In which I take drastic action

Before:



After:



I removed a section of the cobblestone path in my garden, thus eliminating the element of choice. Now it's one-way trip in, and one-way trip back out.

Inadvisable? Perhaps.

I did this for a couple of reasons.

1) I wanted to accommodate the volunteer Geranium maderense whose growth would have blocked the path next year anyway. I decided to keep this plant because I like its structure, particularly in juxtaposition with Echium wildprettii.



Also, insects like to visit the inflorescence and insects are an important consideration for me. Plus it was a volunteer. It was free! And a free biennial at that, which is even better because biennials are like having two plants in one (since the second year is often very different than the first year). I thought about moving G. maderense to a different location, but I decided it had picked the very best place to grow.

2) I wanted to put something green and evergreen between two silver-gray Eriogonum arborescens that flanked the path. Too much silver-gray was a problem in my summer garden this year. I bought a sporty looking Rhamnus californica (coffeeberry) during my visit to Yerba Buena. I tried to grow this plant from seed once, but failed.


This new redesign represents the death blow to any previously expressed wishes on my part for the garden to attain a certain level of completion and exist thereafter as something to be maintained in a state of design climax. As if!

The garden is what it is, and I will continue to tinker with the various elements and respond to the changing needs of the plants as I see fit.

I actually did this work a few weeks ago. I've been rearranging "hardscape" elements in other less impactful areas for awhile now--adding a few cobbles here, deleting some there. The net result has been the liberation of 40 cobbles--too many to store. I held on to 15, and sold back 25 to the stoneyard for $1 each.



In:



Out: