2025 Plans and Design Ideas
1. Replace Fall Anemone with Rose
The fall anemone (and all its runners) is spreading too much, despite my assumption it would not in this dry climate. But of course I water it. The foliage is not great, crisps if too dry, and blackens as soon as frost comes. I cut it back, but then that leaves a blank spot under the window all winter. Flowering is brief and sparse.
I'll take it out and replace it with a rose.
The Pink Blushing Knockout rose I had in CT would be perfect. It will have the height I want to come up over the sill of the window, and the fullness to anchor that end of the garden. I remember it had a lovely fragrance.
Of course it won't flower like that here, but it might have a decent display.I should be able to find one easily.
2. Take out the Chinese Privet
The privet by the garage door is gone. Jeronimo took it out when he came to clean up the leaves on December 6. Now there is a blank wall.
For now I put the mesh patio table there, with some random pots on it, thinking to add more and plant the Windwalker Red salvia in front of the table, where there are still emitters in place.
The table, along with two of the patio chairs had been below the rr ties by my potting bench, and I loved sitting there in shade on summer days. It was a useful stopping place as I worked at the back of the garden. It drew the eye toward the fence.
But it was crowded in that narrow spot and this winter it is covered in sticky, gooey crabapples from the neighbor's tree. The chairs were a mess too. So I moved them away from that spot and the table had to go somewhere.
I added a shepherd's crook for cohesion, but really, what am I going to put on the hook? The table looks skimpy, although I can dress it up with a nice wearing can, more pots, more plants . . . I'm not crazy about staging more display items in my garden.
But it's the focal point as I look down the yard from the deck.
Some thoughts:
👉 I thought about getting the bbq grill out of the garage. Jim has to roll it out to the driveway and back in every time he grills, and its bulk takes up room in the garage. Why not put it here, with the table next to it. It isn't pretty or display-worthy, but it is convenient and looks intentional. A grilling station.
But no. It's too near mulch and plants and it would have to be out away from the wall, and where would the Windwalker Red salvia go, or the white bowl? And I'd have to cap the emitters there.
👉 I thought about a tool closet there for visual height and interest and I do need tools handy at that end of the garden.
But no. The garage vents are right there and need to be kept clear.
👉 I thought about a rain chain hanging from the canale in the center, it would provide a pretty and vertical focal point to look at sitting on the deck down the length of the yard.
The original one I got that is out front was from RainChains.com and they did a great job, including the custom canale extender. Those were called Lily Flower Cups. They have a square one called Tulip Cups unfinished copper 777 that I like for the garage wall.
👉 I also thought about another rain barrel for under that canale. I could set it up with a short hose to automatically drain out into the birdbath garden where water is needed.
But no. I'd have to take out the leftmost sumac to site a big barrel there. And it's bulky and utilitarian, not really a great focal point at the end of the long view.
Here's a bit of reminder of what the privet had looked like in better days:
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| How it looked |
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| 2017 |
The spot under a canale was a problem when hard rains from above it broke off branches on the right side. The left side crowded the garage door. I had to do extensive pruning all the time, and when full it looked lollipop shaped. And after a snowstorm that broke off even more branches on the thin side, it looked pretty bad.
So I'll have to work with that blank wall and see how I can make a focal point there to look at, but keep it open for the garage vents, and not crowd the door. Will the table, dressed up a bit, with a red salvia in front of it work?
3. Annuals / Tender Perennials
Get more annual cuphea plants next spring, either for pots or to plant in the ground (somewhere?)
I always liked 'David 'Verity' which has dark orange flowers and a nice shrub size. And I like the tiny draping one I have in a terra cotta trough this year, with deep red flowers, called 'Cubano Cristo'.
Eliminate the nicotiana alata next year. They're lovely and fragrant and did well in pots inside the larger blue container behind the deck. But I now have the bowl of crocosmias set in that container and want to see how they do there.
I now have Kent's Beauty oregano in the green trough by the front door. I always liked red geraniums there, but this year the kind I got did not do well. Maybe keep the oregano and don't do geraniums next year?
Gomphrena Strawberry Fields also did not do well this year in ground. Maybe try it again next year in the blue container on the patio tucked in with the bush clematis there?
4. Ironwood
I took out the small twiggy Vanessa ironwood I got from Forestfarm and replaced it with a Persian Spire tree from Sooner Plant Farm. It will be a better size at maturity.
I'll see if the Vanessa twig survives in its pot over winter. If it does, where to put hot? This will be a tall tree, to 40 feet and 20 feet wide. At seven years my original Vanessa parrotia is already huge.
Where could I use another tree that size and shape?
Santa Fe --specifically zip 87507 -- is now rated for winter hardiness at 7a.
Salvia greggii 'Radio Red' is listed as hardy to zone 7, a minimum of zero degrees. Some say zone 6.
We've had short spells of below zero temps on occasion over the years I've been here. Let's see if they survive. The kitchen courtyard is sunny and protected by fence and wall, which might be enough protection.
👉 Some sources say to mulch plants in the ground with a lot of leaves (I have those) and a bucket over. I should do that.
6. Red Cascade Rose
I'm still toying with having this scrambling rose trained up over the kitchen door canopy.
It isn't a climber so much as a cascading draper, and my thought when I first planted this in the corner was to have it go over to the fence and crawl along the top of the posts. I have it angled over that way as it fills out now and spreads.
But how would I get it up and over to the canopy structure? Should I even try? The branches are brittle and thorny, very hard to maneuver.
Some alternatives I had been thinking about:
Here's a half trellis on Amazon, almost 8 feet tall with a span at the top of 5 feet. I wouldn't be able to screw it into anything, but set it against the slope of the canopy roof. $162.
This could totally work!
