GardenBook

  I don't even remember all of the so-called designs I implemented for the hell strip in the 30 or so years I've lived in this house. I know the original street trees in the neighborhood (mostly installed around 1983)  were all the dreadful Hackberry most of which were removed either by the homeowner (in my case) or more recently by the city. The trees technically belong to the city , and as I recall they took care of the removal and planting a replacement tree but only chipped in a modest amount per square foot for sidewalk repair. By that time sidewalks all over the city were lifting so they developed a list of approved trees that worked much better in the narrow strip between the sidewalk and the street.  I chose Crape Myrtle which took quite a few years to get going so between the sidewalk repair and when the new tree went in I replanted for sun with the thought I could just move/ replace them if and when the area got too shady. It took several years but shade happened and

  Such a bad blogger I've been for the last several months, but I'm hoping to ramp back up again. I have plenty of photos but since retirement I have taken a deeper dive than ever into the garden and it's hard to pull myself away .   May is one of my favorite months in my garden-no more frost, minimal rain and the horrible late summer decline is still a couple months off. So let's have a look at the blooms that are showing off this month.  I  was pretty certain I couldn't grow Leucospermums in my garden. They were not seen for sale in garden centers in my area, though I could drive for an hour and find them. Most of the hardiness ratings were about 25c and we do typically get below that a few times in the dead of winter. On a visit to the Ruth Bancroft garden for a members plant sale weekend I decided to give it a try. I bought a quart size of 'Helena' -pricey- and put it in a container. I was happy it didn't die the first winter and my goal was to get a