Revamping the Circle Garden, again
The summer doldrums, I call it. When it feels like a sauna outside, and it won’t rain, and yet the plants and especially the weeds grow like Jack’s magical beanstalk until the garden feels suffocated by vegetation. That’s where I was a couple weeks ago, with tree limbs drooping over paths, shrubs outgrowing their space, and early-summer flowers looking spent — and with me hunkered down in the A/C, looking out the windows and wanting to whack it all back.
So that’s what I did. I sprayed myself with Off! and sunscreen, put on a brimmed hat, got out my electric trimmers, and just went at everything: Mexican buckeye, bamboo muhly, pale pavonia, autumn sage, Mexican honeysuckle, ‘Peter’s Purple’ bee balm, tall verbena. Whack, whack! Even the spring-revamped Circle Garden, pictured above, got a major cut-back.
Looking back, oh how I’d loved the colorful blowsiness of the Circle Garden in spring and early summer! And how I hated it by midsummer, when the Verbena bonariensis had faded, its lanky stems collapsed across the path, and ‘Fireworks’ gomphrena towering spindly-legged over the potted agave.
Speaking of which, I don’t think I’ve shared a close-up view of the agave centerpiece, a stunningly variegated whale’s tongue agave passed along by my friend Jennifer Brown before she moved abroad. She told me she’d found it at a local nursery, labeled as regular Agave ovatifolia despite unusual streaks of moonshine-yellow variegation on powder-blue leaves. She snapped it up, feeling like she’d gotten it for a steal, although she wondered whether the variegation would fade over time. It hasn’t, to my delight.
Anyway, I ripped out the verbena, gomphrena, and a mishmash of other early-flowering perennials around the agave but kept the evergreen ‘Micron’ hollies and the pink knotweed around the perimeter. Inside the ring I planted a matrix of low-growing foxtail fern (Asparagus densiflorus ‘Myersii’), variegated society garlic (Tulbaghia violacea ‘Variegata’), and purple sage (Salvia officinalis ‘Purpurascens’), which should look tidier for most of the year.
And then I kept going, ripping out the bamboo muhly grass at the base of the deck, which had grown to immense proportions. It completely filled the space and towered over my head (and I’m nearly 6 feet), blocking the view from the deck unless you stood right at the rail.
With a new patch of sun and no deer in the backyard, I planted a trio of ‘Icecap’ roses, which are supposed to stay small (2 to 3 feet tall and wide) and whose white flowers show up nicely against the dark-gray deck stain, especially in the evening.
For the front edge I spontaneously bought a flat of Salvia farinacea ‘Midnight Candle’ from Shoal Creek Nursery. And I transplanted iris and added foxtail fern for winter interest.
The spindly golden thryallis in the corner will be replaced this fall with a ‘Purple Pillar’ rose of Sharon I’ve ordered from Proven Winners.
I’ve got lots of golden thryallis, and I’ve been delighted with the upright form and reliable flowering of a ‘Purple Pillar’ I received as a trial plant. This should be a good spot for another to enjoy from the deck.
The back and shadier side of the Circle Garden. With mostly shade on the back and afternoon sun on the front (which faces the pool), this has proved a challenging space to plant, at least with flowering plants that end up leaning for the light. The new plants around the agave offer a mix of foliage texture and color with a long season of interest.
I know, I know — it’s July. Why am I planting in the hottest doldrums of summer, breaking my own rule never to plant between May and early October except for agave, yucca, or the like?
Because. Because I couldn’t stand it anymore. Because it’s a pandemic, and what else have I got to do? Because even drenched with sweat and filthy with dirt stuck to sweat and mosquito repellent, it makes me happy to be working in the garden.
Now of course I’ve got to be out there every morning, watering all my new plants before it gets up to 100 F. But that’s OK too because I’m seeing how pretty it all looks, and I’m saying hi to the fawn every morning, and I’m seeing the garlic chives sending up flowerbuds, which tells me summer will be waning soon. OK, maybe not soon. But eventually, at last, even the summer doldrums must pass.
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Digging Deeper
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All material © 2024 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
It looks fabulous, Pam. You really know how to garden, even in the Misery Known As Summer.
Well, it’s a lot of tinkering for moments that I’m happy with. And then more tinkering. But you know that, as a gardener yourself. I do thank you for the vote of confidence, HB.
and here was I thinking you had the magic garden that just managed itself. I hear you laughing. I am doing exactly the same over here and writing a blog post about it as well only mine is a more serious situation than yours becauseI do it constantly!
I AM laughing, Jenny. No garden manages itself. Summer is usually my thinking time of year as far as the garden is concerned. But a good cutback and plant yank-out made room for new plants, so I obliged.
I firmly embrace constant renovation. It feels so good when it’s done ! And if you don’t like it in a couple years just do it again. We don’t have to please anyone but ourselves and pandemic gardening has certainly upped the sense of urgency to change what just does not work anymore. My RootSlayer shovel has had a good workout in 2020.
Digging is good for the soul. Happy “slaying” yourself, KS!
That Agave is gorgeous! I shuddered a bit at your mention of asparagus fern, however, as that plan is a nightmare in my current garden. I have both ‘Myers’ and ‘Spengeri’ varieties. ‘Myers’ is better behaved but only just that. The plants’ bulbous roots have been very difficult to remove and it seeds itself everywhere. I hope it behaves better in your climate.
It does, Kris. I’ve never gotten any volunteers. In fact the biggest risk in our climate is a winter cold snap into the 20s that knocks them all back. It’s interesting to hear it’s so aggressive in L.A.
Well, it all looks splendid, Pam! You have more stamina than this old lady, for sure. Hope you had a couple tall cold ones afterwards, heh heh.
I think I drank about two gallons of water afterward and then collapsed on the couch. 😉
It looks like a pretty darned good way to throw off those summer doldrums. I think the circle looks very neat and tidy now. I really like the roses by your dark house. They will really pop. The fish at the edge of the circle garden appears to be swimming in circles looking for its pond. 😉
He is! You may recognize him as a decoration in my old stock-tank pond. I’ve been moving him around a bit, trying to find his perfect spot in the new design. I do want to keep him as a tribute to the old pond garden.
Your garden changes looks great! I am also resisting the urge to whack, whack, whack – but will try to hold off until later August . . . It’s a challenge to have a beautiful summer garden in central Texas – thanks for showing us it can be done!
Thank you, Nancy! I think it’s about a good base of evergreen foliage with a certain geometry, whether via agaves, prickly pear, yuccas, or clipped shrubs. It gives the rest of the garden, even when heat-stressed and August-tired, something to bounce off of until October rolls around.
So lush, Pam! Beautiful job. Would have liked to have seen everything before it was ripped out, for comparison.
I’m intrigued by the path around your circle garden. In some pics, it looks like wood, in others, concrete or tile. Did you put it in yourself? It’s a very tidy look and a perfect foil to the flagstones.
Oh btw, my 12 y.o. son and I used your recent travel posts for his daily reading practice. He loved all the wildlife pics, but the Half Dome/earthquake drama was his favorite 🙂
Thanks, Julie. If I were a more diligent blogger I’d have taken photos before I started cutting back and ripping out, but I was in a frenzy of “get ‘er done.” I’ll see if I can find a photo in past posts of the overgrown bamboo muhlies along the deck though, just for reference.
As for the sunburst path, it’s made of long strips of chopped stone. I laid it myself 10 years ago. If you’d like to see its genesis, I have two posts about building it: where I got the design inspiration and then the finished project.
Please tell your son hello from me! I love hearing that he used my travel posts for reading practice, and that he liked the earthquake story and wildlife photos. I have two more national parks to share from that trip, including some freaky-looking “trees” from Joshua Tree. I hope he’ll enjoy reading about them!
That agave, oh my god that agave…
It’s a good one, isn’t it? I wonder if its bulbils will have the variegation gene, when it finally flowers. I sense another mass mailing of bulbils in my future.