Post Mulching-Frenzy Reasessments

After five days of intense focus on mulching, working until darkness or intense heat drove me indoors, I'm mostly finished.  Now perhaps energy and attention can be turned to the ever-looming beast that is the west slope, a project I've been struggling with for a couple of years now.  Thanks to the one and only decent winter storm a few weeks ago softening up arid ground, the soil was workable enough to dig out Baccharis and Bougainvilleas that had grew back from the roots...
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...once-beautiful Yuccas that began to look bad and were misplaced anyway...
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...and a meh California native not even the hummingbirds can gather much enthusiasm for.  The part of the slope that is freshly mulched and empty looks great.
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The rest--maybe now,  after mulching, it will get planted?  I bounce between dismaying ugly areas and the solace of awesome. 
 Rosa 'Eureka', with 'Bill Warriner' in the background.
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 'Tamora' got a flat-top in January, which proved to be brilliant--look at her now.  The photo doesn't do her justice--imagine a peach rose bouquet five feet across, if you can. 
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 There are plenty of ugly areas in the garden besides the west slope.  I should show some others.  This odd east-side alcove between the bumped-out living room chimney and the dining room I tried adorning with Epiphyllums that need to be out of the way.  Hmmm...probably overly sunny for them, though I got the proportion of plant to space right, I think.  That screeny thing on the left keeps the birds from eating the blueberries. 
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A highly visible spot right by the front door has annoyed me for years--the large water pressure gauge, the brown tangled clematis stems, the electrical plug in plain view, and the massive bare base of 'Sombreuil' climbing rose with its big nasty prickles--there several generations of plants have tried and have failed.  Is the solution some sort of plain smallish green shrub--a boxwood?  That spot is also bone dry--the installed sprinklers are turned off because all they do is water the house, which doesn't need watering. 
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Ah, I have an Ozothamnus 'Silver Cape' sitting in a pot waiting for a home.  To about 3'x3' (90 cm x 90 cm)...bingo.
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Then there's this...
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And another prime spot out front planted with a (supposedly) highly reliable rose that always looks reliably terrible.  Why do highly visible parts of the garden refuse to cooperate?
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Oh dear.  The sight makes me want to post yet another picture of 'Belinda's Dream', yet again.  Any time there is yet another picture of 'Belinda's Dream', you can assume I'm wrestling with one of the ugly places in the garden, and losing.
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Comments

  1. How splendid is your Tamora ! Mine went into the compost in fall. I think I had a lemon. She never broke knee height.

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    1. Does indeed sound like a bad copy--It took off as soon as it went in the ground here. You can compost woody stuff? Too dry here--it would take a decade.

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  2. I smiled all through this post, I have lots of places like that in my garden too, where things aren’t really working or going according to plan. I am forever tweaking things, moving plants and trying something new. That’s probably what makes us gardeners, right?! Your red rose on the first photo is gorgeous! Looking forward to seeing your slope when it is finished.

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    1. I'm not sure I believe that--your garden is exquisite--likely due to all that tweaking. That's 'Barcelona' in the first photo, a great rose.

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  3. I lack your bravery, tending to point my camera only at the spots that are momentarily pleasing. When I look at the eyesores, my self-protective behavior gets ratcheted up a notch and I see it as I imagine it will be at some magical future moment.

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    1. Exposing the bad bits to the entire planet motivates me to improve them! :^)

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  4. Wonderful to follow along with you. The rose pictures are so welcome as I look out into my bleak early spring garden. Only the daffodils are beginning to brave the post Polar Vortex conditions. Happy Spring.

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    1. Thank you, Teresa. I'm sure your Spring will arrive soon. Enjoy!

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