Alan's Backyard May 22

Last time we chatted I had completed my first planting of Alan’s front yard. That same day I moved to the backyard. I only had a few plans for it at the time and needed to assess it. I planned on planting a ligularia, an astilbe and a pot to mimic the front porch. There are three small beds that I knew would contain impatiens and numerous pots to fill with color. These steps lead up to backyard.

The backyard is really more of a side yard as the house takes up most of the property. The space stretches back to the property line with a giant chimney as the focal point.

To the right of the entrance is a dead spot between a banana palm and I think a Mexican fan palm? Not sure what will go there.

The area to the immediate left is home to some pots of black bamboo and a tall tree. Pachysandra fills the bed under the tree. There is a strawberry pot (bottom center) that I’m thinking of putting calibrachoa and bacopa in next to a big pot of black bamboo. The pot to the right with the candle holder in it I used for the back porch.

The back porch opens up from the dining room.

I put the same plants in this pot to mimic the pot on the front porch.

In my previous post of Alan's front yard I mistakenly called the center purple and silver blue plant a coleus 'Persian Shield', but it is actually a Strobilanthus  dyeranus 'Persian Shield' a tender shrub. This site is all about learning. There is a better picture of it on the previous post. It lives with two impatiens and a Tradescantia.

You can see the patio furniture is waiting for better weather to have their cushions inserted. To the right are two large pots of black bamboo and a smaller pot on the mantle with some grass in it. On the second level of the chimney are three more pots.

Here is a better view of the top of the chimney. You can see the two larger pots and the strawberry pot on the second level and at the top of the chimney two more pots.

This is one of the beds along the wall to the house and more pots!

I planted the ligularia to try to hide the conduit box. I also had this second ‘White Goats Beard’ astilbe for the front yard, but the ligulara needed a friend. Impatiens will provided a groundcover later. I also had two more impatiens and found a small piece of the 'Purple Heart' on the ground and stuck it in the blue pot and moved the two small grasses to the front yard.

Up on the wall is a flower box that lines the kitchen window. I’ll plant impatiens here later.

From the fireplace looking back at the gate. You can see the banana palm upper left corner. I'm not sure what the tall bush is to the left. Do you know?

Across form the house is a shelf unit. It will be a good place to put some pots with color, probably impatiens.

This jasmine will have impatiens under it. We will come to find a surprise in it later.

Unfortunately this jasmine met a cruel fate when the fence was recently restained. I will have to find something to replace it and plant impatiens under it as well.

Well I’ll leave you with these many more pots that will have to be filled. Impatiens will do the job for most, but the rest will keep us busy!

Alan's Front Yard May 22

My friend Alan has a well-established garden around his home and every year he adds flowers for color. I asked if he would allow me to plant this year to further my gardening experience and he consented. Last year he planted geraniums, alyssum, wax begonias and roses in the front yard and impatiens in the back. The garden gets some sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon. I found an interesting assortment of plants that I thought would compliment his garden and on May 22^nd I started planting. It poured rain all day and the weatherman reported 1.87 in. of rain for the area. I discovered you can successfully garden in the rain as long as you’re dressed for it.

Alan's front yard as seen from the street. The house is raised up from the street with a fantastic porch one of my favorite places to hang out in the summer. His dog Cooper (lower right corner) helped me out that day.

His yard is well established. These two raised beds in front will need some work, but that will come later. You can see it is dry now, but the rain will come.

A retaining wall holds up this side of the yard next to the driveway. Alan planted geraniums, alyssum and wax begonia here last season. I added four vinca to drape over the wall.

This variegated vinca is next to a red wax begonia. The vinca will have a purple flower.

This vinca will have a white flower. Its neighbors are a geranium to the left and a red wax begonia to the right and below.

We'll check back to see if the vinca drapes over this retaining wall.

Steps leading up to the house. At the top were two empty pots.

A view of the front yard from the steps.

Up by the lattice, that fronts the porch, I planted two 'Hot Lips' salvia.

Closer to the steps I planted a 'False Goats Beard' white astilbe, a native perennial of the Northwest, with a white  and deep purple calla lily behind it.

I removed this empty pot at the top of the stairs and placed it on the front porch.

In the center of the pot is a purple coleus 'Persian Shield' with two impatiens and a tradescantia 'Purple Heart'.

A second empty pot at the top of the stairs next to a black lamp and the grey steps going up to the porch is a perfect home for...

...this oxalis.

Looking down from the porch onto the front yard.

The salvia should grow tall enough to see over the shrubs from the front walk. In the bottom right of the photo is one of the roses Alan planted last season. It will be a competition to see who gets taller. The salvia should also attract humming birds to watch from the porch with a glass of wine!

Next time we'll tour Alan's amazing backyard and see what comes to grow there!

Andrew’s Garden May 10

After every growing season my roommate Andrew transplants his potted plants onto the back slope of the property. This small slope rises up to a rock wall that supports the property above. Here several herbs, some strawberries and blue fescue grass have taken root.

Left to right: lavender, rosemary oregano, parsley, rosemary, mint, strawberries and blue fescue grass.

Throughout the last winter we have used the herbs: parsley, rosemary and oregano, but there is also a mint and lavender. The herbs thrive in a small area of the slope, about 12x5 ft., that get sun most of the day (we live in Portland, Oregon, so that’s not very often). The herbs measure about 12-18 in. in diameter and 12-36 in. high, all bunched together to the one side of the sunny area.

Left to right: rosemary, oregano, parsley, rosemary, mint and pansies bottom right corner of the picture.

I consulted my Garden Guru Steve of Green Thumb Garden Coaching. He suggested creating an edible ornamental garden using the parsley as the center (since it is the tallest plant). I drew up a plan placing the herbs in a “W” shape centering the parsley.

Then placed two lavenders (I had one that was hanging out in a basket on the porch) at three o’clock and nine o’clock from it. Then placed the two rosemary just down and in from them and the mint and oregano below the parsley.

Lavender

Lavender in hanging pot on Andrew's Porch. Pansies line the wall in the background.

Rosemary.

Oregano.

This season Andrew had grown some nasturtium from seed and I bought lots of pansies to plant in the containers that line the porch wall. The nasturtium (soon to have red and orange blooms) stood about 6 in. high and four of the pansies didn’t make it into containers along the porch wall and were planted around the herbs. He also planted something new this season, an asparagus root.

To start I removed the three mounds of blue fescue grass. These I moved and replanted along the sides of the front walk leading up to the building. Then I started moving the herbs towards the fence line (the right side of the garden). The strawberries were moved and placed to the left of the herbs to create a border. After all of the herbs were moved I replanted the four pansies, which were scattered about, to line the bottom of the garden as a border. I took the nasturtium plants, one of each color, and placed them to the sides of the parsley to create color spots. I then bought two six packs of calendula (orange and yellow) and spread them throughout for added color.

From left to right. Top row: strawberries, lavender, nasturtium, parsley, nasturtium and lavender. Middle row: strawberries, rosemary, oregano (w/brick support) calendula, mint (w/ brick support) and rosemary. Bottom row: strawberries, pansy calendula, pansy, calendula, pansy (w/ asparagus root above it), calendula, pansy, calendula and pansy.