Foliage Follow Up for July

Earlier this year I was feeling a bit bored with the plants in my garden. I planted a few new things and now everything is a bit more interesting with a few new characters in the mix. I decided to give Carex 'Sparkler' a try again after seeing how well it did in Pam's garden over at Digging. So far it is a happy camper. It is in a pot outside my office window at home and makes a great focal point to rest my eyes on while I'm planning designs. The fennel is going to bloom and I've been enjoying the wispy foliage mingling with the other plants.

I always leave the bloom stalks on the Aristea inaequalis because they turn a beautiful shade of pink as they mature - a nice discover after being a bit lazy with my deadheading one year. I guess the pink stems are not exactly foliage but they're not exactly blooms either. And my Cussonia paniculata is a treat with all the variety shades of foliage at different stages of growth.

I recently wrote a post about the joys of Stipa barbata and how it has hardly any "real" foliage. The show happens with the long waving tails of the seeds. These give me a lovely arching foliage effect in my parking strip that is brief, but ever-so-lovely as they float in the breeze before falling off to bury themselves in the soil.

I recently planted this giant, flabby, tiger-striped Kalanchoe. It is in a recently redone section in the back. Hopefully in a few months I'll have a shot of the whole composition as it fills in.

A new Pelargonium with silver foliage and my ever increasing Aloe plicatilis.

The edibles are starting to shine in the front yard. I've got red corn, two types of tomatillos, pole beans on tepees made out of bamboo thinnings and a red lettuce that has been a real champ, even through a couple of heat waves. I'm going to let the lettuce go to seed because I definitely want to grow this again next year.

Thanks to Pam for hosting the fabulous Foliage Follow-Up! Go check out some other fantastic foliage folks have going on this month.

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day - July

After a brief rest at the end of spring, the garden bursts back into bloom. The rampant growth and heat-loving blooms always get me excited to go back out in the garden again.

Lavandula 'Grosso' makes a great parking strip plant!

This is a new succulent I'm growing. I forget the name of it. I'll have to go look it up again. I really like the flowers.

My mom had this great Aeonium flower spike all by itself as a bouquet and I thought it looked so great. My Aeonium glandulosum is blooming. It was a great rosette for several years. I'll have to replace it after it's finished.

The edibles are going to town. I planted my fennel too late and it just bloomed instead of making a bulb, which is fine. I'll use the seeds for something. The tomatoes are coming and I let the leeks bloom too, which are making the bees very happy.

I'm growing corn for the first time this year. My tiny little block of it seems to be working fine. We got plenty of donut peaches this year. (We also got our first apricots and have our first plums and pluots on the way!) The persimmons are always plentiful.

Thank you to May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day! Check out what other gardeners have going on this month!

Peeping Gardener - Rockridge Neighborhood in Oakland

There are so many gardens to photograph in this neighborhood. I'm only scratching the surface with these. There does seem to be a recurring theme in many gardens though - that of the little low wall. It's done in many styles and materials but always around 1-1.5' tall. My favorite was this simple concrete one.

This one sure would be better if they had stopped the plastic edging where the stone wall began. And Sedum spurium makes a cute trailer over another wall.

Chunky is nice.

And so is a nicely sliced slate wall.

We found some nice paving.

And of course some lovely plantings.

We thought this one looked like a howling bunny.

Some dramatic strappy-leaved plants:

And even Rockridge has some ugly yards and messed up houses.

And I'm not sure what to make of this place other than my assumption that they might have control issues.

Oh well, each to his own. It keeps the neighborhood more interesting.