Redo of the Back Flowerbed - 8-1-2010

The Back Flowerbed currently:

The arbor of Wysteria and Clematis is left of the Back Flowerbed.
A peony is near the arbor on the left side of the flowerbed, it is a maroon color.
In the middle-back is a Leptospermum (New Zealand Tea Tree) about 15' tall.
We also have a Meyer Lemon (dwarf) on the far right hand side. Lately it has not been doing the best.
Years ago during a serious drought I had planted penstemon x gloxinoides 'Thorn". It was supposed to be very drought tolerent, which it certainly is. It has very pretty flowers, is very easy to dead head, just grab a bunch of the old flower spikes and break them off. It has spread through the years across the flowerbed.
There are several small blue daisy-type bushes I had planted one years ago and the low-lying branches had layered. I need to find the name of these. I love them and they look great with the penstemon and lemons

The soil has not really been fed except a top dressing of compost several years ago. The soil looked pretty compacted.

So, on August 1st.... I started by taking out most of the penstemon and blue daisy plants with their roots in dirt and put them in buckets to hold them over till I planted or gave them away. Then I started by digging in composted chicken manure hoping to feed and aerate the soil.
So far I have about 1/3 of the bed to go.

I had promised myself I would stick to the plan of waiting for my plant order from Annie's Annuals before buying any more plants... but I've hit Orchard Supply about every other day to get several bags of the chicken manure. Of course I can't leave unless I dip into their nursery as well....So far I have succumbed to buying 4 4-inch pots of Ballota Pseudodictamnus. It is a small spreading plant with the prettiest light yellow green furry leaves. They really light up the ground and since most of the plants I have in mind are dark I am going to need to "light"!

Then, since I am confessing, I did just happen to drop by Reagan's Nursery (Fremont, CA) and came out of there with 2 Euphorbia "diamond dust" that are just so lovely, light and airy...and a wonderful "Lion Tail" plant!!! That's it!!! Bless me for I have sinned!

NOW I will wait for my plant order!