Looking south, from the gravel walkway, just off the back porch, this is the low water garden. I have cacti, red stone crop, Turkish horned poppy (which is done blooming in this picture, but has a riotous yellow flower), orange oriental poppy, echinacea (which isn’t doing so well), sunset hyssop, white sage, some self- seeded milkweed, red hot poker, and a hairy leaf white sage. The sumacs in the background provide a lot of privacy, and beautiful fall color.
This little monkey (all 150 pounds of him) loves his little larch tree. But the 6′ x 6′ marshmallow is hogging space. I will need to dig out the marshmallow, harvest the roots, divide and replant next year. I purchased this little monkey sitting on a pile of books, looking very contemplative – – – in Salt Lake when I went to visit my Mom in the spring. As I was having him wheel-barrowed to the checkout, I spied this little larch tree. The two just seemed to go together. And sure enough, the monkey loves the larch tree. I was worried that it wouldn’t be hardy enough, but it pulled through the winter just fine.
North rock berm, viewed from the front porchThe north rock berm is finally filling out. It looked so silly when it was first planted. It really just looked like a pile of rock with a few pathetic little shrubs on it. These dwarf evergreen shrubs are pretty expensive, so I bought them small, like 12″ tall and wide. Time. It’s about time.
I purchased two baby elephant sculptures from Sante Fe Pottery on south Sante Fe Blvd. They are made of old sheet metal and have a nice rusty patina. They stand about 24″ tall and long. They really look like they belong in the wild flower meadow, it’s a Colorado take on the African Savanah. Their Mother is also available, but i don’t think I can afford her.
Mad Hatter’s patioI picked up this old wooden table and chairs from a friend who no longer wanted them. Repainted them in a baby blue (which isn’t a color I usually go with, but I thought it made a nice contrast), and the chairs in green and purple, to match the house trim. My gardener extraordinaire, Jester, helped me create the patio using 4 different colors of slate which I purchased from Bedrock Materials in Brighton www.bedrocklandscapingmaterial.com/, and edged with red sandstone which I got for free from a friends garden. I’ll be adding some additional whimsical touches as time goes on.
