Percolating…

The idea of a shallow metal dish planted with succulents and mounted atop a pole has been working its way around inside my head for a several years now. I think the first time I saw such a thing was from the Big Red Sun in Austin, TX. I can picture many examples but this is the only one I can find to share with you…

Installations done by Big Red Sun tend to be quite large and thus quite expensive…meaning not something I could ever hope to own. I’ve saved this example from a tour of DIG Gardens in Santa Cruz, CA, by J Peterson Garden Design as something more achievable…

And when I visited Dragonfly Farms Nursery during the Seattle Garden Bloggers Fling in 2011 and discovered these planted plough discs I thought I’d finally discovered a way to bring this design into my garden.

Of course I had no idea how hard it would be to find plough discs, nearly impossible!

However I’m happy to say the idea never died and when my friend Bridget and I stopped at Linton Feed & Seed en-route to Cistus Nursery last January…

And I saw these galvanized tops for bird feeders…

I knew I’d finally found a way to make the idea an affordable reality…

And really since my garden heavy on shiny metal and light on rusty bits it’s all the better to have held off until I discovered a way to make this concept uniquely mine…

The base is a galvanized fence post which Andrew cut into pre-measured lengths for me.

I wanted the disc and bottom post to remain unattached in order to remove the top easily for maintenance, however metal on metal wasn’t the most secure connection so I cut a length of clear rubber tubing…

And ran it around the top of the post (after pounding it into the ground) which helped to grip the disc.

So far so good, they’ve withstood the test of hard rain and strong wind…and I am very happy with how they turned out. The plants are all winter hardy here and having a big drainage hole and hollow base should allow for rain to drain away freely.

Initially I planted all three with the same combination of Agave parryi, Sedum Angelina and Sedum 'Chocolate Ball.'

However the 'Chocolate Ball' in two of the three died a quick death and I replaced it with a mix of Sempervivum collected from around the garden…

I have a feeling the third will be similarly planted up soon, 'Chocolate Ball' just seems to be too particular to last long in my garden.

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Privet: the final frontier…

This year we've torn out the hydrangea, some lawn, a pair of Pieris japonica and a large rhododendron. You might think those projects along with ones from previous years means we’ve worked just about every square foot of soil on our small city lot.

Nope.

There’s an 11ft x 25ft chunk that we haven’t touched. It’s the land of the privet, ivy and vinca. See that large looming mass at the far edge of the garden? That's what I'm talking about...

For comparison the size of our lawn, before removing some of it earlier this spring, was 18.5 x 20.5. So that 11 x 25 is not an unsubstantial piece of garden soil. Why has it lasted this long? Because we’ve grown attached to the enclosure the wall of green (and white, this time of year) provides.

Of course I also have a long list of things I don't like about the privet...starting with the bloom litter which piles up everywhere this time of year.

It collects on every leaf...

And in every container nearby...

Looking west into the no-man's-land under the privet...

The plan is to pull it all out so things planted under it in the upper garden (which I planted when the backyard Rhody came out last year) can get more sun and grow up (the Loquat for example), and we can put in a real fence between us and the neighbors to the north. That will leave a huge area available for planting!

All that successfully grows under the mass of privet now is ivy and vinca, and I have to fight that back every spring to keep it from taking over the patio.

U.G.L.Y.

Looking out towards the patio...

And down at more bloom litter...

It's hard to imagine not having this huge mass of green, but it's overgrown and getting bigger and bigger every day. In case you can't tell I have mixed emotions about it all. Imagine a new 11 ft x 25 ft of soil in your garden where you could plant tall big things (trees!)...and imagine not seeing that wall-o-green but a fence and bare soil. Ugh.

Next spring, early in the spring...will it all be gone?

And to update you on another possible removal which was reversed this is how the Sasa Bamboo is looking these days. As you may recall I wanted to tear it out but after seeing all the new growth decided to give it a second chance. I'm glad I did. It's still not as full as I would like but it's coming along.

So I'm curious...would you have the guts to remove the privet? Or just leave it?

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Monkey see, monkey do…

Clifford, our big-leaf magnolia, has been calling out for a little extra summer lovin...

You see he has the perfect lower branch structure for tucking in of a couple tillandsia, which you’d notice when walking to the patio. I’d tried in the past to make it work but the project needed much larger plants than I had (or was willing to purchase…the big tillandsias are expensive!). I did however pick up some Tillandsia usneoides thinking it might be cool draped over a branch.

And then I saw a post on A Growing Obsession: kokedama for slackers. Denise had taken a couple of bromeliads, some moss, and raffia and created the perfect summer accent! Naturally I had to copy her.

I kept a handlful of moist soil around the roots of the bromeliads, wrapped it with moss and then secured it with with a couple wraps of twine. I didn’t like the way the twine looked (to obvious and bright, the same when I tried rafia) so I finished up using a thin wire which practically disappears.

Hunting for more moss around the garden (this is Oregon after all, there is always moss) to hide the twine I found some with bits of sedum growing in it, I think that takes things up a notch!

Knowing me I'll probably be tucking in more things (tillandsia, another bromeliad, a frog...ha kidding on that last one) all summer long...

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Alberta and friends, happy in the ground…

Just a few short weeks ago this was the scene in front of our living room window:

Now it looks like this:

I’ve previously posted about our new short, but trunking, Yucca rostrata (Alberta) which we bought to anchor this area, I couldn't wait to plant her! Truth be told Andrew made pretty quick work of removing the Rhododendron, cutting off the rest of the branches…

And working the stump with the rock bar and shovel…

Before long…empty!

Time to do a little plant placement and planting...

And voilà!

The reason for the large empty path to the neighbors driveway is two-fold. First the mailman will cut though the garden no matter what, giving him a clear path reduces plant damage. And second we're friends with these neighbors and we both cut back and forth all the time.

You can see (above) I included a phormium in a container. It had been living with a few others on the left-hand side of the front steps but I wanted height in that corner and thought the consistency of containers on both sides of the steps would be nice.

Let's meet the other supporting characters…

Were your eyes drawn to the agave right away? I planted a pair of Agave ovatifolia, one which had been living in a container for awhile and another that was newly purchased. I’ve got 3 other A. ovatifolia in the front garden that have done *okay* over the winter, these are going in as already much larger plants. I have high hopes for them.

I’ve been flirting with the idea of a Brachyglottis greyi (Senecio greyi) for years but it’s obnoxious yellow flowers always stood in the way. I decided what the heck, I cut off hosta flowers, why not these too…I love love love that foliage!

The Amsonia hubrichtii (lower left hand corner) and Mahonia gracilipes (upper left hand corner) were moved from about 6ft to the north, they don’t seem to mind.

To some the dark leaf canna (above) probably seems like the object of a “one of these things does not belong” photo but I couldn’t find anything better to bring in the big, dark, leaves I wanted here. Besides they can be remarkably drought tolerant once established (as long as you don’t mind them remaining shorter than usual).

The Mahonia was getting too much sun in its previous spot; some of the white undersides of the leaves were scorched coming out upside down as new growth. I hope it will be a little happier here where it should get an hour or so less of the hot afternoon sun.

I had to work in an opuntia, hopefully it will grow big!

Hebe ‘Bracken Hill’

Hymenanthera alpina, a prostrate form…

I love this plant! This is my second; the other is an upright form. It was horribly root bound and I think is suffering a bit of planting shock.

For a little height in the corner I bought a Rhamnus frangula (Fine Line Buckthorn)…it’s supposed to grow to be 6-10ft tall but only 3ft wide.

I love its thin leaves, kind of reminiscent of Rhododendron stenopetalum 'Linearifolium' (Spider Azalea) which I love, but hate it’s pink flowers. Plus these leaves are reputed to have nice fall color (like the Amsonia hubrichtii on the other side of this grouping).

The bark is pretty amazing too…

I added a liberal sprinkling of semervivum and sedum.

And was happy to see the new plantings tie in the Mangave 'Macho Mocha' (in the foreground) nicely.

I got annoyed by this plant last year and banished it from the patio (it had been in a container). It was planted it where I thought the drainage might be good enough to keep it alive over the winter and it worked!

I am thrilled with how this area turned out and glad we jumped on it now rather than waiting until fall!

All material © 2009-2013 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.