95 Bright Star Babies

Bright Star Babies

I n my Aunt Patti’s front yard are some Bright Star Yuccas that have been growing babies over the past year. Not long ago AP texted me to say the babies were ready to cut from their mothers and did I want them. Of course I wanted them! In this blog I often mention Bright Stars—lovely things—and if you don’t have any yet at your place, well…Reader, I can’t understand why not. Don’t you like beauty in your garden?

So how did AP get Bright Stars in her garden that have now given birth to beautiful babies?

In June 2020 I gave AP’s front yard a makeover that included a few Yucca Bright Stars. You can see them in some pics I posted here in 2022.

I haven’t shared a real “before” photo so you could fully appreciate the new front yard.

Here’s a “before” pic taken in 2020 and then a shot of what it looks like today in 2023.

BEFORE. This photo really does depict my Aunt Patti in so many ways!

NOW. It’s as gorgeous as ever because AP did what I ordered her back then to do: “DON’T TOUCH!”

Here’s a close up photo I’ve shared earlier of the fountain AP chose which we placed at the front right corner of the house.

Here you can see 2 of the young Bright Star Yuccas shortly after installation in 2020.

She chose to angle the fountain slightly so she could see the front side of it from inside her kitchen window.

She wanted a yard with taste, style, and most of all little to zero work. She got it!

From her sitting area she can enjoy her beautiful front yard that is free from the nagging need of constant maintenance. Don’t all of us gardeners wish we could do that?!

As with most subdivision lots, AP’s front yard sloped down to the sidewalk. So we leveled it to the front door walkway by installing a ledgestone raised bed and put in some Yum Yum topsoil (which came from Hasties Sand & Gravel)..

There are 2 city meters situated within the yard at the sidewalk, so we notched them out for easy access. This broke up what otherwise would have been a straight raised bed and added some nice dimension.

Recently AP added this pot…

She won’t be installing a plant in it because the pot is beautiful all on its own. And it is so damn heavy that she is not worried someone will steal it.

There used to be a Cordyline ‘Electric Pink’ in that spot, but it died last winter along with a sibling.

Electric Pinks can be finicky. And honestly, after 2 to 3 years in a landscape, it’s time to throw them out anyway. As leaves at the bottom die out you have to prune them up and soon the plant starts looking like a palm tree. Throw in 100-degree weather and the remaining leaves start frying. They are beautiful though for a couple years in the right conditions.

Many of the plants came from AP’s backyard and, as you can guess, most of them are succulents…

Agave ‘Blue Glow’

We added a Royal Purple Smoke Tree and a Golden Spirit Smoke Tree near the house on either side of the yard to balance out the weight. These shrubs are stunning not only in summer but in fall too as they put on quite a show of colors.

Instead of using bark as the mulch we chose 3/8-inch Sonoma Gold rock…

…which was only $85 per yard in 2020. Now it is $120 per yard!!!!

Not all designs can handle Sonoma Gold. I use it sparingly and selectively because if not, you will have a landscape that looks a little tacky, much like if you were to use the Dolomite (white) rock with plastic flamingos in the yard. Just sayin’.

Okay, back to babies! After getting AP’s text I popped over there with my pruning shears—blades extra sharp and ready for the painful task of ripping Bright Star babies from their mothers. Painful, because the long leaves have needle-like tips!

Tore up the skin on my arms, but small price to pay! Here are the babies all nestled safely in my van and ready for transport to their new home.

All mine…no sharing. Just adding them to my collection of 8 others.

Some of the babies went along our driveway. I already had 3 but adding 2 more makes it even better.

Back in the day we installed those Home Depot cheap-ass redwood panels that of course are now falling apart. This particular fence line is simply providing privacy from our place to our neighbors below us. The deer fence is another 20-feet behind it.

I was hoping that by the time I took these pics my husband would have finished the replacement fence. But remember Readers, Mike works on his own timeframe—aka when he feels like it; aka when it’s not cold outside but a warm 110-degrees and at 2pm right in the middle of a nice afternoon.

So next summer maybe?!

End Notes: Readers, I don’t start writing a blog post until I’ve completed gathering my thoughts and photos and done my research. Much of the time when I reach the end of the post, it matches the thoughts I began with.

Other times—like in this post—it ends with the 3rd or 4th thought. Which is how I went from AP’s Yucca-babies text, to AP’s yard redesign, to a word about Electric Pinks, back to the babies and finally to my husand’s work preferences around our place.

My brain goes on a journey and lucky you to be along for the ride. LOL. Well that’s how I roll sometimes!

Now I am going to roll with Happy Holidays to all of you wonderful Readers. And have a Happy New Year.

I will be back in January with more journeyings filled with riveting information you never knew you needed.