Succulents and More™

In part 1 of this post , I showed you the “private” part of the front yard, i.e. the area inside the low fence. For part 2, let’s venture out beyond the confines of the fence and look at the “public” face. Since we’re on a corner lot, this is essentially an L-shaped planting bed, with a shorter section on our street and a much longer section on the cross street (see red arrows in the illustration below). While the mounds inside the fence are primarily succulents, with just a few smaller non-succulent companion plants, the sidewalk bed combines succulents, perennials, and even a few shrubs. The idea is for this area to look more like a garden and less like a plant collection. That doesn’t mean it follows any kind of design scheme, like repeating the same plants for a unified appearance. With some exceptions (usually small groundcovers), all my plants are one-offs. It’s their overall shapes, textures, and colors that creates a measure of cohesion. As with the rest of the garden, serendip...

A visit from gardening friends last Saturday prompted me to do some much-needed cleaning and decluttering. As is usually the case, removing leaves from in and around our spiky plants took up a good chunk of time, as did sweeping up the general debris that somehow accumulates along the edges of the sidewalk bed. It seems like much of the neighborhood’s stray garbage ends up on our property, but I bet other neighbors feel the same way. Since the front yard looks so good right now—sadly, a state destined to be short-lived—I took a bunch of photos to share with y’all. To prevent visual overload and the ensuing eye strain, I will spread the pictures out over two posts. That way, there’s more good stuff to look forward to. Let’s start at the entrance to the “inner sanctum”—the private area separated by a 4-foot fence from the more public bed along the sidewalk: I had this sign made pre-COVID but didn’t get around to hanging it until now Front porch after cleaning It’s a great place to sit an...