the last bit of yesterday was finished off at the farm, doing some general clean-up and a bit of planting. the guys weed whacked and planted clusters of jade in the succulent mother garden – i poked around taking pictures and organizing the accumulating detritus that the wind brings in on the field. on the driveway, a number of volunteers have established well in the compacted gravel. seed from Shasta Daisys, Nepeta, Stock and Feverfew – all have been brought in from my truck or the wind, and have settled nicely in various parts of the long driveway. it’s weird how you can try so hard to get something to grow in your garden, and it dies. but do nothing to cultivate a plant elsewhere, and it thrives. the mother garden is maintaining well, despite a lack of water and attention. some of the succulents are growing, but most are just maintaining, bright in color and healthy – but not exuding too much energy this time of year.
teeth i found in the field
i forget the name of this ground cover...
yarrow who planted itself in the driveway
discolored tree frog on the water tank pump...
Feverfew in the driveway
echeveria growing in the mother garden with concrete blocks
Aeonium growing in the mother garden
I designed a vertical garden for a client’s freshly built and devastatingly boring fence in HMB a couple weeks ago. It went from a mundane expansion of fence – to a blanket of lush textures and colors, planted in a way that makes it look like the fence is dripping with foliage and flowers (or, at least that’s how it will look in another couple months as it fills in!). In the process, I notice the contractor on site tossing out old sections of the fence, so I promptly dug them out of the trash and into the back of my pickup.
Hours later (with the help of Dustin, who can build anything out of anything!), they turned into a new coop for my babies.
Presenting: Chateau Bawk Bawk
front view of the new coop
hooks hold the romantic lights, burlap with plastic keep the rain out
a sand-blasted manzanita branch
wood from my fence, a client's fence, and driftwood from a trip to Port Townsend
happy bawk bawks, checking out my stock of plants
KE’s job has been pretty much a dream. Great client, great property, and all the plants are happy! This has been the weirdest year of weather, and not every project I’ve worked on have grown in as much as they normally do by this time of year. I guess the constant blanket of fog in August was not conducive to fabulous growing. In any event, this job has been great. I love deigning projects for men.
Men = foliage color.
Men = succulents.
Men = dark colors and no pink!
It’s heaven. The pic above are simple spanish lavender, agave attenuata, black smoke bush and a ‘lime light’ viburnum. The soil in this part of HMB is a gorgeous clay, loam which (minus the gophers) makes for perfect growing conditions. I’m not a huge fan of bark (shown – cedar chips) as a mulch, but it was insisted upon, and at the least smells great when you walk on it.
Wide, long bands of spanish lavender, carex grass and black iris (among others) – run along side the vast lawn. The quick growing perennials and grasses will fill in fast, creating a giant, textured sweep throughout the entire back garden. I am not a huge fan of lawn for many reasons – but if one insists upon lawn (and one did!) than No-Mow is the only way to go. Mow it once a year and it looks fabulous. Little water, even less fertilizer and it grows long and lush rapidly. It truly is the prefect lawn for a picnic or naked lounging (so I’ve been told). The pic below was after it was just installed, so it’s much shorter and yellower than it will be in a few weeks.
The dudleyas line the hand-cut, blue tumbled stone pathway beautifully. I’m excited to see them grow in and mix about with the layers of thyme and echeveria.
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Dirty Girl Gardening is a sister company to Wildflower Farms ,our organic landscape design company based out of Half Moon Bay, California.
For information and to get started on your next landscape project please contact Jennifer at Wildflower Farms or 650-726-5883 
