Here was this sloping square
with a sudden drop –off, seven year’s growth of weeds, and the desire for a
cactus garden. With concern over the
steep slope, I felt a second level of retaining wall was necessary. The
weeds were cleared. The hillside contoured, and half walls built in front and
on the left, left open in
the middle to allow for a dry stream bed to break through. I wanted to capture the image of a wild
torrent of a flash flood bursting the ½
wall open, leaving behind rocks where a smattering of desert plants had regrown
over time. Rocks were imported:
boulders, several pallets of smaller
support rocks. Groupings of phormeum
dark delight creates a backdrop for blue agave, various aloe, puya Bolivia,
senecio and a few variegated agave.
Sticks of fire light the yard up.
By the entry /driveway a pattern of barrel cactus warn away would be
climbers of the wall, and agave blue glow settled in black pebbles provides
ordered borders, both at the sidewalk and lining the planter below the window.
