Along the coast of  Southern California June is a great month for planting in the garden.  To be honest, there aren’t too many months in Southern California that aren’t good.  After returning to the corporate world from my12 year stint as a landscape consultant (just so you don’t get the wrong idea, I planted alongside our workers each time we had a job to install), I have had to rethink my own garden.  I don’t have as much discretionary time to work in the yard as I once did.  I have found that “divide and conquer” works well for me.  Personally, I find it overwhelming to look at the yard as a whole and hope to make it the ‘picture in my minds eye’ knowing how little time I have to devote to it.  Dividing the space manages to help me feel it is possible to achieve my goals for the garden over time.  Dwell in the realm of possibility, right?

One way I have created less work for myself is to seek out perennials that bloom and then remain a ‘green contribution’ to the garden after blooming, only to produce their beauty once again the following year.  Four of my new-found favorites are 1) Salvia nemerosa (Meadow Sage), 2) Angelonia, 3) Scabiosa ‘Butterfly Blue’, and 4) Primula Asiatic Salvana.  More on the details (size and where to plant) including pictures in my next post.