GBBD October 2017: Magic

When I posted my traditional October 9 "Before and After" of our front landscape fellow blogger The Outlaw Gardener commented that it was "magic".  I loved the word he applied to my gardening efforts.

This morning was an early one for me.  Yesterday I managed to successfully pull off hosting a Garden Conservancy Open Days Tour in six different locations across our rather largish city.  You'd think I would sleep like a rock afterwards.  Instead, I was wide awake before dawn and itching to get out in my own garden.

So I'll share these blooms for Garden Blogger's Bloomday.  Not too much commentary, just enjoy the magic of early morning in the garden.

White Heath Aster (Symphyotrichum ericoides) stopped me in my tracks and had me headed back to the house for the camera.  When did that start blooming?  Well, I have been busy.

Moving left for a wider view of the circle garden.

Silvery, billowy Estafiate,  a type of artemesia, which requires zero care as long as it gets full sun and little water.

Mexican Sage (Salvia darcyi)

Maxmillian Sunflowers (Helianthus maximiliani) 

Up close



From the other direction

And another shot because I can't get enough of them so neither shall you.

Hyacinth Bean Vine decided to put in an appearance.  It's barely 18" high but blooming away.  Someday it will show up early enough to climb the post.  After three years I'm still waiting.

Triple purple Datura in the flower "bed".

That giant bouquet in the tank garden is still growing.

Plants grow into the paths where they will.  I long ago gave up trying to keep them in check.

Around front, Deer muhly (Muhlenbergia rigens) with a backdrop of white Plumbago.

 

El Toro Muhly (Muhlenbergia emersleyi) which I question all summer why I have this somewhat weedy grass in my front garden.  Then this happens.  Oh yeah, that's why.

Happy Garden Blogger's Bloom Day!   GBBD is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens on the 15th of each month and you can see even more blooms by heading over there to check out the links.

Drive by photos? It's a compliment!

When a car stops in front of the house I have to peek, especially since this one also backed up.  She rolled down the window and out came her phone.  It's a drive by photo!  I'll take it as a compliment.  

The video is amusing.  Bloggers will recognize this move and I've done it many times.

Often when a car stops out front they're trying to find one of our neighbors.  We live on a confusing curve where the street names change for no apparent reason.  Even more confusing is the other street has the same house numbers except odd-even switches sides from left to right.  "Your destination is on the right", "or left (maybe)."  We've had to run up the street to redirect a few guests who ended up at the wrong house.  Some of my neighbors on the same street even live in a different town which adds to the fun.

This time I'm pretty sure it's the landscape that caught her attention.  I wanted to tell her it does look better than this in spring and fall, but maybe seeing how good it looks on a hot summer day is even more informative.  Just a few Pride of Barbados blooms by the garage because the Salvia greggii along the street has just finished blooming.  This view doesn't change much in the winter as I noted in a post last March.

With a significant increase in water bills this year due to a new tiered system designed to target irrigation systems we've seen a renewed interest in cutting back on lawn.  No lawn here.   This area is hot in the summer so most turf grass would brown out anyway.  That doesn't mean an absence of grasses.  Mexican Feather Grass has turned from green to tawny for summer.  It'll need a little grooming in early spring, otherwise it's pretty easy.  I used to pull out extra grass seedlings to maintain the original planting design.  I like the look so much better now with grasses popping up wherever to soften concrete and stone.   We've planted native Muhly grasses:  Pink Muhly, Lindheimer's Muhly, El Toro Muhly, Deer Muhly, and Seep Muhly.  African native Ruby Crystals grass is best along the driveway where even Mexican Feather Grass couldn't stand up to the heat.

While our neighbors fire up their lawnmowers each week, we cut back the grasses every few years in January and Salvia greggii gets a light haircut after blooming several times a year.  Grasses bloom in the fall, their soft colors adding so much more to the landscape than turf grass.

I very much enjoy knowing our choices are appreciated.  So thanks anonymous drive-by for stopping to snap a few shots of our landscape!

Squished

Sometimes the plant that seems best for a spot doesn't work out quite that way.  After six tries I thought I had found the right grass for the driveway island bed.  Pennisetum grasses just had to be an excellent choice for that spot because they defy sun and drought better than most plants in my garden.  With the added bonus of being absolutely deer proof, the only downside seemed to be that they reseed prolifically.  So prolifically that I did not purchase a single one of the dozen or so in my garden.  Nope, a couple years ago the seeds floated two doors down from my neighbor up the hill and I've been transplanting seedlings ever since.  It was all good.  Except this morning I found the pennisetum grasses had been flattened by one of our deluge storms last night with as much as three inches during the 6 am hour.