Changes in the NW corner of the upper back garden

Today a few garden updates from the Northwest corner of the upper back garden...

First of all, I bit the bullet and planted the tall Pseudopanax ferox that I got from my friend Lance Wright when he moved to Eastern Oregon last summer. This plant is borderline hardy here in Portland, and he was moving to a much colder location.

It became mine last June, but I was hesitant to plant it in the ground right away as I was going to be away off and on for a few weeks, and it didn't come with the best root system. By the time I could plant it (and baby it a bit) the weather had turned hot—so I decided to just leave it in the container and not risk it. Thank god I did as I'm pretty sure I would have lost it during last winter's extremes. 

So why did I plant it in the ground if there's a chance I could lose it? Well, it's too tall to fit in the shade pavilion greenhouse during bad weather, unless I lay it on it's side, which would not be easy to do once I plant it in a ceramic pot. Plus I have another, smaller plant that's already in a container (a form of plant insurance) and they are hardier the larger they are. So I decided to be fearless and just do it. I picked this spot because it's protected from our frigid wintertime wind and gets a fair amount of sun. By planting it in May it will have several months to get established before winter comes around again.

Speaking of plants I lost last winter, this astelia was a floppy mushy mess. It looked so bad cut off all the leaves flush with the base, but didn't dig it out—and look at it now! 

There's one other astelia that's also trying to stage a come back—three tiny leaves a couple of inches tall—but all the others I thought were dead definitely are.

This trio of containers is the current featured focal point in the corner of the upper back garden, visible as you enter... 

The Agave 'Blue Glow' looked so good when it came out of the shade pavilion greenhouse this spring that I knew it needed to be here.

I then decided to go with a theme of plants in pots with the yellow/green speckled glaze and this aloe, Aloe maculata, got the nod.

The third pot was an empty I had on hand, planted up with a gifted Leucadendron 'Ebony'. It's small but growing.

Now we're scanning to the left and focusing on the trio of dish planters in front of the palm (Trachycarpus wagnerianus).

These planters were looking pretty rough after winter, so I did an intensive refresh.

I picked up a pot of small agaves labeled as Agave parviflora but most likely Agave × leopoldii and divided them up.

I also replanted (from the previous version of the dish planters) some Agave parryi 'JC Raulston', misc sempervivum and a Maihuenia poeppigii.

But of course what you're really wondering about are those opuntia pads with the INCREDIBLE 4" long spines; meet Opuntia sulpurea... 

I like the mix.

Oh! I forgot to mention the pieces of Portulacaria afra ‘Lilliput’ I cut up and stuck into each of the dishes. They add a nice contrasting texture.

And that's what's new in the NW corner of the upper back garden!

To receive the latest danger garden posts by email, subscribe here. All material Loree L Bohl for danger garden © 2009-2023. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.