Specialty Gardening: Cottage Garden in Southern California?, 1 by jkom51

jkom51 wrote:
Thanks, hey_jude! We were always so worried the horrible adobe clay soil (which we had dug out and replaced with compost) would eventually slide all the way down the hill, we felt we had to stabilize it in some way! The terracing with blocks was our solution and it seems to have worked out well. Like most folks, we couldn't afford those lovely stone walls that are taken for granted in other regions, and had to use blocks as the most cost-effective alternative. Softening the edges of concrete blocks with plantings is a great way to integrate them with the landscape.

Anyway, here's the last photo. This bed I'm actually proudest of, because it's my xeric experiment. It gets no direct irrigation, only runoff from when I irrigate the bed above. The lowest edge of the bed (LH side of photo) does get direct morning sun for exactly 1/2 hr when the sun first comes up over the hills. Then the trees get in the way, so it's bright shade from there on.

There is bearded iris (this is an old unnamed variety, BTW, that reblooms 2-3x per year), aucuba, liriope, star jasmine, hellebore, and a Microlepia fern (hidden behind the star jasmine). I used to have some lime helichrysum in it, but yanked it out because there was just too much in such a small bed. I may replace it though, because I'm thinking of having the star jasmine (on a pillar, that's why it's so tall) taken out. The aucuba will get to 6' anyway, so that will give sufficient "upper layer" to the bed as it matures.

So YMMV, depending on the plants you put in. But I don't think you'll have any problems creating cottage style garden beds in CA shade!

This message was edited Dec 8, 2006 4:26 PM