By late winter of 2003, we were ready to begin planting. Since purchasing the house in 1998, I had been contemplating what to plant. I observed the sun and shadow patterns carefully over several seasons and decided on the following for one area.
The garden to the northwest of the casita is one of the sunniest spots on our property. It is sufficiently distant from the house to avoid complete winter shading. During summer, it becomes very hot on sunny days, and the old pool wall surrounding the area blocks the ocean breeze and gophers. Two large glass windows in the wall’s corner let in plenty of light. We also built a fountain in the area using an old bathtub from the house renovation. I had long envisioned a succulent garden and concluded this would be the ideal location. I had been purchasing succulents from Exotic Gardens (formerly in Hillcrest) and chose the following large plants for the space:
Aloe thraskii – a large trunked aloe with long draping leaves
Aloe bainesii (now Aloe barberea) – a multi-branched tree aloe
Euphorbia ammak – a large pale green tree euphorbia
Euphorbia cotinifolia – Tree aloe with maroon heart-shaped leaves
Furcraea foetida ‘Mediopicta’ – A large agave relative with variegated striped leaves
Euphorbia tirucalli ‘sticks on fire’ – A brightly colored bush shrub to small tree
Aloe plicatilis – a large shrub aloe with strap-like leaves arranged in fans at the end of thick branches
Kalanchoe beharensis– the large leaf form with just a few trunks.
Agave bracteosa– squid agave
I had Carl from the Exotic Garden deliver the plants, and he warned me they wouldn’t fit in the space I had allocated. Undeterred, I planted them anyway. Seventeen years later, the large plants are all still thriving. The A. thraskii has grown to about 10 feet tall, with 3-foot-long draping leaves and a sturdy trunk. It blooms reliably each February. The A. barberea has gradually become a robust 20-foot tree with eleven ‘arms’. It seems to struggle somewhat and has never bloomed. The Euphorbia ammak has been the most successful, with over 100 arms. It grows 2 to 3 feet annually and is now nearly 30 feet tall and 20 feet wide. Over the years, I’ve removed around 50 outer ‘arms’ and have many plants in the lower garden. It is quite spectacular when viewed from the living room window above.
Another remarkable success story involves the Euphorbia cotinifolia. I moved a struggling Euphorbia cotinifolia, which had been in a different part of the garden for several years without much growth. Once relocated, it thrived and has now reached about 25 feet in height and width. It produces small blooms in the summer, and many seedlings appear nearby, which I remove. The tree is somewhat brittle, and large branches can break off, so I reshape it annually. Its deciduous nature is beneficial, as it allows more sunlight into the garden during winter. I prefer this tree over the more commonly used Cercis ‘Forest Pansy’. Both have a similar appearance, but the Euphorbia requires less water, and its leaves maintain their maroon color throughout the growing season.
Currently, the Frucraea measures approximately 8 feet by 8 feet and beautifully complements one side of the fountain. It tends to get scale insects on some of the lower leaves during the summer and is easily marked, yet it remains a key focal point. The Sticks on Fire thrived too well, rapidly reaching over 8 feet. The garden is now shadier, which affects its coloration compared to those in full sun. Every year, there’s a discussion about whether to keep it or remove it. I’ve pruned it to maintain a narrow shape and have propagated many more plants from the cuttings.
The Aloe plicatilis has grown to around 3 feet by 3 feet and produces numerous inflorescences with candy corn-like flowers late each winter.
Initially, there were two Kalanchoe beharensis plants, but one died a few years back. The surviving plant leans slightly towards the fountain, featuring two large, knobby trunks that are seven feet long, crowned with very large, triangular, fuzzy leaves. I’ve considered removing it, but it has managed to avoid being cut down so far.
Positioned near the walkway, the Agave bracteosa was the garden’s centerpiece for several years. Its long, recurved, spider-like leaves gave the impression it might pull itself from the garden and walk away. For many years, it produced numerous pups, allowing me to start many new plants and give away countless others. It transitioned from green to purple and sent up a massive bloom a few summers ago. Watching it grow and unfurl daily was captivating. The final bloom stalk reached about 8 feet tall and was adorned with yellow flowers. Today, a remaining pup grows vertically between the retaining wall blocks, and I still have many more pups in pots and throughout the garden.
Another unidentified hybrid garden aloe once bloomed with yellow and red flowers in the spring, but as the garden matured, it became too shady for it, so it was moved to a garden down the hill. In its place, I planted a lush green cycad resembling a palm. Each year, it produces a big set of new fronds and now stands about 6 feet tall and wide. In a slightly sunnier spot, an Aloe ferox was planted, which has grown quite large and reliably blooms in early winter.
I used local rocks as mulch between the plants. Over the years, many other succulents, annuals, bulbs, and perennials have come and gone. Today, several South African bulbs, smaller aloes, and other succulents remain as groundcovers. More recently, I’ve been planting various species of brightly colored bromeliads.
On the wall at the back of this garden, I initially planted a Thunbergia ‘blushing susie’. I loved the multicolored flowers but was surprised to find it produced viable seeds that sprouted all over the garden. I removed the plant and have been trying to eliminate the seedlings for years. It has now been replaced with an Australian Hibbertia scandens vine, which blooms annually with large, clear-yellow flowers.
Originally, just west of this area, outside the pool wall, was a Monterey pine tree. It seemed to have been a live Christmas tree planted in the ground. It grew rapidly and began shading the area, continuously dropping pine needles that took hours to clean up from between the plants. It eventually developed white mildew and borer damage, becoming an eyesore, so it was removed and replaced by two tall Euphorbia ingens. These quickly grew to 30 feet, but half rotted and fell over during the wet winter of 2010. The remaining plant leans significantly away from the constant sea breeze. Last year, I removed about half of the plant to try and straighten it. However, a 70 mph windstorm in January snapped off about half of the remaining arms. I’m still deciding whether to leave it or replace it with something better suited to the windy location.
As mentioned in previous posts, the choice of blue and yellow tiles for the Casita garden was partly inspired by the typical colors found in Talavera tile. However, the idea for using blue and yellow plants dates back much further. In 1960, when my older brother was a Cub Scout, I attended the annual Cub Scouts Blue and Gold Banquet as a kindergartner in Wichita. This event, held at the local 4H hall, is considered “the most exciting event on the Cub Scout calendar” and derives its name from the Cub Scout colors—blue and gold. The banquet tables were adorned with potted annuals featuring blue and gold flowers. I immediately identified the “gold” flowers as dwarf marigolds, while the soft, fuzzy blue flowers, which I would later learn were ageratums, caught my attention. Even at the age of 5, I found the combination of blue and yellow flowers striking, and decades later, I decided to plant a garden primarily featuring blue and yellow flowers.
The casita beds in this section are elevated about a foot above a gravel walkway that leads to a blue door, which opens to the lower garden. There’s a large bed bordered by the casita and the old stucco pool wall. Another narrow bed encircles the 30-foot-tall stair tower structure. At the end of these two gardens, a gravel path forms a “Y”; one branch leads to the blue garden door, and the other to a garden storage area. At the end of the walkway, there’s a half-moon-shaped bed with a raised blue urn serving as a bubbling fountain at the intersection of the paths.
Gardening here is somewhat challenging because the area receives full sun during the summer months but remains mostly in shade for about five months in the winter. As with most of my gardening efforts, the new plantings initially appeared sparse until they began to fill in, after which some plants gradually died due to competition or lack of sunlight. The large plants selected for this area include:
3 Archontophoenix purpurea, commonly known as King Palm, but with a more swollen lower trunk than the more commonly planted Archontophoenix cunninghamiana. These were very slow to establish and remain small even after 13 years. One of them died suddenly after several years, but the cause was never determined.
A yellow climbing mermaid rose was planted against the tower. I had admired the one at the front entrance to Cedros Gardens in Solana Beach. It quickly reached 30 feet and needed significant rebar and ties to stay up against the tower. However, it still toppled every winter and was perpetually plagued by diseases. It has two types of thorns pointing in different directions, making it easy to get caught in it. It was quietly removed after several years.
I had always been fond of the yellow floribunda rose ‘Sunflare’, but I forgot its name and instead planted the similarly named ‘Sunsprite’. It remains in the garden and blooms intermittently throughout the summer.
Behind the blue urn fountain, I planted a plumeria. It thrived during the first summer but rotted due to excessive winter water and shade. It was replaced with three closely spaced Kentia Palms, Howea forsteriana. Although they grow very slowly, they have finally reached a substantial size and look magnificent with their draping fronds. Behind them is a Star Jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides, vine that has covered the wall and fills the entire garden with fragrance in late spring.
Along the larger wall behind the casita, I planted a yellow-flowered Thunbergia alata ‘Lemon Star’. Unlike some other thunbergias, it doesn’t produce seeds but quickly covered the wall. It has been cut down to the ground several times, yet it always regrows. A cutting from this vine was planted against the tower, where it thrived a bit too well, becoming home to several rat nests. Now, it is pruned back every year to keep it under control.
A variegated yellow and green striped leaf canna, which I received from my mother, was also planted in the garden. I appreciate the foliage, though I’m not fond of the orange flowers. It has become unmanageable at times and has required thinning out on several occasions.
Later, a now very large Tetrapanax papyrifer (rice-paper plant) was added to replace the deceased king palm. A neighbor gave it to me. It requires significant maintenance to keep it looking good, but we love its large tropical-looking leaves and the view from the house. It tends to spread and can appear many feet away from the parent plant, but the runners are easy to remove before they grow too large. It also continually sheds its lower leaves and needs weekly upkeep. In November, it produces large panicles of white fluffy flowers and loses most of its leaves. If it rains lightly while in bloom, it can appear quite droopy. Additionally, the leaves and especially the flowers release a lot of fine dust that can irritate the eyes and nose, and if inhaled, can cause coughing for several hours.
Beneath all the larger plants, there has been a series of perennial and annual plants. I used to call this my only traditional garden because it had lots of flower colors. I grew some of my favorite perennials here for several years, such as rudbeckias, lobelia, nemesia, foxgloves, delphiniums, kangaroo paws, dwarf roses, alstroemeria, strawflowers, coreopsis, Calylophus drummondianus, linaria, ageratum, yellow-flowered asclepia, and many others. However, with increased root competition and shade, most of these have been replaced.
Today, the area features many bromeliads and a few aeoniums that don’t mind competing with the palm roots. In the last remaining sunny spots, I still grow a few annuals and perennials.