The Street End Of The Forest

We call the collection of Spartan Junipers along our driveway "The Forest."  It is a great visual screen and a great windbreak.  It is home to many birds.

We knew the junipers near the street were out over the sidewalk a bit.  We've always pruned off branches that wanted to reach way out there.The sidewalk along our street is fairly wide.  While the junipers have been keeping people from using some of the sidewalk, they have not been keeping people from using the sidewalk at all.  No one has had to step off into the street because of the junipers.  However, they were reaching into the public right of way.  So, we were not surprised when we got an official letter from the city to trim back the junipers.  On Saturday, my wonderful husband and I pruned back all the juniper branches that were reaching over the sidewalk in the area up to eight feet high per the city's code.

From our next door neighbor's yard, all looks fine.

From our yard, all looks fine.

From our neighbor's yard across the street, Eeek!  It is not an appealing look.

Time will moderate the cuts and we'll get used to it.  We have not really affected the wind break.  Not sure what the birds think of the morning sun coming into the forest more.

It is possible to use all of the sidewalk again. 

This will be a noticeable change in the garden tour photos compared to last month.

We were not thrilled to have to do this, but we still have the trees.  In the mean time, we're visiting with all the neighbors who want to know why we did this.  So, on the bright side, it's bringing people together.

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The Locals Like It

My garden may be certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a wildlife habitat; but as you can see, it also has local wildlife approval.

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Irises A Plenty

Hello from Garden on Sherlock Street!

We are in full summer mode.  Shortly after Independence Day, I harvested the garlic.  It was a nice crop.  As I was working the soil, I noticed we were getting dry again.  Low and behold, that night it rained.  An inch and forty hundredths.

I need to get out into the alley and pull weeds!  Last year, the alley was crispy.  What a change.

Pulling weeds in the alley will give me spaces to plant irises.

This iris bed near the picnic table didn't bloom as well this year and I started wondering how many years it had been since I planted it.  So, the day after the rain, I set to work digging up the irises.  I started with the potato fork you see, but had to resort to a sharp shooter to get under the solid layer of iris tubers.  It was way past time to thin them out.

Here, all of the irises have been dug and are laying around the area in piles.

I trimmed the leaves down and planted some of the irises back into the area.

I also have plenty of irises for the alley, and plenty of irises to share.  A lady at work and the newest neighbor are getting irises.

The fireflies are really great in the garden this year.  I've been reading about how to photograph fireflies, but I think the garden gets too much light from lights around the neighborhood to really capture them as they need to be in the dark.  So, just take my word for it that they're great.  :-)

Because the rains have helped our city's water wells, we are going back to the water watch phase.  This will allow more hours of the day when water can be used from the faucets outdoors and people can get permits to seed new warm season lawns.  Hoping this is the beginning of drought recovery!

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July Tour 2014

Front Garden

Forest

Back Garden

Side Garden

Vegetable Garden

Patio

Alley

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2nd 2014 Container Parade 6

In June:

purple fountain grass/asparagus fern/pansy/purple hyacinth bean vine/morning glory

In July:

This container has changed the most.  I moved the purple fountain grass out to a spot in the garden as it was getting too large for the other plants.  The pansies have give up in the heat, but the purple hyacinth bean vine plants are doing well and needed some support.  I put a square tomato cage in the container for the vines.  The little amaryllis I keep hoping will bloom is on the far side of the tub in a clay container.

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2nd 2014 Container Parade 5

In June:

geranium/asparagus fern/rose moss/Jacob's coat/amaryllis/cacti

In July:

On of the geraniums died so I put aloe vera plants on top of the buckets.

The Jacob's coat died.  I don't know why.  I moved the small wandering Jew container to the top of the front water jug.  I found yet another self seeded morning glory in one of the trash cans.

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2nd 2014 Container Parade 4

In June:

ice plant/bacopa/wandering Jew

In July:

The ice plant was being picked on by the birds.  I moved it to a cold frame with a screen over it until it recovers.  A geranium is now on top of the bucket.

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