Some landscape projects can be small and easy to implement. Clearing a small area that is overgrown is very doable in a few hours.
Sometimes a simple garden project is just as effective as a large scale one. I took on one of those projects this past weekend. The victim was a small five foot round bed in the entrance path to the front door. The bed had two very large green santolinas (Santolina chamaecyparissus ‘virens’), that dominated it, with the remaining space taken up by the annual portulaca. The overall effect was that of overcrowding and a mess.
My first job was to rid the bed of portulaca. This is a pretty little annual that works well in a lot of places, but not in this bed. Taking this out revealed a few rather bedraggled and strangled wallflowers (Cheiranthus) and two creeping phox (Phlox subulata). All of these were relocated to other beds. Next - the santolinas. For large plants they were easy to remove, just rather bulky. These too were removed to another part of the garden where I plan on layering them for next year. The removal left a small green cypress mound. I am not sure if the mound is small because the plant was smothered and thus stunted, or whether it is new, or perhaps a genuine dwarf form. Fortunately it was healthy and makes a great central plant (for now). I surrounded the cypress with little boxwood cuttings that I had taken before the move. The cuttings were planted to root over the summer, and most have done so.
The overall effect is now simpler and clean, which is more appropriate for a main entryway. The whole project took about two hours and illustrates how sometimes small projects can be just as effective as large scale ones.
