnus castus blooms. I wanted a Vitex because of the beautiful blue blooms but this one turned out white. I like it a lot. It’s like fireworks. It’s great at dusk.
In the front there’s a big Hibiscus in pink named Berry Awesome. The flowers are 6 1/2″ wide so they make an impression.
Last year I ordered some “Eyelash” Iris. They live up to the name. They’re hybrids of two water iris, pseudacorus and ensata, pond Iris and Japanese Iris.
From much earlier I found this Bumblebee warming itself on a brilliantly color Daffodil. It’s included for your cute critter hit.
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What’s going on in your garden(s), this week?
Ramalama
I love everything about this yard. Wow.
Is the pond in a container?
Jeffg166
Garden porn. I like it.
satby
It’s just the most delightful garden. Everywhere you look a beautiful view and composition of flowers and shrubs!
Baud
It’s kind of nice, if you’re the type of person who appreciates beauty.
SiubhanDuinne
Spectacular! I love the way the colours just pop out and do wonderful things to my eyeballs.
satby
@Baud: 😘 ya big goof.
eclare
That hibiscus, wow!
Arthur (lurker, trying posting)
Thank you to everyone involved in this regular series.
I absolutely love the photos every Sunday.
MagdaInBlack
You say Datura, I say jimson weed: the flowers are impressive tho, aren’t they?
JeanneT
Wow – that hardscape is such a wonderful setting for the plants and the humans to enjoy. The variety of levels and surfaces: fantastic! DanB really IS a landscape artist!
BretH
I love everything about this! Shows it doesn’t take a lot of space to create a lot of natural beauty.
AM in NC
Absolutely gorgeous – thank you!
Couple of questions for you: how big is your pond, and how was it constructed? It looks like a lovely swimming hole!
TerryC
Wow! What a gorgeous garden.
Around here at Bratsholme Farm the big news is walnuts dropping and thornless black berries finally drying up. Going to walk out to the paw paw grove and see what we have later today.
Also, since I am feeling better I spent the last couple of weeks redesigning and working my disc golf courses into a single 42-hole course, the BRATS42, that is just for September – a pop-up course. Fun! Had to buy four more baskets.
Jeffg166
Finally sieved the arugula seeds from the spring plants. Put them into the ground Wednesday. Soaked the ground. Friday they had germinate. Never ceases to amaze me how fast fresh seeds come up.
Denali5
Loved the eyelash iris! And your whole garden. Seems like I spend my time in the yard pulling weeds and vines. Oh well. At least it is still nice outside.
kalakal
What a gorgeous garden. I love seeing your periodical updates, seeing it evolve
CCL
Love the multi-tiers and the hardscaping…. Beautiful and inviting. After years of puttering, finally understanding how important and essential the hardscape is as the canvas and frame for the planting.
MazeDancer
Since it comes across as effortlessly gorgeous, as if all that dazzle just appeared, naturally, one can only assume how much enormous work went into it.
Like the perfect dinner party. Oh, it just happened.
Can’t imagine being your neighbor. Waiting for your car to pull out of the driveway. They’re gone! And pulling my stepladder across the street to drink in the view over the fence.
Dan B
@AM in NC: The pond is 12 feet by 18 feet, if I’m remembering correctly. Te walls are Pan Decking – galvanized corrugated sheet metal typically used in skyscrapers to hold poured concrete for floors. Stainless brackets are bolted to the corners. It’s lined with EPDM rubber.
Dan B
@MazeDancer: Interestingky our neighbors aren’t interested in the garden. Our neighbors to the nirth are gardening and have installed a pavilion, plants, and outdoor furniture.
StringOnAStick
I was determined to make this year the one where I finished the last of the hardscaping, and I thought I had last week, but then some investigation has led me to conclude that the subsurface drip irrigation the landscaper installed in 2/3 of the front yard is failing, along with several plants that were dependent on it (like everything is here, it’s high desert).
I wish I had just hired him to place the boulders and trees, and that I’d taken over from there. His mixed native planting scheme meant some things barely survived due to lack of water and some grew rampant and then fell over, so there was some pretty poor plant choices on his part. I’ve already removed a lot of the plants because they either were a mess or dead.
I’ve installed plenty of drip systems and our backyard is testament that I know how to do this, so I’m going to abandon this old one and start over. That means I have to dig around the valve box, identify the proper valves and put in a new system, starting at the source. That requires tearing out some hardscaping and then restoring it, so just one more hardscaping project I guess.
The big box of irrigation supplies arrived yesterday, and so did a week of cooler weather so at least the timing is good. By putting in my own system, I’m not tied to having to find a irrigated spot in the old one in order to place a plant, and once I realized how much freedom this was going to give me to redo the front vegetation to my desires, I decided I was glad that system is going south!
BeautifulPlumage
Wow, Dan B, thank you for the great pics. Your yard has so many layers and textures!
I have a question for any of you gardeners: we have a planter at work with lillie’s and they have become very dense. When is the best time to dig them up and spread some to other planters? I’ve never worked with bulbs so have no experience.
BTW, the owners calls it his $1500 lily. It was brought home from a family funeral and their kitty got into it, resulting in a large vet bill to save kitty. 🙀
MikeInOly
Fabulous as always. Love the pseudata iris. I have one as well, ‘French Buttercream’. The hummingbirds love it.
Dan B
@BeautifulPlumage: Fall is good for dividing bulbs. Anytime time the foliage is browning.
WaterGirl
@StringOnAStick: I think you are amazing.
WaterGirl
@MikeInOly: I feel like you and Dan B might be kindred spirits.
BeautifulPlumage
@Dan B: thank you