Monday, May 5, 2008

My Mid Beacon Hill Rock Wall

I know this is supposed to be more of a neighborhood blog than a garden blog, but now that May is here, I can't promise you won't be seeing pictures of plants. Anyway, this post is semi-topical, since it contains pictures of plants that grow exceedingly well on the western edge of Beacon Hill.

Like Ceanothus (top left, varietal Julia Phelps) and Sedum (the yellow one is Angelina).

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This rock wall was overgrown with weeds last year, so we planted a bunch of stuff to try to keep the weeds at bay. It's remarkable how well it's working. (Not that I didn't spend the entire day yesterday liberating these plants from the weeds, but still, at least they've been growing and taking up some of the space.) That stuff with the yellow flowers is donkeytail Euphorbia. The orange and pink flowery stuff at top is heather. The green leaves closest to the camera is Ceanothus "Point Reyes." The rest are various Sedum.

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This Ceanothus "Point Reyes," like all Ceanothus, is evergreen.

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I put some orange Carex grasses (or are those chocolate sedge? it's hard to tell...) in as well. I think I like them here.

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A Mexican feather grass and a bunch of Sedum "Autumn Joy," which will turn purple and produce beautiful flowers in the fall.

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That yellow stuff is Sedum "Angelina," which grows so well in our yard, I feel like I could just sprinkle it on the ground and it would start taking over.

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The Crypromeria cristata are definitely not dying, as we feared this winter.

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They're a total freak show. I love them.

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Euphorbia, Sedum, heather.

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The donkeytail Euphorbia and Ceanothus "Point Reyes" are cohabiting nicely so far.

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Let's revisit the Ceanothus "Julia Phelps," since I think it might just be the loveliest plant in all of May.

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This is when the blue blossoms explode like fireworks.

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To get a better feel for how vivid that blue is, check it out next to the yellow Sedum.

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OK, a quick peek at the front yard too. More Sedum.

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And Allium in a container with a ginkgo tree.

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Pretty!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the gardening stuff JVA, keep it up. Most of my lot is surrounded by rockery and i'm constantly tinkering with plantings to see what works best. Some of the homes in the neighborhood look so good right now with everything in bloom, i think "pot o gold" must do well with Western exposure because i've had no luck planting it on the east and north side of my lot. Japanese maples however, love the northern exposure. Keep including the names with your pictures, that way i don't have to sound like an idiot trying to describe a plant to the nursery staff.

chuck b. said...

Wow--looks great! I bought two very small Cryptomeria (like, 2" tall; bonsai starters really). No idea what I'm going to do with them, but I can't wait for them to reach that creepy-cool stage yours are in. Very cool. Do you know the name of the pink sedum and blue flowers in 4058?

Anonymous said...

I love these photos and am totally envious of your rockery. I *hate* our front (and side, for that matter) concrete retaining walls and wish I could afford to knock them down and replace with rockery. Husband doesn't think it could possibly work in our lot anyway; I suppose he's right. We're very slowly transforming our front "yard" (it doesn't seem like a yard, but I don't know what else to call it), but we still have a long way to go. Your yard gives me inspiration.