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June 02, 2019. Most of my garden modifications, it seems, arise from visits to nurseries, where I pick up a tempting specimen (or two, or three), only to realize when I'm back home that there's nowhere to put it. Which, of course, prompts the creation of some new section of the garden. Last week's acquisitions were actually modest, as was my gardening response: Amy and I made our second visit to Peckerwood Garden, a marvellous collector's garden a little further inland, and again admired the many unusual species on display (our first visit was in late fall, so we got a different slice of bloom this time). Since we were last there, they had expanded their nursery, and had quite a few tempting selections. However, I restrained myself, and only walked away with half a dozen plants or so – most of which were smaller and not too hard to find places for. But the one that both Amy and I were most excited about posed a bit more of a problem: on both our visits we had been enchanted by a mature specimen of almond verbena, signaling its presence with its sweet and pleasant fragrance on both occasions. This time, they had small plants for sale, so we jumped on it. However, this shrub can grow to a significant size with time, so none of our existing borders could accommodate its mature size. Not wishing to exile such a fragrant plant to a far corner of the yard, I decided it should be planted in the main part of the backyard, close to the pond, where we could enjoy it best. And thus, another inroad on the lawn had to be created. In this case, it took the form of a sizeable circle extricated from the bermudagrass, with soil amended and somewhat raised to provide the drainage the shrub desires. For now, it's just a little sprig of green that seems out of place, but as it grows, I expect to enlarge its circle, until eventually the almond verbena will be part of the border that's now behind it, included in the grander assembly of waterfall pond, rock/succulent garden, and shrub border in its vicinity. I hope it grows fast!

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