I went to the office and had a productive day.
Friend M came and tended to the garden, this afternoon. He mowed the weeds and now, I have a "lawn" of sorts:
 |
| My "lawn"! |
M also weeded two of the circular planting beds - one has the newly planted grape vine and the other has the last 3 or 4 remaining rose bushes. The back yard needs a lot of tender, loving care, but we will work on it.
In the meantime, the flower beds in the front are delightful:
 |
| The African Daisies are almost hiding the lavender plants! |
 |
| The other flower bed |
Today, I am grateful for:
- A sunny day in which to dry out, a bit
- Safe commutes to the office and back
- The eucalyptus tree is still standing
- Friend M was able to tidy the garden, a bit
- A relaxed evening
How was your Friday? What do you think - should I keep the edging or remove it?
Your front flower beds are a joy, clearly they have enjoyed your much needed rain. I think I'd remove the edging and let your flower bed extend. The African Daisies seem to do very well in your climate.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing showing signs of life here are my tulips. Wet today and cool.
Sandy, it's rather cloudy and overcast, here, too, today. I am hoping it won't rain, however.
DeleteYour tulips must be lovely. I planted some tulips, here, too, in the first couple of years after I bought the house, but they are annuals, here, unless you dig up the bulbs and chill them to stimulate winter and replant them.
I didn't do that and maybe one or two plants came up the next year but that was it. Same with the daffodils I planted. Only the paperwhites reappeared and even they are not as many as there used to be.
The African daisies are at their peak, right now. Later on, when it gets really hot in the summer, they stop flowering as much and just look scraggly. That's when I cut them back and then, they regrow.
I would remove the edging. Since you don't really have grass you're trying to maintain, I'd let the flowers do what they want to do naturally. If you wanted to keep the brick, you could just move it forward and enlarge the bed.
ReplyDeleteYes, I like the idea of a meadow in the front, since I don't have any lawn anymore. :) One of my neighbors has done that - except she dug up the whole front yard and planted it with flowers. It's beautiful, but a bit high maintenance because she is always out there, weeding and watering. I am content with stuff growing where they will!
DeleteThat is quite an impressive "lawn", considering what it looked like when the drought was at its worst. You do well to leave the clippings to help the soil. The natural way is better than all the chemicals. I like the idea of removing the edging, too. The spreading plants will creep over any edges where the lawn is sparse, whereas the bricks define anything that is missing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bushlady. I am enjoying the green-ness of it all! I broached the subject of removing the edging from the flower beds with friend M when he came to do the front yard, today. He suggested I kept the edging in place and allow the plants to spill over (as they will) and see how it looks, especially in the summer, when they tend to get rather leggy. In the past, I've cut them back when that happens. I will think about it a little more. :)
DeleteWhat a lovely green lawn. I also leave my grass clippings to fertilize and act as a mulch. Everything is looking so lush with the recent rains, including your cherry guava and your avocado plant that you showed us photos of earlier in the week. These rains have been wonderful for your yard, though maybe not ideal in some adjoining areas because of flooding due to erosion.
ReplyDeleteI personally like your brick border in front of your flower beds. I have mentioned before that I love the combination of African Daisies with the lavender plants. I would be tempted to put some cocoa bean mulch or wood shavings in the front of those plants, but I have no idea how large the area is or what the cost of mulch would be. A natural material would allow the plants to spread, conserve moisture, enrich that soil as it degraded, and eventually your whole area would be filled in with the new plants. Then you could move the brick edging. But that is what I would do. You need to do what is best for you.
Thank you, Susan. That amount of rain is ideally what I should be giving my garden to keep it looking so green, but that requires almost daily watering in the summer, which I couldn't do during the drought with our water restrictions! Now that it has rained, there is a very slight regrowth of grass in the front yard, but, that won't live long unless I continue to water.
DeleteThe African daisies will spill over the border, until I cut them back in the summer, when they start to look "leggy" and are no longer flowering. My gardener friend M suggests keeping the brick edgings in place for now, so I will probably do that. I do like the look of over-spilling borders.
What I really need to do is make a landscape plan. Divide the garden up into manageable areas and then, work on each area at a time. In the meantime, I like your bark mulch, idea!
Those African Daisies look so beautiful. Fingers crossed that all is right with your tree. LM x
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lyssa, so far the tree is standing and no branches have fallen! Eucalyptus trees have a nasty habit of having branches break off!
Delete