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| Before |
Remember this flower bed? This is how it looked on Wednesday, with the leggy osteospermum.
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| After |
This is how it looks this morning, after M cleared all the osteospermum plants, on Friday evening, at my request. Oh, look! There's the edging to the flower bed! LOL!
M asked me several times if I wanted the osteospermum pulled out or just cut back (he wanted to make sure, I guess), and I said I wanted it all taken out. I told him that I wanted a change and he quoted my mother: "Change is good". That used to be one of her favorite sayings!
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| Doesn't that look different? |
I won't be surprised if some of the osteospermum will return, next spring, as it usually self-seeds.
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| An almost blank canvas! |
I asked M to leave the other plants in place. I am debating what to plant here. Maybe more succulents? Maybe more of the sprengeri fern (also known as asparagus fern) that seem to thrive with very little water in other areas of my garden? There is also a tiny little fig plant in front of the middle lattice panel - it got scorched for the heat and M cut it all the way back, but, it will leaf out again and, hopefully, grow!
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| Another look at the flower bed |
This flower bed is shady during the morning; these photos were taken around 11:40 a.m. It gets full sun from around noon until sunset. Whatever I grow there will have to be very heat tolerant.
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| The pile of old osteopermum plants |
The green yard waste bin is already full with osteospermum plants! This is the rest of them that M left in a pile (he asked me if that was OK), until the green bin can be refilled on Wednesday.
Any suggestions about what to plant here?
Gosh it does look different and much better I have to say. I'm not a gardener so can't advise you what to plant there. We are hoping to have some work done in our garden later this year so I will get round to taking some before and after photos soon.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen; yes, it does look better, doesn't it? I might just spread a couple of the bags of mulch in the bed and consider it done! Looking forward to seeing the before and after photos of your garden! :)
DeleteI agree that it looks better. I've been looking for drought tolerant plants for my front garden so can suggest desert marigolds and some penstemons. I saw those listed on an LA advice document so they may be good for you if not for me! Also various stages are drought tolerant.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Eileen; those are both good suggestions! I spent some time, last night, looking up native plants/drought tolerant plants and both desert marigolds and penstemons came up. M, too, was suggesting California natives. :)
DeleteThat was supposed to say that various sages are drought tolerant!
DeleteYes, I guessed that was what you meant to say. :D
DeleteWe have had so much rampant growth of everything since the rainy period we had and still more downpours from time to time. I find myself wondering what that osteospernum would have looked like if you had had the same. Perhaps it would have overtaken the neighbourhood!
ReplyDeleteWe are forecast rain today but will not complain as we have been having plenty of sun and heat and will need moisture in the yard.
I would have had a front "lawn" of osteospermum, because there were seedlings growing all over the place in the spring! The majority of them died due to a lack of water, but, if we had plenty of rain, it would have all grown!
DeleteI hope you receive a nice rain shower to water your garden and then, the rest of the day will be sunny and warm, Bushlady. Have a lovely Sunday.
The beds look good-so neat and tidy. I don't exactly know what plants would tolerate the sun and heat that spot will get, but how about lantana?
ReplyDeleteThank you, June. You know, some lantana might do really well, there! The ones growing along the edge of the front yard are not doing too well and M asked if he should uproot them, too, but, I think lantana plants might grow well in this flower bed! :)
DeleteWhat a transformation! Very orderly, but I do hope that you get a few self-set osteospermums back next season. They were spectacular earlier in the year! Hope you have fun planning what to do with all the newfound space, and I'll be interested to watch it taking shape.
ReplyDeleteElla
Thank you, Lady Ella. I'm sure the osteospermum will be back! If not, I can transfer some plants from the back garden or buy some new ones! I've been playing around with a couple of ideas for that flower bed; nothing decided, yet, though.
DeleteWell that sure tidied things up didn't it?
ReplyDeleteI think some more succulents will look nice there. Those are some nice looking succulents in the pots on the porch.
It's always nice to change things up. I agree with your mother lol
It looks different, doesn't it? Yes, succulents will grow well there (although, a lot of the succulents I grow elsewhere in the front have got scorched for the sun! The ones in the pot in the porch do better because they get more shade! I'm leaning more and more towards the sprengeri ferns - I've several growing in the back that can be dug up and transplanted in the front. They develop water saving nodules in their roots which help them survive droughts.
DeleteMy mother liked to change things; she used to say that my father would complain that he never knew where to sit when he came home from work because she would have rearranged the furniture arrangements! LOL! A slight exaggeration on his part, probably, but, she embraced change. Until the end, when she'd complain that I had changed things even when I hadn't. She'd walk from room to room accusing me of moving whole rooms around, telling me, "This room should be over there; why did you change it?" :(
It definitely looks much more tidy already. I don't have any suggestions, I'm afraid - any plants I buy need to have the complete opposite requirements to yours. X
ReplyDeleteIt looks better, doesn't it? The whole front yard could do with a proper makeover, but, I'll have to do it in stages. :)
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