Beginner Gardening: Front yard / corner lot needs help for British pocket garden, 1 by Twincol

Twincol wrote:
Okay, here's the parking strip with the Euonymous planted. The weeds are "down" for the moment. They look quite nice in this location. And they will provide nighttime interest with their bright, playful yellow spots. And they're evergreen. I just finished leveling the area and will start planting pre-emergent regularly to keep the weeds at bay. Hopefully the Bermuda grass won't return at the watering holes {chuckling}. Oh, and look at the walkway in the strip. It's covered with the pavers.

The archway is down, as we had to do some re-cementing of the post on the left. And, that cement is in the way of the stake for that area. So .. .. we're back to more repair. Geez, does it never end? So, there's more repair, if you will, to do. But the rose and clematis are planted awaiting their proud frame.

Ummm, let's see ... . The Modesto Ash at the right end of the parking strip is going to be trimmed such that the co-dominant stem/trunk at the street side will be removed. It seems the tree trunk is split at that joint. Such a sad prospect. Here's hoping that the outcome is not too unsightly. I am delighted, however, that the entire tree isn't coming out.

I know it seems to be going slow, but it has been so dreadfully hot (106 degrees last weekend when temp average is 83 -- ugh!) that the work is difficult for me and the teen I have working for me only works 2-3 hours a week on Suns. And, I have two more yards to manage as well. Sally Holmes is amazing. The roses in Olivia's Rose Garden have looked better, but I'll get caught up here.

Someone left me a coupl'a buckets full of some tiny-leaved Euonymous and at least a thousand bulbs of Fairy Lily (Zephyranthes candida) at the side of my driveway gate as I returned home from work one night last week. They apparently have a 1 foot tall by 2 foot wide growth habit and looks like a little grass of sorts. THOUSANDS of little tiny bulbs! For the time being I've heeled them in to some bagged planting soil. But it'll be interesting to contemplate planting them at sidewalk edge up to the fence, which will be covered with the Star Jasmine (which I am feeding regularly this first year).

My "plan" includes some kind of ground cover (also considering ground cover roses) in front of that fence. My rationale is that I'd prefer to focus my long-term energies on the space inside the fence, not outside. And, outside of the fence pretty much anything which covers the space attractively, interestingly, is what I'm searching for. Just filling it with more Star Jasmine has no appeal [ugh]. And if I were to lay out something like this (and perhaps several spots of ground cover roses?) I would accomplish completion of the space between the fence and the street. And given that the plants left here were pulled out in bunches it appears that they do well in our environs. We'll see. I'll do some more investigation. Can you even imagine arriving home from a day's work to find two buckets of someone's overgrowth in your driveway? I think that's the first time in the 30 years I've lived here I've had any kind of thing like this happen. Pretty remarkable, isn't it?

I'm pleased with the outcome in the parking strip.

Linda