The Gardens Here
It's time to take a look at what is outside our new home. We've got the rooms inside furnished, more or less, and I find myself thinking about new plants I'd like and where they might go. But first, a look at what's growing here already.
All along the left side of the driveway there is common land with wild grasses and open dirt. I can't plant there, and don't want to -- it looks beautiful. As fall comes on the grasses are turning tawny and the seedheads are lit by a lower sun. It's just a weed patch, dry and scrubby, but I love the pure New Mexico look.
On the right side of the driveway is a gate to our courtyard. It leads to the kitchen door. The gate is bleached, untreated wood, and it's rustic. Rustic herein having the meaning of falling apart.
It will do for now. The hinges squeak when it opens; a pleasing sound that seems like an old fashioned welcome. Eventually, I want a new painted gate -- red, maybe.
Go through the gate, and inside the fence on the way to the kitchen door is a planted strip with a skinny butterfly bush (purple spikes peek up above the coyote fence on the right and look nice in summer) and a dense spiky Spanish broom. (More on Spanish broom later, I'm learning about it.)
Then, to the left there are four tall rose bushes, and they are all coming out. I'll plant other things there -- I have plans. I don't like roses, and they don't seem very southwestern, they need a lot of water, and they'll go. One has an apricot orange bloom that was sweetly fragrant, but still. They go.
At the side of the garage there is a listing juniper and a Chinese privet. Luis is coming to replace the garage side door in October -- the frame warped and it won't shut all the way and we can't lock it. The new door will be painted Santa Fe turquoise.
The tilted juniper won't straighten up. I thought I could tie it back a little, but it is stubbornly interested in seeing what is around the corner, so it will stay that way. The Chinese privet is variegated (Ligustrum sinense 'Variegatum' I think) and I like the starburst shape of it. Many branches are reverting to all green, though.
That side of the garage has red volcanic looking rocks in a curved bed. Luis is bringing several more yards of pea gravel in October to raise the level of the stones so the metal edging won't show.
A stump of an old tree is in the middle of the red stones, where the terra cotta bowl sits. I want to plant something in that empty area.
To the right along the back fence there is a Rose of Sharon tucked in behind another, larger Spanish broom. The Rose of Sharon is 'Lil' Kim' I think -- the flowers look like this:
This second Spanish broom (Spartium junceum) is huge. You can see some of the drying parts, which are very crisp and make good broom straw.
Spanish broom has beautiful fragrant yellow flowers in spring, and it is a popular plant here. But it spreads everywhere, and I need to get it out of the small area next to the house where it is going to get way too huge. Digging out Spanish broom is impossible, it's a tough, tough plant. But these have to be taken out before they eat the house.
Next to the big Spanish broom along the back fence is another Chinese privet. This one seems to be keeping its variegation better than the one by the garage.
The vine covering the fence all along the back of the property is Virginia Creeper. At the other end of the back courtyard is the deck, shaded by two large aspen clumps.
One aspen looks healthy and full. The other is sparse, with brown, curled leaves, and has not looked good since we moved in. Aspens are subject to lots of problems, so I'll have to figure out what's going on and whether it is a goner or salvageable. I'd hate to lose it, since both of these clumps provide shade on the deck.
Behind the aspens are three miserable looking shrubs, and I think they areninebarks (Physocarpus) currant shrubs (Ribes) * updated 9/20 after an exploratory visit to Plants of the Southwest nursery -- a great resource here in town and with help from the nice lady there, I think my shrubs are currants, although they have no fruit.
They have lost most of their leaves and seem to have been pruned at some point by lopping stems off mid way.
They looked full and leafy when we first saw the house in June, and provided screening for the potting bench behind them. But now they look terrible and I'll need to figure out what to do with them -- either rejuvenation pruning to the ground this winter, or take them out.
At the far edge of the deck there is a small shrub with dark green leaves. The best I can figure is that it is some kind of viburnum -- the opposite leaves with spaces between, the leathery, half-glossy and half-fuzzy leaves, and the details of bud arrangement and how the leaves attach to the stem, and other signs all tell me it's viburnum. But I see no fruits or evidence of flowers, and I'm not sure.
Next to the deck against the house wall is another rose. Yes, it is being taken out too. There is nothing appealing about this thing. I don't know what color the blooms are, but nope.
Okay, around to the front of the house. Are you still with me?
There are two pines in the front, and like the pair of aspens, one looks big and full.
The other not so much.
I do like the woodsy look of the pines, along with the spare look of gravel and stucco and beams.
The right side of the house has a couple big New Mexican privet shrubs -- I think that's what they are: Forestiera neomexicana. It's planted everywhere in this area, every home seems to have one.
The red flowers in the foreground are blooming hesperaloes, a common desert landscape plant, and there are several in different spots in the front yard.
There is a wonderful bit of stone creekbed that wanders off to the right in the front yard. In addition to the red flowered hesperaloes, there is the strappy foliage of lilies along the far edge of the swale. Are they daylilies? I'm not sure.
On the other side of the front yard there are two more aspens that shade our two big dining room windows and a tall, impressive cottonwood.
The cottonwood is messy, dropping twigs everywhere, and it doesn't look great -- other cottonwoods in the neighborhood have not been losing leaves yet, but this one is. It has a bark wound that looks a little troublesome. Cottonwoods, like aspens, can have issues.
I'd hate to lose its gorgeous shade on this side of the house. The low junipers under the cottonwood look great, though.
Then there are these oddities in the front yard -- a weird little cactus and a frothy bit of yellow flowering chamisas.
Chamisas grow wild all over open spaces in New Mexico and the ones by the roadsides and on hills are huge. Will these little ones get to be big chamisa shrubs too? Are they self seeded weeds? The planting with the little cactus looks too deliberate to be wind blown seedlings. I put an empty pot there to reinforce the idea that this is intentional.
And here, at the front door, a dwarf goldenrod. It also looks intentional, and the former owners even had an irrigation drip going to it. In August the flower spikes were deep golden yellow, but now they are faded.
That's what grows in my garden now. I have plans for replacing the roses, and I have work to do to save the sickly aspen and I have to figure out what to do with the deformed, defoliatedninebarks currant shrubs. Spreading Spanish broom plants must be controlled.
Also, I want to plant perennials and some low shrubs in a few places next spring. And -- I couldn't help myself -- I have already ordered three trees to plant this fall. I bet you're wondering where I am going to put them.
I am too.
All along the left side of the driveway there is common land with wild grasses and open dirt. I can't plant there, and don't want to -- it looks beautiful. As fall comes on the grasses are turning tawny and the seedheads are lit by a lower sun. It's just a weed patch, dry and scrubby, but I love the pure New Mexico look.
On the right side of the driveway is a gate to our courtyard. It leads to the kitchen door. The gate is bleached, untreated wood, and it's rustic. Rustic herein having the meaning of falling apart.
It will do for now. The hinges squeak when it opens; a pleasing sound that seems like an old fashioned welcome. Eventually, I want a new painted gate -- red, maybe.
Go through the gate, and inside the fence on the way to the kitchen door is a planted strip with a skinny butterfly bush (purple spikes peek up above the coyote fence on the right and look nice in summer) and a dense spiky Spanish broom. (More on Spanish broom later, I'm learning about it.)
Then, to the left there are four tall rose bushes, and they are all coming out. I'll plant other things there -- I have plans. I don't like roses, and they don't seem very southwestern, they need a lot of water, and they'll go. One has an apricot orange bloom that was sweetly fragrant, but still. They go.
At the side of the garage there is a listing juniper and a Chinese privet. Luis is coming to replace the garage side door in October -- the frame warped and it won't shut all the way and we can't lock it. The new door will be painted Santa Fe turquoise.
The tilted juniper won't straighten up. I thought I could tie it back a little, but it is stubbornly interested in seeing what is around the corner, so it will stay that way. The Chinese privet is variegated (Ligustrum sinense 'Variegatum' I think) and I like the starburst shape of it. Many branches are reverting to all green, though.
That side of the garage has red volcanic looking rocks in a curved bed. Luis is bringing several more yards of pea gravel in October to raise the level of the stones so the metal edging won't show.
A stump of an old tree is in the middle of the red stones, where the terra cotta bowl sits. I want to plant something in that empty area.
To the right along the back fence there is a Rose of Sharon tucked in behind another, larger Spanish broom. The Rose of Sharon is 'Lil' Kim' I think -- the flowers look like this:
Spanish broom has beautiful fragrant yellow flowers in spring, and it is a popular plant here. But it spreads everywhere, and I need to get it out of the small area next to the house where it is going to get way too huge. Digging out Spanish broom is impossible, it's a tough, tough plant. But these have to be taken out before they eat the house.
Next to the big Spanish broom along the back fence is another Chinese privet. This one seems to be keeping its variegation better than the one by the garage.
The vine covering the fence all along the back of the property is Virginia Creeper. At the other end of the back courtyard is the deck, shaded by two large aspen clumps.
One aspen looks healthy and full. The other is sparse, with brown, curled leaves, and has not looked good since we moved in. Aspens are subject to lots of problems, so I'll have to figure out what's going on and whether it is a goner or salvageable. I'd hate to lose it, since both of these clumps provide shade on the deck.
Behind the aspens are three miserable looking shrubs, and I think they are
They have lost most of their leaves and seem to have been pruned at some point by lopping stems off mid way.
They looked full and leafy when we first saw the house in June, and provided screening for the potting bench behind them. But now they look terrible and I'll need to figure out what to do with them -- either rejuvenation pruning to the ground this winter, or take them out.
At the far edge of the deck there is a small shrub with dark green leaves. The best I can figure is that it is some kind of viburnum -- the opposite leaves with spaces between, the leathery, half-glossy and half-fuzzy leaves, and the details of bud arrangement and how the leaves attach to the stem, and other signs all tell me it's viburnum. But I see no fruits or evidence of flowers, and I'm not sure.
Next to the deck against the house wall is another rose. Yes, it is being taken out too. There is nothing appealing about this thing. I don't know what color the blooms are, but nope.
Okay, around to the front of the house. Are you still with me?
There are two pines in the front, and like the pair of aspens, one looks big and full.
The other not so much.
I do like the woodsy look of the pines, along with the spare look of gravel and stucco and beams.
The right side of the house has a couple big New Mexican privet shrubs -- I think that's what they are: Forestiera neomexicana. It's planted everywhere in this area, every home seems to have one.
The red flowers in the foreground are blooming hesperaloes, a common desert landscape plant, and there are several in different spots in the front yard.
There is a wonderful bit of stone creekbed that wanders off to the right in the front yard. In addition to the red flowered hesperaloes, there is the strappy foliage of lilies along the far edge of the swale. Are they daylilies? I'm not sure.
On the other side of the front yard there are two more aspens that shade our two big dining room windows and a tall, impressive cottonwood.
The cottonwood is messy, dropping twigs everywhere, and it doesn't look great -- other cottonwoods in the neighborhood have not been losing leaves yet, but this one is. It has a bark wound that looks a little troublesome. Cottonwoods, like aspens, can have issues.
I'd hate to lose its gorgeous shade on this side of the house. The low junipers under the cottonwood look great, though.
Then there are these oddities in the front yard -- a weird little cactus and a frothy bit of yellow flowering chamisas.
Chamisas grow wild all over open spaces in New Mexico and the ones by the roadsides and on hills are huge. Will these little ones get to be big chamisa shrubs too? Are they self seeded weeds? The planting with the little cactus looks too deliberate to be wind blown seedlings. I put an empty pot there to reinforce the idea that this is intentional.
And here, at the front door, a dwarf goldenrod. It also looks intentional, and the former owners even had an irrigation drip going to it. In August the flower spikes were deep golden yellow, but now they are faded.
That's what grows in my garden now. I have plans for replacing the roses, and I have work to do to save the sickly aspen and I have to figure out what to do with the deformed, defoliated
Also, I want to plant perennials and some low shrubs in a few places next spring. And -- I couldn't help myself -- I have already ordered three trees to plant this fall. I bet you're wondering where I am going to put them.
I am too.
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