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| We cut down the Queen Palms, three of them.
And the old orange tree that looked lovely but produced the most bitter, sour fruit ever. Now my yard looks square again. Would you plant a different tree (smaller, so the avocados get sun) or a giant old garden rose of some kind on a support? It's a pretty big space- bigger than I need for all of my new irises. The broken concrete and the bench can be moved anywhere.
This is the view you see as you enter the back garden:
Any wonderful ideas? Those are Bridal Wreath Spireaeas to the right of the avocado trees. Should I plant one more in front of the japanese blood grass to enclose the space a bit? Renee |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| How about a weeping bottlebrush. Hang a hummer and oriole feeder and sit still on the bench and enjoy the day. My hummers and orioles feast on my bottlebrush. |
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- Posted by lagomorphmom z10Coastal and z8Mtn (My Page) on Tue, Jun 29, 10 at 18:11
| "Any wonderful ideas? " If the space is far larger than you need for the roses that you have, you simply need to order more! Vintage & EuroDesert still have sales until the end of the month ;-) |
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| You could do a big Tea, e.g. 'Mrs. B.R. Cant', or build a structure for a noisette or tea-noisette climber such as Crepuscule, Secret Garden Noisette, Alister Stella Grey. I lean towards the structure--you have a lot of billowy-cloud-like shapes; some architectural lines would balance that. Dare I suggest something that is not a rose, an Aloe barberae, aka A. bainseii, perhaps? |
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- Posted by davissue_zone9 z9 Sunset 14 (My Page) on Tue, Jun 29, 10 at 19:23
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| Mrs. B.R. Cant immediately came to my mind but, on looking at your pictures further, I had the feeling that white would somehow look more beautiful, or a rose like Marie Van Houtte which is white or pale yellow with delicate pink shading. Mine is a baby but I understand it gets very large. On the other hand, something structural could be very interesting and a white climbere like Devoniensis might be lovely. I'm not sure that you need anything taller on the right, since you now have a nice downward curve, unless it is for reasons of privacy. Your garden is very pretty, by the way. Ingrid |
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- Posted by hosenemesis SoCal Sunset 19 USDA (My Page) on Wed, Jun 30, 10 at 20:28
| Thanks all, for the suggestions. Sue- you made my yard look so beautiful with the photoshop! I love your idea of the swing and structure (with roses, of course) but I think my husband might kill me if I put in another little patio (we have three, and I am busy building the fourth already). Gobluedjm, you know that I adore weeping bottlebrush. That is at the top of my list for a small tree, but the pepper is weeping right there, so I'm not sure it would work. Maybe it would look even prettier- I may do that. I also love aloes. But I don't see an aloe in that spot, not with little white daisies, larkspur, and irises crowding all around. Well, I can see it, because I do have some aloes in that situation, but mine are small. I saw a photo on the OGR forum? of a climbing rose grown up a post and through a wagon-wheel or something similar, and it cascaded back down in the most wonderful way. I guess that's what I had in the back of my mind. Or- dare I say it- how about Iceberg roses? Finally, does anyone have any experience with small upright junipery things? I'm thinking of three small juniper spires at different heights on one edge. Renee |
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| Renee, if you don't want to do the weeping bottlebrush you could always do 3 little john's and still plenty of room for iris's. Here's mine about a month ago and it's going on its 3rd year.
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- Posted by hosenemesis SoCal Sunset 19 USDA (My Page) on Thu, Jul 1, 10 at 23:25
| So pretty! That's funny- I just planted three on the little path right in front of the concrete bench. You can just barely make out the blue green foliage in the bottom photo. They are just beginning to fill out after the trauma of being severely root-bound and therefore on sale for half-price. I planted white irises from Hoovb around them- the irises have blue green foliage too. Renee |
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| For some reason unknown to me I am so drawn to your gardens. I can hardly be of any help as I'm lower than a novice. But for some reason I get interested in following your gardening adventures and enjoy watching the results you achieve. Someday when you run out of space, you're welcome to experiment on my yard, an empty canvas for now. [wink-wink] |
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