Halloween and Remake

It's that time of year. Halloween almost here. And time to remake beds in southern California. They do well if started in the late fall, can winter over in above-freezing temps and then grow into the spring. This gets plants established before the hot summer.

I am an informal gardener, so it's not always so easy to see the form in the way I've planted. But I like to plant where it seems to fit in my own quirky style. It can make for mess to the eye, until things get planted and grow. There's a method to my madness.

I certainly don't fit the organized gardeners of the first few categories in Nell Jean's post What Kind of a Gardener are You?  The plan you see below is for record only. I made it after I got all the plants in place and like where they were.  I knew generally what I wanted before I went to the nursery, but let my intuition be the guide once I got there. It seems to work for me.

One of my beds had an unusual number of plants on the wane this summer, so I've opted for more succulents and drought-wise plants. I did quite a bit of internet research before going to the plant store.

Here's the bed before I got any new plants in it. No pruning or transplanting done yet and some pots in places I think they might go. The bed is remade in three stages. This is the first.

Here is my drawing of the bed with the new additions and the legend being a list of the initials spelled out into words. The form of the bed has a rock bed on the left and right of a central rock with a crystal on it. The plants are interspersed in this structure.  I often intersperse according to color and texture, balance and creative license. Not your formal garden here.

 Hope you can read the legend. I did print. Skeletal map above with S's marking the newcomer succulents. A few other new plants came into the plan during planting.  I never could make a good outline of a paper until after I'd written it. This was the same. I made the plan after I tried out the plants in their pots on the bed.

Here's another photo before I planted.

 The rock bed is made with Arizona Travertine. It's related to porous limestone, but is a little harder. You can really see the orange, yellow and whitish colors of the stone, which I love, as well as the layers and porous character. That's what makes this rock so interesting.

Now for some photos after I got the succulents planted, the bed pruned and other plants removed or moved.  This is the second stage of my remake of the bed.

Here you can see one hen and chicks. Later I add another to focus the area. It's not so easy to see the burgundy aeonium and echeveria behind it to add contrast.

 

The full bed with sprinkler going. I wanted to get this shot before the sun hit the bed and make the photo too bright.

Now for the final touch done today, with a few more succulents and the annuals-- pansies. This is the third and, dare I say, last stage, of the remake.

 

Full bed with lone yellow pansy in the middle waiting for a place.

  Now I'll take you through the bed from the Bird of Paradise progessing to the plants by the door.

 Purple pansies and golden sedum with silver edged horehound to back.

Rock garden with sedum and thyme interspersed. Native penistemum in back left.

 

Both hen and chicks by the central garden crystal. Pansies in forground. The zinnias are still popping.

Next rock garden with pansies and sedum. The dried flower stalks are from the yarrow.  Chartreuse ornamental sweet potato wending its way through the bed at the back.

The rest of the rock garden the echinecea and rudbeckia on the far right.

This bed is not easy to photograph, but I wanted to give you an idea of a garden bed remake in my style.  Hope it's been possible to follow and even enjoy.  As it fills in I'll show more photos.

I have such fun doing this sort of thing. Really brings out the creative juices. I get so into the garden that I overdo it. After the second stage I had to rest with all the bending and stretching. I've had some pinched nerves in my neck, affecting my arms, and all that work got them inflamed again. But I didn't feel a thing as I was working. Only after the fact. And I do have plenty of dirt ground into my hands and fingernails, despite quite a few scrubs. All worth it as I step out the door and look on my handiwork. Gotta love a remade garden bed. All that potential waiting for time to pass.