Welcome to My Garden – Pt. 2
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Well you’ve seen the front half of the yard, now let’s check out the back half! I just heard someone call their yard/garden a “yarden” – I like it. Seems fitting. If you missed the first half of the tour of the garden, click here to check it out. Here’s a few snaps of what’s growing:
Here’s an overview of the rear section of the front yard. This is the second mulched planter area that is adjacent to the front of the house. Even though this is an east-facing front yard, this stuff gets baked in hot sun until around 2pm every day. It’s gotta be tough to survive! Don’t mind the planter graveyard in the back there, I need to relocate those to a new home.
Meet the Cast
First on the docket is a cactus I inherited – a Pachycereus marginatus or Mexican Fencepost cactus. This lived in a medium sized ceramic pot for years and years, and we’ve only planted in the ground about 4 months ago. Before you ask – yes, there is mulch around my cactus. They certainly don’t need help keeping moisture in! But the mulch does a good job here of keeping the weeds down. I love the way this one looks on top as it grows. Our neighbor actually has a gigantic patch of these in her yard that is taller than our house! If this one keeps going, I’ll have to relocate it. A good reminder to identify your plants prior to placing them so you know their space requirements. Oops!
Moving on, I’m not afraid to admit that this penstemon isn’t much to look at. I planted this and it’s twin just before the true heat of summer hit and while they survived, they didn’t thrive. I expect for them to really kick in to high gear as the weather cools down. You can actually see new growth popping up at the ground and even at the top of the flower stalk. These have gorgeous coral flowers.
A little crispy
Yikes. This Jasmine did not do well this summer, but hey, it survived! What more can I ask for. It has actually pushed out a bunch of new growth in the past couple of weeks as our nights cool down so I’m optimistic that it might even make it’s way up the trellis in the next few months. I’m hoping in the future the tour of the garden will include this one rambling all over the place. A girl can dream, right?
Then we have another inherited friend. This is a Peruvian Apple cactus or Cereus repandus. I actually got this one as a piece about a foot long that broke off a much larger cactus – we just stuck it in a pot and watered it once in a while and then suddenly this whole second arm grew out! I was able to positively identify this cactus thanks to the mother cactus it came from. The highly recognizable fruit gave it away. Luckily that means I have some gorgeous flowers and fruit in my future from this guy.
Kitchen Gardening
If you’re following me on Instagram, then you’ve already seen these over-achievers there. I planted seeds for Basil, Arugula and Brussels Sprouts and everything popped right up! Our weather has just turned and I think that has a lot to do with it. These are doing well, along with a peppermint that I added nearby. A healthy bunch and hopefully productive for the dinner table too.
How are your plants? Any new fun plants to check out? I’m always keen to see how your garden is growing – let me know below if you have a blog or other place you share plant photos. If you haven’t already, make sure you see part one of my garden tour. You can also check out my list of tried and true house plants if you’re looking for something for the great indoors.
