Curbside garden beds in late spring
The Salvia greggii and Jerusalem sage that I planted in my neighbor’s streetside garden, to tie in with my own, are blooming and attracting bees and butterflies.
So is the Verbena bonariensis. There’s always a butterfly on it (until I scare them away by leaning in for a photo).
A wider view from the street takes in both our gardens: mine is the long section at right; my neighbor’s is the portion by the large, flat boulders. A shared decomposed-granite path runs between them and back behind my streetside garden.
A long view down my garden, looking toward the circular driveway and live oak-shaded island bed. I went with simple, repeated groups of feathergrass, garlic chives, and salvia, with accents of yucca, sotol, and purple fountain grass (an annual), and with groundcovers like catmint and lamb’s ears. Everything must be content with a few hours of morning sun and daily foraging by deer.
This is my view as I drive up to the house every day. I love seeing the Mexican feathergrasses waving in the breeze, and the cheerful spots of color from the pink salvias.
Salvia guaranitica in the island bed
On the sunniest side of the island bed, ‘Color Guard’ yuccas consort with gopher plant (Euphorbia rigida) and Opuntia. Just past the drive you can see my other shared garden, with the other neighbor, where we used to have burned-up grass.
A streetside garden delivers a lot of value: curb appeal, no more mowing or watering of dry edges along the street, and maybe even an excuse to garden with the neighbors.
All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
I feel like singing the Mr. Rogers song – you know the one – “Won’t you be, won’t you be, won’t you be my neighbor”
Great design, Pam, and great execution.
Sharing a garden with a neighbor who isn’t a gardener is pretty fun. She lets me do whatever I want! 😉 —Pam
Georgous and SO much prettier and better for our little bug and bird friends. I once had a neighbor in Houston who gardened with me. We had a common strip between our houses that we planned and planted together.
Yes, the birds, butterflies, bees, and lizards definitely appreciate this new garden. When it was lawn? Nothin’. —Pam
The gardens have turned out well–so much prettier and more practical than grass. I love that Verbena!
Me too, Tina. I’ve tried to grow it from seed several times, with no luck (too much mulch in my gardens, I suspect), so I planted these from 4-inch pots. They’re growing fast, and the butterflies love them. —Pam
Those look really good. And, they’ve come along fast, too.
Feels great, when things work out as planned.
Yes, it’s good to see it fill out, as the neighbors are hoping for something nice! —Pam
These beds look great running together. I giggled when I thought of my neighbor and I trying to agree on how to run our gardens together. We are planets apart on gardening thoughts.
Ah, yes, I can see where it would be a challenge to blend two gardening styles. Imagine—some gardening couples have to deal with that on a daily basis. —Pam
This is not on-subject, but did you see the lovely quilt called “Digging” on Each Little World blog? I thought of you instantly, Pam. Here’s a photo:
http://eachlittleworld.typepad.com/each_little_world/2012/05/rumi-obrien-in-spring-green.html
I just did, Sandy, and love it. Thanks for the link. —Pam
Very nice looking strips…mine is starting to fill in (though when I take a picture it still looks like I just planted it). Sigh… maybe in a few years it will actually look “lived in”
My shared gardens, on either end, are still just starting to fill in too, Katina. The middle sections are older and “fluffier.” It’s the 3rd year when a garden leaps, remember? —Pam
Looking fabulous. Wouldn’t it be great if the whole street had curbside beds like there?
That would be quite nice, Bernieh—much more interesting than grass, for sure. —Pam
Lovely how you tied the neighbors street view with yours. Everything goes with stipa! I love that grass, too. My yucca ‘Color Guard’ has a bloom spike and I’m waiting in anticipation!
I had one ‘Color Guard’ that bloomed this spring, Freda, but some sort of red bug devoured the blossoms. It was a bit of a disappointment. I was prepared to defend the bloom against deer, but the bugs snuck in and got it instead. —Pam
Your gardens look lovely Pam! What type of vine do you have growing up your trellis? Also, that was really a brilliant move to make your city water main shut off in the granite where it is very visible in an emergency if you ever have a leak around your home. I did not plan this well and ours is in a main garden bed – EEK! I think I will try somehow to surround it in rocks or granite to make it more visible like yours. Thank you!
Hi, Heather. I wish I could claim brilliance re: the water meter visibility, but we just worked around it with the plan that we wanted to implement. Also, there’s no trellis or vine in this part of the garden. You may be seeing a circle of wire around my possumhaw holly, to protect it from deer while it’s small. —Pam
What a welcome home you have. Love that feather grass which must make you feel cool in the hot summer as it sways.
It’s one of my faves, Layanee. That and the silver plants. —Pam
Pam, I hope your neighbors realize just how lucky they are to have you to plan and implement this…it’s so amazing…and must be even more impressive in person…to see several neighbors with such wonderful, complimentary plantings…well done!
The neighbors are very kind to let me “garden up” their curbside, and very complimentary about how I’ve done it. I consider myself lucky! It’s fun to spread the garden a little farther on each side. —Pam
I love seeing how you combine plants! I recently planted one of your combinations from an earlier post – heart-leaf skullcap and turk’s cap.
I’m glad to share planting combos I like, Cynthia! Those are two great native plants for our region. —Pam
The joined gardens makes me think the saying good fences make good neighbors needs revising. How about neighbors who garden together make a lovely landscape!
That’s a nice change, Cindy. 🙂 —Pam