Front of House Plants Update

Last May I featured the front of our house and how we've finally taken the time to sort out the potted plants there and make the area tidy. So how is it looking now that it's almost end of July? Let's have a look...

As I've mentioned on our previous blog post the space at the front of our house is tiny and planting possibilities are very limited. And how it remained scruffy and potted plants there were neglected for years as we concentrated at the back garden. Being the face of the house it was about time we sorted it out and put in new plants that will also reflect the type of plants we grow in our back garden.

More importantly from then onwards to actually take care of the plants there rather than neglect them like we did to its previous residents, oops! I'm proud to say that we have been very good and have been on top of watering and weeding the area as necessary... almost anyway (check out my follow up to this below). It does help of course that we have chosen drought tolerant plants that can cope with the south facing aspect with heat radiated by the paving and walls.

The Yucca gloriosa 'Variegata' is starting to look good again after having had a hard trim last May. It is the only plant remaining from the original batch of plants that were here before the makeover.

Sempervivums at the base of the Yucca are bulking up nicely too.

Nolina nelsonii has bulked up since then, is looking more blue as it should be and the new growth seems to be a bit twisty but that is normal for some of them.

The Alliums have done their thing, been and now gone. Either I keep the pot of mulch where it is, stash it away, and put something else. I'm likely to do the last one although I haven't decided what to put in it yet.

Three of the four Agaves have visibly grown too...

Agave montana is filling the pot nicely and has obviously responded well for being in a bigger pot.

Oops, blurred pic! So here's another one...

The person who gave this to me gave me a little pinch for putting in the wrong label for this one. According to him this is Agave atrovirens var. mirabilis, not Agave salmiana var. ferox as I labelled it on my two previous posts. It is doing very well and has bulked up since May. Provided it sails through winter fine this will be a giant one..

Agave ovatifolia is looking good too, and looking even more blue.

So there was three, the fourth one looks like it has barely put on any new growth. Looks like this will be a slow one - Agave parryi var. huachucensis

The Nolina parviflora, well it is growing...

So I said almost above, almost because two of the plants turned out to be not that drought and heat tolerant after all, despite the initial premise that they will be. They all get watered at the same time and fairly regularly too but these two seemed to need a lot more than we were giving. And prepared to give. They can't stay there for long they will have to be replaced.

The two Eryngium agavifolium Giant Form seems to require a lot more water than what it already receives, and/or more sensitive to heat than the rest. Or perhaps it just resents being in a pot, although it's not like it's been in that pot for a long time. I'll be replacing in the next few weeks or so, once I've bought the new plants to take its place. At least the Nolina parviflora at the corner is faring and performing much better.

The two Nerium oleander and Thuja plicata 'Whipcord' are doing very fine, with the oleanders rewarding us with blooms for weeks now.

Pink and Red? Well typical me, picked up two of them from the same batch and assumed the blooms would be the same colour. Only to discover weeks later that they aren't. Nevermind, I'm not fussed with the colour of the bloom anyway as I bought them mainly for their foliage and drought tolerance. It made me smile though once I realised their difference, although my preference would still be for them to be the same.

So there you go, I don't think we've done too bad at all. Next update would be how they will fare over winter. I'm optimistic on that one as this is a more sheltered spot that gets winter sun too. We'll see. Meanwhile I'm the look out for an appropriate replacement for the Alliums and the two Eryngiums.

Mark :-)

Posted in: exotic blog , exotic garden , exotic garden blog , front garden , summer