Down the Garden Path

     I am always being told that I should post more pictures of the garden as a whole, instead of individual flower pictures.  I must confess that I like whole garden pictures better than individual flower ones myself. Unfortunately in my own garden this is easier said than done, because it requires that everything in the frame be neat and in good order. Recently, I have managed to accomplish this, at least in some areas of the garden, so I have posted a whole garden shot. I should note that I have no help in the garden, so if I do not make it neat, it does not get neat.
     The palm in the center of the shot is Trachycarpus fortunei, which I planted about 18 years ago from a 5 gallon container. It had no trunk at the time. You can see that it is in flower now.  The tree on the right is one of my favorites--Aralia elata aureomarginata. The yellow foliage in the upper left is a yellow hops vine which is incredibly invasive. Be warned if you plant it that it can take over vast expanses of territory.
     This is a section of the garden that has changed quite a bit in recent years. There used to be a huge arbor on the left hand side of the path, but we got rid of it after it rotted and collapsed. Its removal created a nice southern exposure sunny border where there used to be shade because of the arbor. Now there are delphiniums, lilies, lupines, and poppies there. I used to have a large area of phygelius under the palm. If you plant phygelius in the ground you will eventually have a large area of it. It likes to spread out. I removed it all several years ago which was a major undertaking, and I am still removing bits and pieces of it. Now I have Scilla peruviana, lilies, poppies, and delphiniums in its place. Are you beginning to see a pattern here?  I like lilies, delphiniums, and poppies and of course, aspire to having mass quantities of them all.