Oh dear, what's going on behind that Ligustrum hedge?
I saw this garden go from typical bermuda grass lawn and a few foundation junipers (cubed, of course) to a quite stylish no-lawn design, but I should have gotten photographs before the hedge got so tall photographs became difficult. In the past few months I saw Agave flower stems towering over the hedge, so yesterday I drove by and took a few photos over the garden's gate. I was curious as to which Agaves were blooming--and you never know, a few bulbils might have fallen over the hedge and onto the sidewalk...
The entire front yard is edged with an increasingly tall and dense sheared Ligustrum japonicum privacy hedge.
The cubed foundation junipers were replaced with a disciplined palette of Agave, Aeonium, blue fescue, and Aloe noblis. A grey gravel walk circles the house with the same Agave/Aeonium/Fescue/Aloe combination on either side of the walkway. The parkways (the planted strip between the sidewalk and the street) are Dymondia margaretae, but they did a poor job of removing the bermuda grass, so it is now a mix of Dymondia and bermuda grass, giving new meaning to the common term for parkways, "hell strip".
The Agaves were completely bloomed out, dry shadows of themselves.
I was really longing for a few bulbils. I do not have an Agave vilmoriniana.
Nice yard, far better than the grass version. They only need to redo the parkways with some of those vilmoriniana bulbils, and considering how many Agaves were in bloom, they could provide parkway vilmorniniana plants for every single home a mile in all directions. Wouldn't that be awesome? I wish I'd had the nerve to ring the doorbell and ask for some bulbils.
I saw this garden go from typical bermuda grass lawn and a few foundation junipers (cubed, of course) to a quite stylish no-lawn design, but I should have gotten photographs before the hedge got so tall photographs became difficult. In the past few months I saw Agave flower stems towering over the hedge, so yesterday I drove by and took a few photos over the garden's gate. I was curious as to which Agaves were blooming--and you never know, a few bulbils might have fallen over the hedge and onto the sidewalk...
The entire front yard is edged with an increasingly tall and dense sheared Ligustrum japonicum privacy hedge.
The cubed foundation junipers were replaced with a disciplined palette of Agave, Aeonium, blue fescue, and Aloe noblis. A grey gravel walk circles the house with the same Agave/Aeonium/Fescue/Aloe combination on either side of the walkway. The parkways (the planted strip between the sidewalk and the street) are Dymondia margaretae, but they did a poor job of removing the bermuda grass, so it is now a mix of Dymondia and bermuda grass, giving new meaning to the common term for parkways, "hell strip".
The Agaves were completely bloomed out, dry shadows of themselves.
I was really longing for a few bulbils. I do not have an Agave vilmoriniana.
Nice yard, far better than the grass version. They only need to redo the parkways with some of those vilmoriniana bulbils, and considering how many Agaves were in bloom, they could provide parkway vilmorniniana plants for every single home a mile in all directions. Wouldn't that be awesome? I wish I'd had the nerve to ring the doorbell and ask for some bulbils.
Nice find. I always wonder if people would be receptive of me knocking on their door also. Everyday I drive by a house with a nice cacti display in their front yard, and I can catch a glimpse of a larger collection on shelves in their side/back garden. I would like to talk to them to see what they have, where they got it from, and hopefully a "oh yeah sure go ahead take a few cuttings if you like it" :) Will that be crazy?
ReplyDeleteI *wish* people would stop and talk to me about my garden. I say do it!
DeleteI think real gardeners love to talk plants and share--this house though, they are not gardeners as far as I can tell. No pot ghetto--the pot ghetto is the tip-off. ;)
DeleteDrop a handwritten note into the mailbox asking for bulbils, and supply a phone number and email address. Or get a long bamboo pole with some chewing gum stuck on the end and see if you can snag a few. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI ask. One Christmas I had a whole family out pruning branches off their arborvitae for my mantle display. Another time a little old lady cut me enough Chrysanthemums for a bouquet bigger than my Thanksgiving turkey. I love meeting people that way. I find that when people do you a favor, they take a proprietary interest in your welfare from that point onward. That's one reason I miss hitchhiking.
ReplyDeleteEven if, as you suspect, they're not "real gardeners," your own bulbils give you the perfect opportunity to approach the owner and offer a trade. Go for it!
ReplyDelete