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Friday, April 18, 2008

What's growing at the curb?

This is my property out by the street. I have nicer photos of this area all planted but that would be cheating. Today I'll be working out there all day because our nice town of Huntington is sending a crew here.

I'm beginning with this photo because there's a hidden secret here. It seems that some of you live in my town and with the help of this photo and the fact that I live on Beverly Road, maybe you can find me.

This is my curb in the other direction, actually, there is no curb. The rock retaining wall was put in when the house was built, the story is that these rocks all came from when the dug the foundation of our house. That's hard to believe because there's a lot of rocks and my house is not huge. Anyway, for some reason our land is slightly higher than our driveway and the street.

All new homes being built in this area require cement curbs but the old homes don't have any. Today the town is coming to install a curb on this side of our property because our soil keeps washing away and filling the storm drains further down the street.

As I walked around out there this morning I found a few new babies growing out of the crevices in our retaining walls. Here you can see Corydalis, it's seeded itself all along the wall and I'm just crazy about the way it blooms out there.

How cool is this! The Asarum europaeum (European Ginger) at the top of the wall also seeded down into the cracks. Hooray!

Hello little baby, this is the first time I've seen a Geranium maculatum seedling in the wall. I'll try to remember to feed you a bit from time to time.

The west side of the driveway is bathed in the rising sunlight. I found a little Sedum sexangular seedling basking away. Better move that acorn before it tries to root!


Along the east bank are scattered hundreds of Adenorphora confusa. I've never noticed it seed like this in the past years. It's such a pretty perennial, related to Campanula (I believe) but it hates being transplanted so it's rarely available for sale. This year I'm going to try to pot up some of the babies and see if they're easier to move around.


Oops, looks like a poly-nose seeded here. Sorry baby but I don't think I want you here.

Here's the last shot, even though there's nothing blooming out here yet, I love how this area looks as the sun is rising.

Time to get out there, I'm going to load up some compost and bring it out front to top dress these gardens. It's quite a job since the compost pile is in the opposite corner of our property. Must remember the sun screen today too!

So, what's growing out by your curb?

6 comments:

chey said...

Great post Melanie! I love the way you walk us through your garden, pausing to show us the tiniest unexpected seedlings. Feels like we're right there with you. I'm afraid that I don't have anything growing at my curb...yet:).

Anonymous said...

Like you---or like you were up until today---no curbs on my street. We have a low wall along the front and though not all is blooming...there's a mixed hedge, India Hawthorne, eugenia, lantana. Other side of the drive...roses, daylilies, more eugenia, palm trees, geraniums, Mexican heather and probably more that I'm not remembering.

I like the way the sunlight filters through your trees.

Have a good weekend.

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed this post, it gave a real feel for your garden and where you live. I discovered some foxglove seedlings today which I was thrilled about - only they are right on the edge of the border so will have to be moved

Hoot Owl Hollow Nursery said...

No curbs here either. In fact, we don't even have a paved road. A few years ago it was just dirt, but recently they have covered it with what they call chip and seal which is a mess and makes people think they can drive faster. I do have forsythia all along the road which is blooming now and is gorgeous. I also have a small bed around our sign for the nursery with daylilies, hollyhocks, and iris where I also add annuals like zinnias and marigolds.

garden girl said...

Melanie, your curbless curb is quite lovely. We have a typical curb with a typical parkway and typical sod. DH and I have been known to battle over prime lawn real estate here, and I haven't even mentioned the parkway to him(yet!)

Unknown said...

Nothing... YET! But just wait, the plants are in and I'm itching to get started.