Front yard garden in full fall bloom
Every time I arrive at home, slowing to pull into my driveway, I get to enjoy this. Yep, this is my neighbor Donna’s streetside garden that she let me design for her earlier this year. And now it’s all filled in and blooming like crazy.
Here’s how it looked on February 3rd. What a difference 8 months can make, eh? A big swath of drought-crispy lawn was ripped out to make way for this new bed.
The ‘Whale’s Tongue’ agave (A. ovatifolia) in the center of the bed is slower-growing, but it’ll get bigger in a couple of years. I’ve left room for it to stretch its flukes. The red-flowering plants are Autumn sage (Salvia greggii), one of my favorites for sunny spots. It’s a magnet for hummingbirds, and its leaves have a minty fragrance if you brush them with your fingers.
A wider shot shows the view down the street, with Donna’s garden in the foreground and my own streetside gardens continuing just past the decomposed-granite path that runs down our shared property line. That’s my house with all the live oaks in the front yard. You can see why I squeezed in as many salvias as I could on this end, where it’s sunny enough for them.
More salvia! The purple spikes belong to Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha), a beautiful fall bloomer. Orange-flowering dwarf firebush (Hamelia patens var. glabra) glows in front.
Moving on down to my own garden, I have Salvia greggii here too, but since it’s more shaded it blooms less vigorously. The softleaf yucca (Yucca recurvifolia) doesn’t mind partial shade though, and like the others in my garden it’s sporting a bloom spike of creamy, bell-shaped flowers right now.
An overhead view
And a closeup look. I’ve been spraying deer repellent on the yucca blossoms for the past week to try to keep the deer from snacking on them. So far so good.
A wider view. That’s Muhlenbergia ‘Pink Flamingos’ on the left, which will be blooming soon. Clusters of Mexican feathergrass (Nassella tenuissima), purple sage (Salvia officinalis), and garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) perform groundcover duty along the front of the bed. Purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’) adds dark foliage and fuzzy purple-and-dusky-pink blooms on the right.
Just in front of my house, another softleaf yucca blooms in the island bed, with the tropicalesque foliage of our native palmetto, Sabal minor, adding its green spikes in the background.
On the sunnier side of the island bed, ‘Color Guard’ yuccas are the bright-yellow focal point, with gray-green gopher plant (Euphorbia rigida) in front, wavy spineless prickly pear (Opuntia) behind, and lacy, silver ‘Powis Castle’ artemisia on the right.
But I’ll leave you with a last look at Donna’s garden, since this is its prime season (although soon it’ll be even better, when the Gulf muhly grasses start blooming). And look—with her daughter’s help she was inspired this summer to rip out her tired, overpruned evergreen shrubs along the front of her house, making a lovely new garden there too! The flowering perennials and grasses she chose complement her Spanish-style home much better than that old line of evergreens did.
All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Looking good, it’s just beautiful and so much more interesting than evergreen shrubs. Amazing how similar our front yards look now. I also enjoy driving up to the house everytime.
I suspect we have very similar conditions, and apparently similar looking houses, yes? I hope to visit your garden one day, Shirley. —Pam
Just lovely, Pam! What a great welcome–for you AND your neighbor. 🙂
Thanks, Kim. All those salvias do brighten up the mostly evergreen streetscape. —Pam
Wow! What a difference between the before and after. America needs more neighbors like you.
Aw, thanks, Les. —Pam
WOW! It looks beautiful. The landscaping by the front of her house looks great. I agree… the grasses compliment her home. Great job!
It’s amazing what a facelift a house can get from new foundation plants. She and her daughter did a nice job. —Pam
Oh my that is fabulous…I wish more of my neighbors would garden out front. The spineless prickly pear is a beauty.
That’s from Jean’s garden in LA, Gail! —Pam
Great job Pam! Which Salvia greggiis are those? Pink Preference?
It didn’t have a cultivar name, Cindy. It was simply labeled “hot pink,” as I recall. —Pam
Very nice! I especially adore the Whale’s Tongue and the Autumn Sage together. Excellent designs!
Thanks, PP. You can’t go wrong with a ‘Whale’s Tongue’ in my book. 😉 (Unless you have a small space.) —Pam
It’s always inspiring to see the way a bed fills in! Wow! I admire people like you who can “see” the end at the beginning. I am going to do a little research and see if the salvia varieties will thrive here in NE Indiana. (I have the blue, but was unaware of the others.)
What a treat it must be to drive down your street with its front-yard gardens!
I think Salvia greggii and S. leucantha will be too cold-tender for you in Indiana, Rebecca. But they might be worth planting as long-blooming summer-to-fall annuals. —Pam
Hey Pam, I have room up here for you guys to build a new house !:) I have some brand new north facing beds to do this fall, just may have to send pics and get a good coaching ! So good to see 7-8 month progress in pictures.
Don’t tempt me, Randy. A second house with a new garden to plant? Could be fun, but my back would never forgive me. 😉 —Pam
LOVE IT !
Thanks, Shelley. I KNOW you love gardens instead of lawn. —Pam
I have found that wind chimes will keep the many deer out of my yard. They come several times daily to eat the acorns that fall across the fence but have not yet come into the yard-for either acorns or roses.
Interesting, Sally. I’m glad you’re having luck keeping deer away from your roses. —Pam
I don’t understand why more people get rid of the lawn. I guess they are uninspired and fear that the garden will require more work.
Beautiful job! I think I took a piece of the first salvia you showed from a neighbor’s garden and I can wait to use it in my garden. I am waiting for the rain to start.
I love all the other plants you showed, the yuccas, and the prickly pear cactus, it looks great.
Thanks for the continuous inspiration.
Thanks, Laura. I think you must mean “why more people don’t get rid of the lawn”? I think a lot of people just don’t know what to do instead. That’s what I’m hoping to help people with in my upcoming book Lawn Gone! —Pam
Pam – I’ve done a patio in decomposed granite and cannot keep the prostrate spurge at bay. What’s your best tool for that?
I’ve plucked every darn one out with my fingertips several times, but they keep coming back. There’s purslane in there, too. We put down a weed barrier under the stone, but apparently that was not enough.
Judy, spurge and purslane definitely love to move in on d.g. patios and paths, and weedblock doesn’t stop them since they grow in the top couple of inches. I wait until it rains or I water and then just pull them out by hand, working carefully to get all the root. Failing that, I will use Roundup to knock it back rather than let it get out of control. —Pam
Looking good!
Doesn’t it feel good, when all the hard work begins to pay off?
It sure does, Linda. 🙂 —Pam
Reading your blog today made me feel like I has a little taste of home. When I lived in the Hill Country, The Natural Gardener was my favorite place to go – both to shop for plants and get gardening ideas, and just take my grandson exploring.
And they usually had the native tree or shrub I was looking for.
Of all the gardening shops in all the states in which I’ve gardened, this is definitely my favorite.
I’m glad you’re enjoying the posts, Marilyn. I’m happy to be able to deliver a little central Texas to your inbox. 🙂 —Pam
Wow, I remember when you did that garden and I was curious to see how it would turn out! Lovely!
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoyed the update, Ruth. —Pam
Just beautiful, Pam! (so is your new website!)
Thanks, Cheryl! —Pam
How gorgeous Pam! It sure has been a gorgeous season so far, hasn’t it?! I have a whole lot of planting to do this weekend that I am really looking forward to. It is so nice to be outside again!!!! ahhhhhhhhh sweet fall.
I love fall too! Now’s the time for all those gardening projects we dreamed up all summer. —Pam
I don’t think I can say it any better than anyone else has, but the beds are lovely. Come move next door to me and landscape my neighbors yard. 🙂
Aw, thanks, Laura. I appreciate the compliment. 🙂 —Pam
Love these pics, so helpful. I have a big new area of north facing beds , mostly open , bright shade, due to the house, which will get much more sun starting late spring and all summer. If you don`t mind, do you think many of these great plants you show in the berm and in that area of yours next to the bed you did for your neighbor will work for me? By the way, thanks for stopping by the blog!
I think they will grow in bright shade, but they will not bloom well unless they get at least several hours of direct sun. I’d go with Turk’s cap, softleaf yucca, heartleaf skullcap, purple sage, and even Mexican feathergrass in bright shade, Randy. —Pam
Thanks Pam ! I was going to do Turk`s cap for sure and Soft leaf is a pleasant surprise for ths place.
Softleaf yucca does surprisingly well in bright or partial shade, Randy. I use it all over my live oak shaded gardens. —Pam