An update on the border

A month ago I put a row of potentially larger-sized plants along the back of my annual border that runs along the driveway. A few Colocasia, a castor bean, a Senna -- I wanted to create a wall of foliage here.

Although the "hedge" isn't filling out as well as I had hoped, the plants are doing quite well, and are already 4-6' (1.2-1.8m) tall. Time for a look!

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It's been a challenge keeping this bed watered this summer, as the heavy soil seems to have endless thirst. Being next to the baking concrete driveway probably doesn't help.

The Colocasia on the far left end really isn't taking off yet, but it was a smaller plant so maybe I shouldn't expect too much.

I would have liked to get more grasses into this bed, and perhaps I still will -- I have a few potted grasses that need to go somewhere. Yes, I think there's still time for them to contribute in a positive way to the late summer garden.

After seeing these photos, I've decided to prune the castor bean so it will start branching out and become bushier.

I want it to be a shorter mass of that fantastic purple foliage, not become a towering monster.

Unlike the sunflower, which is basically built for height:

It's been a few years since I've grown sunflowers -- how much longer until the blooms open? A few days? A week?

I looked up at just the right time: a hot air balloon drifted into view in the gap between the trees. Nice!

The Senna seems to be doing the best here, gaining quite a bit of size already:

It must be happy, but I hope there's enough time for it to bloom before the end of the season.

There are a few potted plants at the end of this bed: some bamboo, my hibiscus, another Colocasia, papyrus, and this Ensete:

I think next year it needs to go into the ground somewhere, as it has really outgrown its pot, and it's already in the largest container I have.


One last look:

Click for larger view, as always

I am going to jam some more plants in here to fill some of those gaps, as I really do want this to become a wall of foliage.


So that's an update on this bed. It's amazing what some plants can do in just a month, isn't it?

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