Down the Alley

I featured the lovely ironwood tree right outside the guest room window in a prior post and I know you were impressed. I am too. 

That tree anchors the end of this long skinny alley that runs beside our house on the side no one ever sees. 

I refer to this as the "employees only" section of my garden; it's where I store garden stuff and extra chairs, a propane tank for the grill and piles of rocks I need to do something with. It's unseen from the deck or patio or any other part of the yard unless you walk around the corner. 

Or unless you are an employee.

But at the far end of the alley I made a little garden. For some reason the narrow space is divided for its entire length into two levels. The tree is on the upper gray pea gravel level, and the bit of garden is below in the pink volcanic rock level.

Along the fence a rampant Peggy Martin rose runs wild, and it started forming a perfect arch over the little tower of clematis in the corner below it. I'd like the purple clematis to bloom at the same time as the pink rose, but the rose goes by fast in early June.

The fluffy plants at the feet of the rose and clematis are amsonia 'Blue Ice' in full flower. There are supposed to be some yellow daisy-like flowers tucked in there called Perky Sue, but they are overwhelmed by the amsonias.

The plan was: starry blue amsonias with yellow perky accents, all presided over by deep purple clematis and pink roses. Awfully delicate and flowery for the far end of a storage alley.

I like it and I see it from my potting bench at the far other end of the alley. Or at least I can now -- until I got my loppers out, there was an aspen sapling in the way.

It was in the spot on the lower level when we moved in, just a foot tall sapling, but it grew fast and awkwardly. In this un-visited section of the yard I don't need shade and it was in the way. 

So I took it down.

I did it all on a step-stool with loppers, and then Jim sawed the rest of the slender trunk off. Now the alley is wide open the whole length and my little garden is seen at the far end.

I'm happy with the improvement, but I wish the rose + clematis + amsonias and even the yellow Perky Sue daisies would all bloom together. 

Is that too much to ask? Meanwhile, come around the corner to the employees only section and have a look down the alley. Ignore the junk, just look at the far end. It's kind of nice.