The Dusty Miller Garden Revisited

 

You may remember my first post about this garden here.  It was early February and I'd been admiring the beautiful artemisia plantings in front and on the side of the house.  I drive by this garden every day and have been pondering the idea that so many of these gray plants might be sadly close to the cloudy color of the sky here and therefore be opperssive.  I've noticed in my passing by that the plants actually seem to glow with a beautiful silver sheen that brightens rather than dulls the space, something I wouldn't have considered without passing daily.   There are lots of spring bulbs popping up right now including a lot of hyacinths.  Even from my vantage point on the sidewalk the glorious fragrance wafted up to greet me!  I still wonder about this painted concrete business.  What was it?  Was it already there or assembled from something else?

I'm looking forward to seeing what this gravel/pot area looks like later in the season.

 

 

The grape hyacinths on the side of the house are blooming!  There is a line of these that runs the length of the house.  It's an inky blue explosion!

They look stunning against the artemisia!

 

 

And those little wisps of things we saw growing in the cinderblock?  More grape hyacinths.  Notice the grass clipping mulch being applied between the blocks and in the adjoining bed.  I wonder what will be planted here?

 

 

Or in these raised beds?  Unfortunately, the gardener hasn't emerged from the house either time I've visited so we'll have to go back together, you and I, in the summer and fall to see!

 

 

Notice the pansies that self sowed here.  There were tons of them in the upper gravel between the sidewalk and the fence.  Such a sweet garden!

Calendulas that didn't fully die during our mild winter are such a cheery orange.  These always make me smile!

 

More hyacinths.  Did I mention how wonderful this garden smells right now?

 

Just as the spring bulbs are starting to fade, blooms on  this very old lilac bush will perfume the air!

 

Orange!  Such a rare color this time of year.  Isn't it beautiful? 

 

 

A snapdragon seeded itself between pavers and will probably bloom there if it doesn't get walked on.

 

Having some extra time, I took a different route home and found this grogeous house just a few blocks from the garden we just saw.  I'm a sucker for Victorian painted ladies!  (note: painted lady is a name given to Victorian era or Victorian style  homes painted with a variety of contrasting colors to accentuate the home's ornamental facade.)

I spent all day on Monday removing the last of  the trees in the Great tree removal project of 2013.  Hooray!  Now I can finally get to some weeding, bed tidying, and mulching!

The Dusty Miller Garden

My new route to work takes me past this garden every morning.   A few days ago Loree posted that she felt a change of heart coming on regarding Dusty Miller.  I thought instantly of this place which is full of colorful ornamental and edible plants all summer.  As many of the colorful herbacious plants are now out of sight, the large quantity of artemisias are taking center stage. 

I'm not sure who lives here but they do love this plant and it is truly quite nice especially at this time of year.  Notice also the fresh mulch that makes everything look very tidy.

I'm thinking that the green line is going to be a mass of inky blue grape hyacinths in just a few weeks.

The garden features two varieties of artemisia both of which are stunning.  the green dots are raindrops.

                               This leaf looks so soft and fuzzy that one is tempted to pet it! 

One of the benefits of actually getting out of the car is the opportunity to see a little more than what is visible from the other side of the street.  The house sits at the top of a hill and the sidewalk in front is about 10 feet higher than this sunken garden.  I wonder what grows in the pots

From the other side, behind the house.  This is a pretty large space for  being in a downtown area.    I'm not sure what's growing in the cells of the cinderblocks but I see green sticking out of each of them.

I went across the street to take some of the images above and noticed this  new ajuga foliage emerging from the moss. 

A young man passed by while I was taking the pictures and said, "Crime Scene?"  I explained that I thought that the newly emerging Ajuga foliage was interesting.  He looked a little bewildered and continued walking.  To be fair, he couldn't see what I was seeing from his vantage point but isn't it sad that the explanation of photographing a crime scene made more sense to him?   The area where this garden grows has an unfortunate  reputation but in my experience, it's not a lot different from many areas of town.

 

So, what do you think of Dusty Miller and for that matter Ajuga; great hardy plants that can be used  for a variety of purposes and require little care or is it a crime to love something that can be purchased in six packs at any big box store?  And of course the bigger question weighing on all of our minds (no, not the nonchalant acceptance of crime scenes or what we can do to help make a positive difference in our urban areas) is: will Ms. Danger soon change her mind about petunias? 

 

Happy Monday!