One of my very best friends lives about a mile from me on Wichita Ave.  Her property is large, about 1/3 acre, and it’s more than she can manage so I help her…  I better do some sort of introduction.  I wish it was June when everything looks amazing but, well, now is now.  I’ll show you around and try to explain some of our goals at the same time.

Generally when I first arrive, this is the view.  This photo was from January; the Camellia is blooming in hamburger shades now and there’s an army of Hemerocallis coming up in the left foreground. We’re facing due east here.

Now I’ve walked about halfway back, and turned an about-face.  Looking west now.

The orange house was built in 1900 and I figure those firs are that old as well.  I love them.  Here’s a view all the way to the back of the property from the back door of the orange house.  Just to the right of the path you can make out a trellis.  What’s on that trellis is a single very large and rather overgrown Concord grape.  We’ll be dealing with that in a bit.   The other structures back there are basically storage and/or art studio spaces.  Looking east again:

Did you get my joke? You better get my joke. If not I forgive you, but you live under a bigger rock than I do.

Ok, moving on.  Just past that grape trellis/arbor thing there are some edged garden beds which have been used at times for vegetables, but we’re working toward all flowers now and maybe like 3 tomatoes.  Sort of a cutting garden where no one ever really cuts the flowers.  Now we’re looking SSE.

Another view from the other side, looking ENE:

Now let’s go back up front. Here’s the view back along the north side of the house from the mailboxes at the road.  Behind the mailbox you can make out some roses on the left.  Among the bright green moss are peonies.  That very large rhody to the right just got up-pruned (by me) the day I took this pic which was I think January 17.  It was previously all foliage down to the ground.

Further back, here’s another rhody that looks like it’s getting some inspiration from driftwood.  All of its foliage is actually off to the left; the rhody foliage you see to the right is yet another plant.  We’re working on removing all of this ivy and the weedy plum, hawthorn, and hazelnut tree volunteers along the fence behind these rhododendrons.  Sorry ’bout the hose…

So that’s about it I think.

What I really want to see for this property are the following:

1. I want my friend to have less work to do.  I want her to be able to enjoy her spaces without feeling bogged down by overgrown plants and dying plants and plants that need water.  This is priority #1.
2. Privacy.  The cyclone fences that surround the place aren’t much to look at, and I’d love to see mixed hedges where something is always interesting, be it flowers, foliage, bark, what-have-you.  A sense of enclosure and of privacy would do wonders for this place.
3. Removal of crappy plants.  Those plum tree groves have got to go.  As with the ivy.  And the horrible clump-forming grass that dares to trip you all the time.
4. Inclusion of plants my friend loves.  Bright flowers, interesting textures, the muscular bark of manzanitas… she “gets” plants and loves them all, but I know her favorites.  If I had to summarize, I’d say that if a hummingbird would love it, she’d love it.

Those are the primary goals.  I figure this is a multi-year project, and now you know the starting point.

This afternoon we spent a few hours and pruned four rose bushes, one of which is a very large and old (20 years) hybrid tea that I moved here a year ago from my own backyard (it was in an undesirable location).  I also pruned (lightly) a Hydrangea quercifolia, and the aforementioned grapes.  Rose and hydrangea pruning isn’t much to look at so I only have pictures of the grape before-and-after.

This is a single Concord vine, which hasn’t been pruned at all in at least five years.  Do I even have any idea what I’m doing? No. So ok, let’s go by intuition, because why not? Nothing to lose.

Before:

After:

I think it went well! Impossible to photograph but you can get a sense of the volume of grapeness that has been removed.  As I was going along I considered making grapevine wreaths, and at one point decided not to do it, saying to myself “ain’t got time for that shit!” But then I thought of a certain friend of mine who I am sure would have my head if I didn’t twist some of these excellent grapevines into circles.  In honor of that friend (if you’re reading this you know exactly who you are):

There you go! Now you’ve seen Wichita Ave: The very beginnings.  Stay tuned — I swear this will be breathtaking in, say, 4 years. 😉