Remembering my former city garden

This post is more of a journal entry than a public blog post. It is interesting to me, but won't be too interesting to almost any other reader - except perhaps my partner who was there as a co-conspirator. I want to document my thoughts about the past, my backyard garden, and what we put in it.

The size of our city lot was not large. At 100 x 50 ft, there was just enough room for the house, a small garage, and back yard. The driveway was shared with our neighbor. The style of the house was standard American Foursquare, built in 1903. We bought the place in the early 1990's and slowly, over the next 25 years, renovated almost every inch the house and garden.

A dry stone wall was built, with terrace bed to break up the height of the wall

Caladiums and dragon-wing begonias line the steps of the front porch

Well-earned sit-down on the front porch after a busy day

Front wall terrace with blue phlox, hostas, astilbe, snap dragons, and coral bells.

Front wall terrace, brunnera "Jack Frost," phlox, and snap dragons

In the early years of the 2000s, a sunroom and mudroom were added to the back of the house. At the same time, we hired a newly trained landscape designer to design our garden. We were her first client and were delighted with her design. A highlight of the plan was the construction of a dry stone wall on two sides of the back garden, a design similar to those common in Ireland.

Back of the house, with sun and mud rooms added

Wide angle view of the back yard and stone walls

Struggling ageratum, phlox, astilbe, and perennial begonias.

Good old day lillies (stella d'oro) softens the stone wall

Clematis and day lillies, with mop hydrangeas along the shared driveway

Trellises with clematis and rose mix

Three wroght iron obelisks held cylindrical flower baskets

Annual assembly of the flower baskets

Flower baskets with dragon wing begonias and petunias

One year, the baskets contained mostly petunias and vines

Another year, we used a lot of dark red coleus and bright green vines

Our final year at the house, a mix of plants that had thrived in the past

Pots on the back patio contained annuals to echo the flower obelisks

One year, we attempted a Japanese maple, without success

Weigelia plant, decorated with monarch butterflies

A flowering crab tree drooped over the back stone wall

A planter box, built of stones sits on top or the dry stone wall

A nephew helped with the mowing

Not to be out done, another nephew helped mow the front yard

Holiday lights on the flower towers

Beautiful astilbes, even in winter

Cymbidium orchids in the sunroom, having survived all summer on the patio

Comments

I celebrate learning this about cycad plants

I didn't know that the cardboard palm - Zamia furfuracea - is a cycad. It isn't a palm tree (don't judge me, I'm not a botanist). But it also doesn't look like the other more familiar types of cycads with their fluted upright palm-like fronds. I didn't know it is said to be the second most commonly cultivated cycad, after Cycas revoluta . I didn't know this plant is unrelated to the common ZZ plant - Zamioculcas zamifolia - although they have a similar appearance. Before today I didn't know any of these things, but now I am happy to have learned them. From the parking lot I walked to the U of M Conservatory greenhouse in near-zero F weather. Stepping into the tropical spaces was a joy of its own. But being able to learn new information and experience new procedures was a compounding factor. Joy squared. During my 3-hour volunteer shift, my initial task was to clean the parasite critters (mealybugs and scale) from the stems and leaves of the cycad, Zami...

Mobile indoor green wall

Finally, after three years... my plant vines have grown and spread to be green wall that I had hoped for. I'm not sure it would have taken as long if the plants were in a more humid, sunny climate, et cetera. But given our indoor Minnesota location - even with a southwest exposure - the vines have needed that amount of time to climb the six feet from the base to the top rungs of the metal grid supporting them. The result has been worth the effort. And to be honest, I didn't have to wait three years to begin enjoying the green wall. The vines were already attractive when only half way up the trellis. A metal grid is filled with mix of Epipremnum aureum cultivar "Marble Queen", Epipremnum aureum aka golden pothos, and Philodendron Brasil . Architecture of the green wall The initial intent of the project was to grow a green wall, in an apartment, that could be moved around to be able to clean underneath, and also to provide a mobile room divider for our open-plan loft....

The eponymous palm of Palm Springs

Tens of thousands of native California fan palms ( Washingtonia filifera) rise over the gardens and streets of Palm Springs. The fan-like leaves flutter and wave as the trees gently sway in the desert breeze. If a plant could be described as elegant, this plant would certainly be one. Delicate fibers peel away from the leaf blade as they age, giving the palm part of its name, filifera . The advantage of the fibers to the plant is uncertain; however, the fibers were used by the indigenous Cuhuilla tribes for tools and fabrics. It is no accident the city is named for the palm. For centuries the native Cuhuilla residents were vastly outnumbered by fan palms. For the Cuhuilla, the plant became an important resource for their tools and shelters. Even today, I wouldn't be surprised if the number of palms outnumber the residents of the current modern city. Bird's eye view over old Palm Springs neighborhood; fan palms are everywhere. In their native environment, the palms grow best al...

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