Random Shots

Here are just some of the gazania rigens that are turning the hillside orange. I always have to smile when I see these for sale - these are self-sown. Although I'm always tempted by the pink-ish ones... maybe introducing some genetic diversity would be good?

the shading on this one is pretty

these are a pure yellow, no rays at all

in person, this one is a dark orange, fading to dark yellow

light and dark orange

this one is orange, no rays

here the stripes go almost to the edge, and look like brush stokes

this one is a very light yellow

I wonder if buying a few pink ones at the store will help get a greater color variety? Although I have to admit, the yellow/orange color scheme on the hill side in the spring is working out nicely:

Almost like it was planned that way!

Update on Hill Side

Hill side - 5/25

Back in January, I posted wide shots of the back hillside for Heather's wide shot meme. You can see my pictures here, and visit Heather's blog at Xericstyle   for her pictures and more. The picture above shows the hill side as on 5/25. For reference, here is the same shot, about 5 months ago:

Same hill side - 1/20/2014

Opposite View - 5/25/2014 - more to see on this side...

There is definitely starting to be some progress. Some observations and notes:

• Plants planted include a lot of Opuntia - including o. basilaris, o. macrocentra and an Opuntia NOID. While all of them have rooted, they do seem to need time - in some cases a year - before they start growing new pads. 
• All the Gazania is self sown... 
• The Centaurea gymnocarpa survived the winter and is going gangbusters. I'm on try 2 to get the same plant to grow on the other side of the hill.
• There are also quite a few Agave (Agave salmiana var. ferox, mostly). They seem to like it up there, and are putting on a lot of growth for first year plants
• Any and all attempts to get any groundcover to grow next to the steps has failed.   
• The gravel path on the top of the hill is holding up nicely, and seems to make a significant difference in the number of weeds

Hopefully, by the end of the summer, there will be more progress! 

Wide Shot - January 2014, back hill

Heather at Xeristyle has been posting monthly wide shots of her garden at her blog. Go here to see her picture for January, and other people's links in the comments. For this month, I wanted to focus on the hill side in my back garden. Out of all the areas in the back garden, it needs the most work, given that the plan conceived two years ago really didn't work.

Last August (08/2013), the hill looked like this:

From South looking North

It had just been weeded, and a new path put in at the top of the hill. All of the plant material that was dead had been removed. There are 2 pine trees (Pinus pinea, Italian Stone Pine) on either end, and 3 fruit trees (peach, nectarine, almond) in between the pine trees.

Here is what it looks like today (01/2014):

same view as before - January 2014

From the opposite side

Most of the green, especially near the bottom of the hill, is weeds (oops!). I have started to try a couple of plants (optunia pads, some aloe) but winter is not a good time to plant here, since we get really cold nights sometimes. Also, there's been no rain.

So this will be one of the major areas I want to plant in the spring. I'm thinking of trying most or all of the following:
1) big scrubs, like Fremontodendron, Dalea, Caesalpinia, Buddleja (this is my neighbor's way of dealing with his hillside - big scrubs in bare dirt. He seems to not have too many weeds...)
2) Coreopsis along the top and bottom, and pathways (or another low desert bloomer?)
3) various (cold-hardy) yucca, agave, optunia, aloe, dasylirion, etc
4) grasses (Mexican feather grass, purple fountain grass (not hardy), bamboo muhly?)
5) maybe some vines for ground cover?
6) containers on the top and bottom paths (the bottom (brown) path is decomposed granite, and was pretty weed-free up until this winter)

The hill gets full sun all day long, especially in the summer, so it's not the most hospitable area.

Hopefully, in another few months, this hill side will look way more interesting!