Wednesday, December 8, 2010

New Home Garden for Planet Horticulture

Forestville, Sonoma Co., CA


Gardens, like hope, spring eternal for those who are passionate about plants.
In mid-September 2010, we moved to Forestville in Sonoma Co. and immediately set out to create a new garden.
We cleared away the previous landscape as it had little interest for us, leaving only the paved back patio, raised vegetable bed and 7 plants.

View S from the downstairs, showing cleared back yard on September 17th.



Same view late December 2010.  This part of the garden is now essentially complete and waiting for warm weather to return for new growth. This part was relatively instantaneous, as most of the plants were in containers, and essentially were re-arranged in their new home.

SE corner of the back garden after clearing, mid September 2010.  The purple leaf plum, two Red Flame grapes and a crepe myrtle were left from the original landscape.


Same view as above in late December 2010As in the earlier pictures, the planted urns edge the pavement, but beyond, most of the plants are in the ground.  The largest urn, a tijana or olive oil jar from Portugal, creates a focal point from anywhere in the back garden.  Although it is hard to distinguish the individual plants, the plantings will form a woodland of palms, evergreen and deciduous trees and shrubs, large and small succulents with an herbaceous and bulb understory.  There is even a "secret" sitting area in the corner that a garden visitor can discover. (Note: the two sculptural urns and the chiminaria are lidded during winter to prevent them filling with water.)

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