Installation: Postage Stamp Garden on Castro

Welcome to my one hundred and first post!

It’s been a challenge to get the right moment to plug this little sucker in! The wet weather and my work schedule at the nursery made it all but impossible to find a window of opportunity to plant this little garden on my days off, but finally there was a break in the rain yesterday afternoon.

It’s not ideal to work in wet soil, because trampling it compacts out the air spaces in the soil and helps to create mud and clay. Damaging to existing plants, it is. Fortunately, this is something of a container garden on a large scale. It’s a front raised bed, built as part of the house’s foundation. The orientation of the house and steps made it more sheltered than I’d expected. Its own tiny little microclimate. Once I fished around in the soil I realized it was only wet for the top two inches! Completely dry below that. All I needed was a break in the rain for my own comfort. It came at last.

My friend Patrick designed this little plot for a neighbor who sits halfway between our two homes. I’ve installed several of Patrick’s designs, and this is one of my favorites. Lovely mix of succulents. They had three well-established existing plants, including native Californian Ceanothus and Fremontodendron. The succulents are a water-appropriate selection to combine with the natives.

The clients also had a few succulents of their own to add to the mix. I’d delivered the plants on behalf of the nursery a couple of weeks earlier, and when I showed up to plant, the pile had grown! Gorgeous specimen plants they had added, so it all worked out just fine. 🙂

Here are the pix, with some before-and-after shots:

Before – from the corner.

Before – from the side. First task is to divide and replant the Yucca in the front.

During – the Yucca has been divided. I took the two smaller trunks off the main group and relocated them to the back of the edge for more framing and balance.

Amused by the ant-like appearance of this offshoot of the Yucca. I replanted this little critter at the base of the bigger trunk.

After – from the corner.

After – from the side.

I thinned out a couple of lower branches on the existing ceanothus and fremontodendron, for easier access and for overall effect…

After – from the corner.

Along the wall are red Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’, with the brighter yellow Aeonium ‘Sunburst’ in front of them. The chartreuse foliage of Sedum ‘Angelina’ will spill over the lip of the wall. The diminutive Agave ‘Blue Glow’ (right at the bottom of the bricks) ties in the blue of the larger agaves behind it, and its red teeth reflect the red of the Zwartkop and the burgundy Euphorbia ‘Blackbird’.

The grassy-shaped plant in the left foreground is Beschorneria ‘Flamingo Glow’, and the three large focal plants along the back right are Agave celsii ‘Nova’.

And a final corner shot for overall effect…