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Hi
Karrie,
I'm
not particulary experienced in medit-plants as I live in Zone 5, so I can't
suggest much for your situation. I do want to say, though, that it sounds
lovely. I changed this subject line because I needed to ask a couple of
questions and did not want to detract from your question.
As
seen below and in my response, it appears that this list-serv handles mail in
html instead of plain text. Is that right? Just want to be sure that
I don't end up sending a bunch of code making messages difficult to read.
Other lists I am on require plain text.
Also,
when I clicked reply for this message, the automatic entry for the "to" line is
directly to the message writer (in this case, Karrie) rather than to the
list. Is that the norm here? I changed it, but there's a good chance
I may forget to do that at times in the future. This used to be a problem
sometimes on a list I was on a few years back, and I think then I used reply to
all, but that meant the original writer got the response
twice.
Any
recommendations?
Kitty neIN, Z5
-----Original
Message-----
From: owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
[mailto:owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu]On Behalf Of Reid
Family
Sent: Sunday, March 06, 2005 7:15 PM
To:
medit-plants
Subject: difficult spot
To all of you experienced
plantspeople:
I have a trouble spot that I am
replanting and would love a few suggestions. The space is a narrow bed
between the edge of my pool surround and the fence. Our family room
has a wall of windows that looks out onto the roomy deck, down to the pool and
then to this back border of the property, so it is the backdrop of the house
and main yard view. It is barely four feet wide at the
left end narrowing to two feet wide on the right end. Other
beds and sections of the garden pick up at each end. It runs roughly
north to south, so that in winter it stays pretty much in shade at ground
level, with perhaps a glimpse of sun in the afternoon in very early and
very late winter. In summer, it gets morning shade and baking inland
afternoon sun, and is watered once a week to 10 days. Currently
planted there are 5 Podocarpus gracilior spaced approx. 6 ft. apart and now
about 8-10 ft. high. The redwood fence itself is draped beautifully in a
vigorous Macfadyena unguis-cati (a vine I highly recommend BTW- it now grows
up into the Aleppo pine tree on the far right and hangs down tendrils like
Spanish moss!) Originally Myoporum parviflorum was planted below, and it
thrived. But I wanted a smaller vertical element between the Podocarpus,
so I planted daylilies. They did not get enough sun to bloom, so I moved
them and in a fit of madness planted a few bulbs of Crocosmia. For the
first couple of years it was stunning, and the fire orange-red blooms just
glowed in the afternoon summer sun. However, they leaned away from the
fence to get the most sun possible, and created too much litter for the
pool. They also spread like wildfire, as anyone who has grown them
knows, and because they grow so thick and closer than an Arkansas clan, they
crowded out the Myoporum. Very dissatisfactory. Soooooo, now I am
eradicating them and would like another suggestion. I wouldn't mind if
whatever it is died back completely in winter, but I don't want something that
looks really ugly in winter, since it is in such a visible spot.
The soil is also somewhat heavy, so anything that is fussy about drainage is
probably not going to like it. I may replant the Myoporum, and something
that would grow up through it, bloom in the warm months and die down would be
acceptable. The myoporum is not an essential however, and I am open to
all suggestions, preferring something with color, since once the Cat's
claw vine is done blooming, the view is just a study in green.
Pastels are not going to show up much in this bright glary spot though, (think
aggregate concrete and pool reflection) although white might do. The
rest of the garden in back, however tends to bold color, lots of purples and
blues and golden yellows, even dark pink and some pale and dark
oranges. It may sound loud, but it takes the focus off the rather large
pool we inherited with the house!
So, there you go! Let the
challenge begin!
With gratitude in advance,
Karrie Reid
Folsom Foothill Gardener
Zone 9
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