Front Bank Update

Thor & I have been spending A LOT of time working on our front bank lately. We're laying the rock in the bank ourselves and trying to put in some larger plants so that the bank will fill in over the next few years. I don't have all the exact names of the plants we put in, but here are some of the plants we've put in so far:

• Coral Bark Maple - This is the large tree on the left of the bank.
• Callistemon - We have a 'Woodlanders' variety planted on the lower edge of the bank. This is an evergreen plant from Australia that blossoms gorgeous red flowers once a year.
• Sedum 'Xenox' - We have three of these spaced out along the bank. They have lovely dark foliage that is green & mauve in the spring and darkens to a deep burgundy by the fall. I'm hopeful that they will survive any cold weather we have as they are supposedly hardy to -40 F!
• Ceanothus 'Tilden Park' - This is a great evergreen plant that has gorgeous blue flowers in the spring and summer. We have three of these spaced out around the bank as well. One of the reasons we selected this plant is because they are quite drought tolerant and are supposed to do well in poor soil (which is pretty much our entire front bank!)
• 'Regal Splendor' Lavandula stoechas - I bought two of this lavendar last year for a different part of the yard, but they weren't doing well in the partial shade so I transplanted them to the front bank in the hopes that they will like the full sun better.
• 'Munstead' Lavandula angustifolia - This was another lavendar that I bought last year that didn't work out well -- so it has been transplanted too. I think we have three of this variety on the front bank.
• 'Blue Cushion' Lavandula angustifolia - This is the third type of lavendar that we have in the front bank - we only have one though -- it's planted by itself over on the right side of the bank.
• Berberis thunbergii 'Rose Glow' - This is a variegated barberry -- we have 5 of these on the bank - they're drought tolerant and we selected them because of their year round burgundy color.
• Dicliptera suberecta - This is a little plant from Uruguay. I'll admit that I got this partially because it's supposed to be a hummingbird attractant, partially because it does well in poor soil, and partially because it reminds me of my sister, Anna, because she lived in Uruguay for a little while during high school!

Here is the bank as it looked about three days ago - we've been busy trying to mulch the open areas so that we don't get so many weeds!

And here is a before picture just in case you forgot what the bank looked with the hedge!