Some interesting backdrops I found around town, some intentional, some borrowed, some just sheer serendipity.
I’m wondering what came first here, the choice of color for the house and then the Lion’s Tail? Or did the Leonotis leonurus start the ball rolling?
This is a borrowed backdrop. From the angle where I was standing, I picked up the color of the house next-door.
This is the house where the agave lives, beige in color, not persimmon.
The parkway picking up that same persimmon-colored house next-door. Mattress vine, restios, helichrysum, small grasses.
I’m thinking there’s a lot of clip, clip, clipping to keep the muehlenbeckia off those lovely low-lying rocks.
Agave vilmoriniana without a backdrop. Well, I suppose asphalt could be considered a backdrop, the default urban kind. I wish I had the space for this one to let those tentacles unfurl (also called the Octopus Agave).
The Cow Horn Agave against a stone backdrop. Agave bovicornuta. Oh, I do miss mine. There’ll be more photos of these terraces to come, just because one can never have too many photos of the Cow Horn Agave. With aeoniums and Kalanchoe tomentosa.
A missed opportunity to add a colored backdrop? Hard to say. The entire Spanish house/villa is white. I’ll be posting some more photos of this one too. I need to track down the name of the grass in the foreground, most likely a sesleria. Amazing with the bulbinella.
I think you’re right on the last ID…looks like Sesleria autumnalis to me.
It does to me too, Scott. What a pretty thing it is.
More beautiful grasses. I love what you guys are doing with your gardens.
That Cow Horn Agave looks like it’s variegated too 🙂
When my neighbor painted their foundation dark, dark grey it was a bit of a shock as most people go lighter and more subtle here. It’s a fantastic backdrop for the plants on the south side of my house though, especially the climbing rose that I view from the kitchen window. (Which makes me sad because that rose has RRV and needs to come out this fall)
I’m always a little envious of gardeners who have fenced yards, as it’s pretty much all backdrops there.
The different tiles on each riser of the stairway is very cool. The plants, all beautiful, backdrop or not.
I’m always amazed by the impact of the right backdrop. Much as I’ve grown to like Digiplexis ‘Illumination Flame,’ I was blown away when I saw it in front of a red wall at Deep Roots Garden Center. Agaves, on the other hand, look great with every backdrop.
How I long to darken my house color, but that particular home improvement is not in the budget for a few years.
I see all those as backdrops, even the asphalt. (in tight, old urban areas, even the sky with powerlines is) The last scene is perfect, like a So Cal version of an entry I had for years, with a pair of Hesperaloe funifera instead…the white walls really make your example pop, as does the main color on the tiled steps.
Beautiful backdrops! It is a huge difference when you see that agave with a red backdrop and with the beige backdrop!
@RD, I really like this sesleria too, a nice size for narrow strips and/or small gardens.
@M&G, ha! you’re right, it does.
@Alan, dark grey and charcoal makes such a great backdrop for making color sing. That’s a shame about the RRV, never experienced it during my rose phase.
@Hoov, I’m going to post some more photos that caught a little more detail of the stair tiles.
@Kathy, maybe some of Kyle’s pals could pretend it’s a scene out of 7 Brides for 7 Brothers and sing while they paint?
@David, I’d love to ask if the homeowners did this themselves or brought in a designer. I’m guessing the latter.
@Lisa, I thought that was quite the dramatic transformation too.
The persimmon house is a stunning backdrop for the neighbor’s garden. That’s the color I want to paint my tall stucco wall. I just can’t get behind white as a house color, unless it’s a traditional New England home (and even then). I always see it as a missed opportunity for color.