At The Bottom Of The Garden

Pruning bouqet
 
It feels like time to cut back the roses.  I started with the trio of tall hybrid teas at the bottom of the garden.  The north side of the garden is a gully,  the "bottom" is the north east corner;  everywhere from there is uphill.  
Looking west.  Neighbor's property on the other side of the fence on the right.  The pipe on the left is perforated;  I drain pond filter water to all the plants in this area, thereby using the water twice:  once for koi, then for plants

 Looking east.  Key lime tree in the background,  Metrosideros 'Springfire'  on the left, growing well. Pruned roses on the right.  Nepeta tuberosa in the foreground in the circle of wire.  It has come back from summer sleep for the third time.  Huh.  How 'bout that?

  Pruning roses always involves much more than pruning roses.  There is a lot to do at this time of year;  winter is our prime gardening season.

A lot to do such as pulling out a Phlomis purpurea I didn't really like so much, and a Tagetes, which I did like, but there will be seedlings to put elsewhere, and the Banksia prionotes desperately needed a place in the ground.
So it got one

 The very, very bottom of the bottom of the garden

 Run off from properties above rush down the concrete culvert,  but so does eroded soil, which collects at the end of the culvert before the water passes down to the neighbor's drain.  A good storm leaves several buckets of silt behind, which I shovel into the area on the right.  It has been collecting for several years, so I've started using it in areas that need additional soil.  A dry but cool spell in winter is the best time to do that.  I made a berm for the roses, to better keep the pond water at their roots.

Another thing that needed doing was clipping the Christmas tree into little pieces and spreading the pieces as mulch, just above the silt dumping area.  A native Rhus is the plant at the top of the photo:

More by the roses.  It makes a lovely mulch.  I was tempted to take a couple more Christmas trees set out by neighbors on trash day and clip them up as well, but not without permission.  Maybe next year I can plan ahead and do that. 

The bottom of the garden was a lost cause for a number of years because of weed trees hanging over from the neighbor's yard.  The long drought made the situation even worse.  When the neighbors passed away in 2016 and the property was cleaned up, the area garden-able again.  Existing plants have recovered and new plants have done well since then.   
A California native Rhus which sat for several years doing nothing has started to grow.  Adjacent to the silt-dumping area, it is intended to provide habitat/food for birds and screening for the pergola.

It was a really fun day but at that point I needed a rest.  Time to sit under the pergola for a few minutes and enjoy.  This area is very different from the rest of the garden.  Shrubbier and shadier.

 Before having a sit-down...

...it is mandatory to check underneath the cushion to ensure the chair is not already occupied:  

Occupied.  The other chair was free;  I used that one.  Now to continue the plant survey...the Key Lime produces new limes year round as conditions permit.  There are some fresh ones now.  Sitting and resting, I had a Key Lime pie fantasy.  
The fruit is yellow when ripe.   

Repeat look at the Key Lime, which has recovered from the drought really well.  The Metrosideros on the left was planted in May of 2017 from a two gallon (I think).  It's about six feet tall (2 m) now. 

Shortly after it was planted in May 2017, with some summer sun protection:

The 'Icee Blue' Podocarpus has done very well also.  It needed staking to grow perfectly straight, but grown it has.  

May 2017:

Now:

The terraces just uphill from the Podocarpus are also doing well.  The Iochroma planted from a 4" pot Spring 2019 is taller than the 7' wall, but no flowers yet.  Two burgundy Cordylines, and Cordyline 'Electric Flash',  a 'Climbing Iceberg' rose, two 'Green Tower' boxwood, yellow Clivias, the beautiful much loved Italian Cypress that is coming out soon because rodents and fire danger...

'Electric Flash' and an Abelia 'Confetti' is a lot of variegation

But heck, I enjoy.  Their colors are identical. 

Arctostaphylos 'Louis Edmunds' has grown since planting, so it must be reasonably happy.

 I was out there all day in the bottom of the garden.  It is so much fun spending time with happy plants.