"Golden Spirit" In The Garden

A few years ago, I helped the Shoes with planting their front yard.  The Shoe's cleared the space, installed the irrigation, planted a couple of trees, and had a brick path installed using some cool bricks from San Jose.

It was fun to start with a clean slate.  The yard faces west so it gets full afternoon sun.  It was not only important to choose sun loving plants but they also needed to be drought tolerant too.   You can see my faves are yellow, green and purple with splashes of bronze spattered about.   I love the combination of lavender, blood stonecrop, crape myrtle, Jerusalem sage and echiveria succulents. The garden is in its primo state right now.

     

Most stunning is the Golden Spirit Smoke Bush though.....every garden should have one.  It is quite spectacular all year round...puffs of "smoke" (the flower) will bloom later in the spring and then the bright yellow leaves will turn orange red in the fall.

Bottom photos:  Left is a close up of Jerusalem Sage and Right is Verbena (I think)

The garden has been mulched which will not only help with retaining moisture but also cut down on weeds.

A lot of punch is happening in this small front garden...and it makes me smile every time I visit.