Year-end Retrospective

Yesterday marked my fourth blogging anniversary.  Although it feels as if I've been blogging for no time at all, a lot has changed in my life and in the garden within that period.  I was amazed to find that I've published 690 posts, registered over14,000 comments, and racked up 597,965 views since I began.  I'm not about to slog through the garden's entire history here (much less my own!) but I thought a 2016 garden retrospective might be an appropriate way to recognize the anniversary.

More than any other subject, water - or the lack of it - dominated my focus in the garden this year.  In June 2015, after 4 years of drought, California adopted restrictions on water use.  The restrictions varied by location and water agency but my area was one of those faced with the severest limitation: a 36% reduction in water use vis-à-vis our 2013 rate.  As we started removing lawn and replacing thirsty plants almost immediately after moving in December 2010 and as we'd managed to reduce our water use 25% during the prior year in response to the governor's call for voluntary reductions, we had a head start in tackling the target.  In addition to adding 2 large rain tanks to the smaller one we already had, the last remaining strips of thirsty lawn went in January 2016.

This area in front of the garage and adjacent to the street was the last to be stripped of lawn.  It's shown here in late January after I added plants.

Having done extensive replanting following the removal of the last of the lawn in both the front and back gardens, I'd hoped that the heavier-than-normal rains we'd been led to expect with the arrival of El Niño would help my new plants get established before summer's heat made life more difficult.

Arthropodium cirratum after a rain shower in January 2016, when doubts began to emerge about El Niño's impact on Southern California

Despite all the warnings to prepare for a "Godzilla El Niño," it proved to be a total bust for Southern California, although Northern California received its benefits.  A stubborn ridge of high pressure kept the rain at bay here.  Our roof-top weather station registered only 5.65 inches of rain for the October 2015-September 2016 period (as opposed to "normal rain" near 15 inches).  Still, we were successful in staying well below our monthly water budget.  I used up the water collected in our rain tanks and I continued to replace thirsty plants with drought tolerant ones, flaunting some of my favorite combinations in blog posts.

Abelia 'Kaleidoscope' with Cotyledon 'Silver Storm' and Pelargonium 'Mrs Pollock'

Agave ovatifolia with Dorycnium hirsutum and trailing Lantana

Phormium 'Maori Queen' with Coprosma repens 'Inferno' and Gazania 'White Flame'

The garden and I limped along fairly well with minimal rain and irrigation for months.  Then a horrific heatwave hit us on the first day of summer.  Minimal water meant that roots of recently introduced plants didn't go as deep.  The onset of intense heat after a relatively cool spring seared tender foliage.  We're used to heat but this heat was as devastating to us as the ice storms that afflict gardens in colder climates.  I lost some plants virtually overnight and others more slowly.

Campanula primulifolia, left, after and right, before

Plectranthus ciliatus 'Zulu Wonder' after and before

Most distressing of all, our lemon tree, which had provided an abundance of lemons continuously since we'd moved in, dropped two-thirds of its fruit within days.  What didn't drop rotted in place.  Fortunately, the tree has recovered since that heat apocalypse, although we've picked only one ripe lemon since June.

Although we had other heatwaves over the course of the summer and well into November, nothing was as awful that first event in June.  I focused on removing dead and dying plants, which included several Ceanothus shrubs that had made up a hedge running along the front slope.  I inherited these shrubs with the garden and they'd been in decline for some time - winter drought and summer's heat just moved things along.  Situated within feet of another hedge that runs along the street, they also created a funny tunnel of sorts.  In addition to removing the dying remnants of the Ceanothus hedge, I enlisted my husband's help in extending a dry-stack wall in the same area in late August.  When the final Ceanothus shrubs came out in early November, we brought in still more rock to stabilize the front slope.  Succulents and other drought tolerant plants went into the newly created beds.

The dry-stack wall's extension after planting

The front slope after removal of the last 15 feet of Ceanothus hedge and replanting

In late October, I learned that a tree-hating neighbor who, despite our removal of 2 large trees and annual tree trimming, regularly threatened me with action under the city's "view conservation ordinance," had put her house up for sale.  She accepted an offer but, unfortunately for all concerned, it now appears the sale may be off.  For her sake and ours, I hope it's just a glitch in the escrow process.

In December, Christmas came early as Los Angeles recorded the wettest December in 6 years.  Although lower than "normal rain" (whatever than means anymore) was predicted this winter in connection with La Niña conditions, some forecasters have speculated that the stubborn ridge of high pressure that has prevented rain from reaching us in Southern California finally may be breaking down.  I don't want to get too excited yet, but I'm hopeful.  (It's raining again this morning!)

Despite the dry conditions and heat, my garden continued to pump out blooms, which I've shown off on my regular posts in connection with the weekly "In a Vase on Monday" meme hosted by Cathy of Rambling in the Garden.  Averaging 2 vases a week over 52 weeks, I've produced over 100 vases this year.  (I couldn't bring myself to actually count them.)  I'll close this retrospective with some of my personal favorites as they reflect my garden as well, or better, than any of the photos above.

If you're a regular participant in the "IaVoM" meme, you may have noticed that none of the vases shown above contained Eustoma grandiflorum (aka Lisianthus), a plant I've become well known for using.  I didn't ignore those - I just thought they deserved their own collage.  Lisianthus bloomed in my garden from June through December this year.

Thank you for doing me the kindness of reading my blog posts and for commenting when moved to do so.  It's you out there in the blog-sphere that really keep this blog going.  I hope you enjoy a wonderful New Year's Day holiday weekend!  What the future holds in 2017 seems unclear but I hope that peace, good sense, and kindness toward our fellow human beings will prevail.


All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wide Shots - June 2015

With our new water restrictions assuming full force and effect today, it's going to be interesting (that's the polite term for it) to see what effects these have on my garden over the course of the summer.  My husband and I are still adapting to the the new requirements and the changes in our household routines.  Showers are shorter.  We wash fewer dishes by hand, relying more on our water-thrifty dishwasher.  We save shower water in buckets each day for use in topping off the recirculating fountain, dumping the rest into our 50-gallon rain barrel, now empty of rainwater, for use in the garden as needed.  The graywater collected from the kitchen is used to water pots.  Graywater from the washing machine waters the back slope.  The rainwater I collected last month in my 2 new ginormous rain barrels allows me to provide supplemental water to my newer plantings, although my supply is depleting faster than I'd like and there's little likelihood of rain until November.  When I discovered a valve leaking in the vegetable garden last week, I nearly had apoplexy.  How long had it been leaking?  How much water did we lose?  Every day, the Los Angeles Times seems to publish a story on the water nightmares of residential users so it's hard not to fall prey to a degree of anxiety on the subject.

I didn't plan on preparing a full set of wide shots of the garden this month but I came close so I'll post what I have, concentrating on the back, south side, and front areas.  In time, the photos may help me assess if and where I need to swap out my plant selections.  I started my rounds taking photos in the backyard under the "June gloom" characteristic of most mornings at this time of year.

Backyard view looking south

View from farther north - I still have to arrange removal of the remaining grass

View from still farther north

View from the south looking north toward the mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin), which will soon begin to bloom

Moving into the south side yard, I took some photos in the morning and others later in the afternoon after the sun had emerged.  The harbor remained hazy all day.

View from the pathway through the side garden looking back toward the backyard

View from the path behind the backyard border looking west in the direction of the arbor

View from the south side patio

View through the arbor looking east toward the harbor

The front garden continues to fill in nicely.  Contrary to my earlier plans to halt any further planting until fall, I continued to add new plants in the front throughout May, especially on the far right (southwest) end of the garden.

View looking toward the front door from one of my 2 remaining patches of lawn

View of the left (north) side of the front pathway

View of the area to the right (south) of the pathway to the front door

View of the same area looking north

I did a little work down in the area I call the "glen," which sits below the main level of the front garden, adjacent to the street.  I lost a large section of Ceanothus hedge in March and, without a clear plan for the sloped area, I resorted to planting Aeonium cuttings in the hope that, in time, these will form a mass like those I saw during a recent visit to an Orange County garden center.

The larger clumps of Aeonium formed from cuttings planted last year - most of the single rosettes are newly planted cuttings

With 2 of the Auranticarpa (Pittosporum) rhombifolia shrubs gone in the street-side bed and the subsequent loss of a portion of the Ceanothus hedge, this side of the garden looks bare and exposed to me but I haven't found the replacement Xylosma hedge material I've been looking for

The last area I'll show with this post is the dry garden.  After 2 rainstorms in May, it's looking pretty good.

I've planted more Aeonium 'Kiwi' on both sides of the path to continue the massed planting I started from cuttings 2 years ago

View from the rear of the dry garden looking back to the patio area - the 160-gallon rain tank, now partially emptied is on the right side of the patio

I've reviewed the "water budget" posted on-line for our property by our water provider.  The budget for our area calls for a 36% reduction vis-a-vis our 2013 usage level but as we reduced our use substantially last year in response to the call for a voluntary 25% reduction, we don't have too large a leap this year.  If last year's usage patterns hold this year, I think we should be okay, although the data suggests we could have an issue in October.  Why our water use seems to spike in October wasn't immediately clear to me but, as this generally marks the end of our hottest, driest weather, as well as the start of our fall planting season, perhaps it makes sense.  Our rainy season doesn't usually get rolling until November.  There are theories that we may have an unusually wet winter this year, courtesy of El Niño, but there's never a guarantee that such predictions will come to fruition.

That's it for this month's wide shots.  My thanks, as usual, to Heather of Xericstyle for starting me on this monthly exercise.


All material © 2012-2015 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party