Sunday, January 6, 2013

The Dry Stream Bed

I was having a hard time deciding what to take pictures of today (and it's only Jan 6th!). But the wind was blowing outside, and the grasses looked pretty, so I figured pictures of the dry stream bed would be good!

For a really neat view of what wind can do in a garden, you should go look at David at the desert edge's post on wind as garden element. It made me think about different ways I might be able to incorporate the wind (that's always here!) into my garden, without driving my neighbors nuts with wind chimes!

The dry stream bed occupies the whole south-side of my property. I put in the front garden part of it first, about three (almost four!) years ago now:
Looking towards the back garden


There are three pink Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris) clumps, spaced along the dry stream bed. They're surrounded by decomposed granite, with local stone making up the stream bed. The larger rocks match the rocks on house. I wish I could say I planned that, but it was a happy accident!

This hasn't been the best year for the pink plumes - they're getting cut back soon.
 In the picture above, you can see two colors of decomposed granite - the soft pink/ground color is the stream bed, and the blue-ish color in the bottom left is a path. These same two colors repeat in the back garden stream bed:
The back garden, looking west
 This part of the stream bed was put in early in 2012, and uses pink Muhly along with Mexican feather grass. It's about 60 feet long, and ends in a stone "pond", where I currently have a big green pot (with nothing in it):
West-most end of dry stream bed
 I have been thinking about what to do with that area, to make it more of a focal point. There is no water to that container, so if I plant it, it would have to be something that could deal with my (at best) neglectful hand watering. I could also turn the container into a water feature. Or (and this is my latest crazy idea) I could replace the container with a small, above-ground pond, to both add a water feature and plants! We'll see what happens...

There is one thing about the two dry stream beds - while they match, they aren't actually "connected" in the sense that water could flow - as seen in this picture, part of the block wall cuts the two stream beds in half. And another note to self project - I'd like to do something to that gate, probably paint or stain it.
All the plants are on drip-emitters, which helps cut down on water use and keeps weeds from growing (win-win!)



8 comments:

  1. Those stream beds look like a lot of work to have built, nice job! And look at all that empty space you've got for agaves...

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    1. I paid someone to put them in... definitely a case of the cost/benefit analysis working out in favor of non-DIY. And they were able to source the same materials. Thanks for visiting!

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  2. The gravel beds look great and fun to see you are growing some of the same plants as I am but in a very different setting.

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    1. Isn't it neat how we can grow similar plants, in different ways? I love seeing that in other people's gardens too!

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  3. I really loved seeing your dry stream bed in these pictures! Do you plan to put in a few more plants there? I like danger garden's suggestion of agaves. The company that put them in did a fabulous job. I'd love to see you do something with the focal point too. Your idea to turn it into a water feature is good. Do you own that concrete wall behind it? It would really pop if you painted it a bright color!

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    1. Your idea to paint the wall is perfect! Adding it to the project list... Thank you!

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  4. Almost forgot to comment! My cliche should work...you need 2-3X of those same Muhley grasses, 4' on-center spacing. Leave some of the stream bed visible, so 1-2 gaps in the grass mass? Add a tall accent, like a Joshua Tree or tree yucca in or near the mass...ocotillo too winter-bare. 1-3 agaves out from the tall accent several feel, though Beavertail Prickly Pear or Opuntia ellisiana OK. And finally, between the agave or cactus and the tall accent, some penstemons or globemallows for vertical color. Good luck.

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    1. That sounds very interesting, thank you for your suggestion/design expertise! I'm definitely planning to get some penstemons and globemallows this year, although they might go on the other side of the yard, where there is (even more) open space than on this side. Thanks for commenting!

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