May garden photos - Spring explosion in 'Corners'

My garden looks best April - June, I think. Should we ever sell our house, it will have to be this time of year, when the nasturtiums and poppies are in a dazzling technicolor show, LOL. One of the things I read about Japanese gardens is the philosophy that wherever you stop and look, there should be a new 'vista' before you. IOW, seeing a scene from different angles should present something visually new each time. When I started organizing these photos, it occurred to me they mostly showed various corners of our cottage garden; hence the title of 'corners' for these shots.

Hope everyone enjoys the show.

When we walk out the front door, the silver Dusty Miller is putting up flower buds but the shrub roses and pelargoniums are in full bloom:

On the opposite side, the yellow Lavatera olba 'Aureum' is still a couple of weeks away from full lavender-flowered glory. The bearded iris and Loropetalum chinense have just finished flowering. The Meyer lemon is in bloom, though, and even in the chilly spring air you can smell the wonderful fragrance! The glads should be opening in another week or two as well:

As you face the house, here's a close-up of some of the flowers that border the sidewalk. When the nasturtiums and poppies fade, however, it will be fairly blank. I've had a hard time filling this corner with color, as it dries out the fastest in summer, but in winter gets the coldest drafts:

Again on the left side facing the house, standing in my neighbor's driveway and looking downwards, a side view of the front yard bed:

A close-up of the red salvia and orange CA poppies shown in the above photo:

Further down my neighbor's driveway, you see the start of my shaded, north-facing bed. The callas are fading now, so I rely on foliage interest and a few hydrangeas, along with that spectacular 'Emperor 1' Japanese maple, to keep it looking interesting all year long:

At the foot of the 'Emperor 1' maple, these two variegated plants mingle very nicely together. Alstroemeria and Plectranthus groundcover:

Continuing to walk downwards, this same north-facing bed is divided into two halves. It looks quite different when you're looking upwards, instead of downwards! The 'Emperor 1' maple can barely be seen on the RH side. The tree in this half of the bed is a 'Sango Kaku' coralbark JMaple, which took off like gangbusters when I finally moved it from a large planter into the ground:

Standing in the same spot as the photo above, but turning around to face downwards again, here's the beginning of our backyard. The shed is original to the property. We restored it in 2003 as 1/3 dry storage and 2/3 shaded seating area.

Close-up of the thriving Coleonema and pelargoniums from the photo above. These live entirely upon run-off.

Continue walking down the pathway that curves off to your right. When you get to the bottom of the stairs and turn to face the house, you see this modest vista. On the left is a vigorous Meyer lemon, and on the right is a trailing lantana that has bloomed almost continuously since its 2003 installation.

Keep walking back down the hill – yes, gardening is real exercise on this lot! The furthest part of the backyard is terraced into a second patio, where two big existing trees were surrounded by curving block beds. The nasturtiums really love it down here, as the trees leaf out to shade the soil and keep it cool. They’ll often last all the way through July in these two beds. Bed 1, when looking across at the neighbor’s house:

Turning around to look at the very end of our lot. In front of that green schoolyard fence, see the top of a dark brown fence slanting downwards? That fence marks our property boundary, and it’s a full 6’ tall! The slope here is around 30% - short and steep. The nasturtiums are surrounding a Tagetes lemonnii:

Close-up of the far corner of that above bed, showing a red oleander just starting to bloom, nasturtiums, and a variegated erysimum:

OK, now we’re going to start again from the front! But this time we’ll walk down the sunny southern side (RH side when you’re facing the house). This is where I grow my sun-lovers, like roses and passiflora. At the bottom of my driveway, when you turn to look upwards, you can tell by the nasturtiums that we park our cars on the street, not in the attached garage, LOL. They spill out onto the concrete and I have to fight to keep them from smothering the daylilies and alstroemeria:

Standing in the same spot but looking across at my neighbor, I have a ‘Gingersnap’ rose in what is really a terrible place – not enough sun and my coral passiflora keeps trying to reach out and strangle it. But the sun hits this rose just right to make it look amazingly luminous, so I refuse to move it:

Walking around the corner of the house, these two beds are extremely narrow – barely 2’ on the left and 12" on the right. I’m always whacking plants back or tying them up – bondage, CA-style! On the left, the ‘Jackmanni’ clematis is blooming against a variegated euonymous, and ‘Delany Sister’s rose is putting on the big show. On the right, the cannas are just starting to bloom again:

A nice close-up of ‘Delany Sisters’, with its rounded, peony-like petals:

As you walk down this sunny south path, you see this spirea starting to bloom. I thought I had yanked it out two years ago, but it persisted in coming back, to my surprise:

At the end of the house, if you turn around to look back up the path, it looks quite different, doesn’t it? Yet it’s barely 35’ long. On the LH side, a white ‘Sister Mary Agnes’ oleander standard has curved over to tangle itself with the ‘Joseph’s Coat’ climber rose to form a natural arbor. JCoat has the most fearsome thorns, but I love the varied colors and this year it’s really put on a show:

Final photo: a closeup of Joseph’s Coat. Sometimes I’ll get a pale cream rose, or very rarely, a true purple bloom:

Simply loverly! Planning on putting your house on the market? It would be a sure sell for any gardener.

Enjoy!

Just breathtaking! Thanks for sharing your lovely pictures. I love the salvia and poppies together - wow.

Your gardens are beautiful and very colorful. Make sure you take pictures of all areas of your property and the flowerbeds..just in case you are thinking of selling or the opportunity presents itself during the winter time as it did us. We had been looking for a certain model to become available in a certain mutual in a gated, Sr. Citizens community. We had looked for 6 mo and boom! Opportunity happened. It was in mid January when it happened and this model doesn't stay on the market sometimes only a few days before they are snatched up. I pulled a lot of photos out of my flowerbeds in the back and side yard and my real estate agent made up a special sheet, like a collage with those pictures on it. I remember some young couple looking at the pictures and asking me was all those flowers under all the snow out in the yard? I saw the present owners 2 weeks ago at a party next door and the lawn looked lush and green and my daisies and peonies and clematis were blooming and it really warmed my heart. They both work and have 2 children and really can't spend as much time in the flowerbeds as we did. Our kids were grown and not living at home, we were retired and there was just the two of us. It took 2 hr. each week to mow and trim but we always got compliments. Here all the lawns are maintained by one landscaping contractor for all of the community. The mowers ride on these big commercial lawnmowers that the fellas stand on and done with speed, not precision like you would do your own.

Love your garden pictures! Everything looks fabulous. : )

I absolutely love it all, but can't believe they pelargoniums ,especially.

kathyjo, it's interesting you say that - out here we take pelargoniums for granted, but your post reminded me that years ago, when my aunt from Seattle came to visit, she kept exclaiming over how big the pelargoniums were (one of our neighbors has them entwined as part of his 6' tall hedge enclosing his property). I hadn't realized until then they are annuals or pot plants almost everywhere else.

I have one variegated pelargonium that has to be constantly pruned back or it reaches over 6' tall and flops over. You can see it in this photo from April 2010, up against the fence and showing a few of its red flower spikes. Despite several frosty spells (we don't get real freezes here), including one that killed a Japanese maple three years ago, it has never had a problem. The fence must protect it just enough to keep it always growing.

Wow.. That is just gorgeous..! I was proud of my Son-in-Law for keeping his over the winter in pots in the basement.

I would think since they grow so well and don't freeze back it would be hard to decide when you were going to buy a different kind.. How old do you think yours are?

The var. pelargonium in the photo was planted from a 1-qt container in 2007. It's cut back 2x/yr, every year.

I wouldn't want to give up my 4 seasons, but can't help being a little jealous of those plants.

BEautiful garden and very well composed. Oakland is a beautiful place to garden and you've done really well. Congratulations!

If you are seriously thinking about moving, I'd be thinking of what plants you might want to take with you because you will need to put that specifics in the listing and contract. I'd given anything to have bought my peony bushes with me but it was Feb. when we moved and the ground was frozen. We had been looking for about 6 mo. for a certain model to become available in this gated, Sr. Citizens community and when it did , we had to jump on it and move fast. My realtor took some of my pictures of the gardens that were in full bloom and used it as a marketing tool so the prospected buyers could see what plants they would be getting that were already established. The only thing they didn't keep were the barberry bushes and the cecil brunner climbing rose bush. They had little ones and didn't want them to get stabbed from those while playing in the area. We lived there 27 yrs. so there were lots of perennials.

Actually, I don't intend to take anything with me. Our plans, when we do decide to sell - probably 5-10 years from now - will be to move to a senior living community, possibly a CCRC. Most don't have individual gardens (land is expensive in the SF Bay Area!). 2010 is our first combined year of retirement, and it's been a little tricky finding someone to take care of the garden when we're gone for weeks at a time.

I enjoy gardening, but I don't enjoy being tied to the routine maintenance. I figure once we give up this house, I'll offer to do some of the gardening for members of the family who are still working and would love to have someone help them out! That will give me my gardening "fix", while allowing us to travel whenever we want, without worrying about garden maintenance or home security.

jkom,
Enjoy retirement!!!! It sounds like you have a great plan.