Texture In The Garden 2

  Whenever we have company coming, I really turn a critical eye to the garden. I know I should just "let it be", but it's hard. This week I did a couple of marathon days, and it feels great to have a good clean up.

  Now, at the beginning of August, it's a little rough around the edges, even after all the hard work. So I need to remind myself of why I do it, after all. These dog days of summer don't last forever, and before we know it (hopefully...) the rains will bring on next seasons gorgeousness.

  Back at work, and at the computer, I can't help but look at photos taken earlier in the year, when all the garden was flush with new growth.....it's the textures that bring me so much joy. Especially the unexpected "Hand-O-Nature" moments that I can't even try to take credit for....

  

A great combo here. Love the Forget-Me-Not blue

  While visiting my folks in Sonoma a couple of years ago, we took a little drive into the "Valley Of The Moon" to check out the fantastic Wildwood Farm near Kenwood. This is a dream nursery for anyone who loves Japanese Maples. We had gone to lunch, and it was a perfect spot to walk off the nappy feeling we all had, after good food and wine.

  There are hundreds if not thousands of trees available here, and I was thrilled to find so many varieties in one gallon size. That's just the right size for my budget! I found a little gem called "Tuscany"....how could I resist? Now it's one I look forward to every spring as it reveals it's cinnamon/rose colored new growth. The long, thin fingers of the leaves bring a wonderful laciness to this part of the garden bed...

Tuscany in my own time zone. Nice with the red geraniums.

  Years ago I planted ONE euphorbia wulfenii, and now they populate every corner of the garden. I love them, and try to let them have their way, but sometimes I have to "just say no", and pull one or ten up. They can get humongous here, and sometimes they pop up in the wrongest of places (is wrongest a word?).

  Anyway, I do love them, in the rightest of places....

Euphorbia "wulfenii" branches doing all the right stuff here, even before they bloom.

  Euphorbia "La Dolce Vita" has had herself a little propagation party in the garden, too. When I bought the 4" pot at Annie's Annuals, a favorite nursery for us in the Bay Area, I should have known. This little gal is a wonder at self-seeding, though easy to transplant into more appropriate spaces around the garden. 

  The large flower heads, full of "inflorescences" (I just looked it up), are great with my beloved geranium "Biokovo". They bloom at the same time, and the chartreuse and pink are so nice together. The textures together are sublime.

Self seeded euphorbia "La Dolce Vita" with geranium "Biokovo"

  A wander through my iPhoto albums bring up some nice shots...

  This combo below is just one happy plant, doing it's own thing. It's just so perfectly pink, grey, and starry. The fragrance is a dream of vanilla and cinnamon. Cottage Pinks, I love you.

Old fashioned Cottage Pinks. A real winner all by itself, but needs warm sun.

Cersis "Forest Pansy" has the most amazing new growth, little hearts in the sky.

Another Japanese maple, this fellow goes back with me about 30 years...
I don't remember which variety it is, but the texture of the new growth is fine.

  Because we garden on a shoe string budget, we don't have real hardscaping. Fortunately, I've always loved pea gravel paths, both the texture under foot, and especially the sound as you walk the path. Johnny tosses bags of little colored glass "stones" through the gravel every once in a while, and over the years it's created a great look. At night they reflect light and look like tiny stars in the pathway.

Just a little garden moment

  One of my favorite new additions, thanks to a generous garden tour hostess, is this amazing little ornamental oxalis, below. This little work horse propagates like dream, is easy to control and fills a space quickly. Too bad I have no idea what it's name is. 

  It doesn't have little bulbs, like the invasive variety here, you just pinch a cutting, keep it moist, and voila! The flowers are a sulphury yellow, small on long, thin stems. It's really the texture of the zillions of "leaves" I like, though. Oh, it stays pretty low, too.

Oxalis "I Don't Know"

See how pretty?

  Well, I guess I better get back to work. Sure has been nice cruising in the spring garden for a little while, though!
  Jeez, really? 2 hours have gone by? My boss is gonna be all kinds of mad at me.....