Project Update! - Front Garden

Alright, even if the calendar doesn't point to summer yet, the temperatures definitely do. It was ~90 degF by 9am this morning! Since it's kind of already too late to plant anything, let's see what kind of progress i made on my projects. This might be interesting only to me.

After ignoring my garden for too long, i documented what i wanted to finish this spring in the front garden and the back garden. Let's start with the front...

I mostly identified things that needed cleaning/cutting back/clearing up. I did most of that, and am making progress on the *stupid* bermuda grass that keeps growing. The front garden looks pretty, although i think it still needs a refresh?

I like this view - that orange lantana is the only one that ever comes back for me.  

The area behind the fucraea still needs some cleaning up - i'm not exactly sure what to do with everything that's back there. 

a. "low boy" is going to get way too big for this spot but looks lush right now.

Grevillea 'Red Hook' is still alive too, and even made a flower! The caesalpinia  pulcherrima (Red Mexican Bird of Paradise) is just now (6/4/2017) barely starting to come back. It gets another year reprieve, at least for now. One of the Russian Sages is not very happy, and will probably get replaced with something more interesting.

The germander (teucrium) is starting to fill in and cover the rocks (and blooming!)

I chopped the roses back a lot, and they responded! The pictures below are from early may, when they were at their peak:

The cherry tree also had a very successful year. 

The roses look a little washed out here - in person they are a dark red.

 One extra project was replacing one of the grasses on the dry stream bed, since it got too much shade to ever bloom. That's been done too, although i'm not sure the replacement is working 100%. But all in all, not bad progress for spring! 

Now, some goals for summer/fall:

• find something for the blue pots - since whatever i put here needs to survive with almost no water, it should be ok to plant before fall.
• keep on top of the bermuda grass!
• find some interesting plants to replace some of the original plants - i know it makes for better "garden design" but i don't need that many red sages...
• figure out what to do with area next to front door
• trim up the opuntias next to the cherry tree

As a whole, the front garden shouldn't need too much work to look good this summer, which is yet another benefit of getting rid of the grass. My neighbors probably appreciate this look better than my poorly cut lawn!

Progress has been made in the back garden as well - i'll document that next.