On the lawn side of the metal fence enclosing the first vegetable garden one can find bougainvillea, Lavender Butterfly Bush (buddleja), heliotrope (purple) and lantana (red/yellow). It is fronted by an elaborate double helix main arch & over a stone sun set into the ground.The vegetable garden features split-granite raised beds on two levels and a central raspberry cage.

Between the greenhouse and the vegetables is a charming checkerboard with Creeping Jenny (lysimachia nummularia) cacti, coleus, ewe topiaries and lupine/coneflower (echinacea) as well as espalier apple trees, olive, lemon and banana trees, catnip (nepta cataria), lilies, Baby’s Breath (gypsophila repens ‘rosea’) and others. This bed, with its varied plantings is always in flower. The longer vegetable garden is mainly for hot peppers, with the central horseradish and old manual pump water feature.

At the end of the walkway are some Black-eyed Susans (rudbeckia hirta), by the stairs to the grape arbor next to the Saguaro cactus topiary (the owner’s son and family lived in Arizona and his grandchildren were born there). Behind the Saguaro is a “green wall” which is kiwifruit, guarded by a kiwi bird topiary made from forsythia. The pink/white leaves are normal, and the plant, in season, is laden with fruit under the leaves. There are male/female and hermaphrodite plants.

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