Looks like you have a beautiful California Lilac Aka Ceanothus - Blue flowers. Nicely trimmed. I guess it's inspired me to trim mine. UGH! It's really huge and wild. Your has a nice shape. The bumplbeas really like it!
Love all your pics. Beautifully done nice open garden.

Thank-you very much. I try my best to keep my California lilac in some sort of tamed shape however it's extremely large on a slope now...so not sure how well I'll be able to shape it soon without a bucket truck. Lol! I do constantly trim the underside to keep it healthy throughout. You have a wonderful garden too. I've seen your pictures.

Thank you Angie . I think you live in a great garden zone and the diversity of plants in your garden is in many ways similiar to the shade gardens in British Van Couver.

Your garden reminds me of mine when it was very young in its inception. 22 years later so much has changed. Now most are mature plants and constant thinning trimming is almost an impossible task as they get taller and taller.

I had a truck with the cherry picker out from PGE to repair the electrical lines, asked if they can remove a fallen tree off my beautiful lace leaf maple. They were very kind and in three seconds flat the bucket removed the fallen tree that had been squishing the maple tree. It's finally recovering and filling out where the evergreen tree smothered all the new growth.

That's good of the electrical guy and nice to hear that a japanese maple can recover something as they seem so finicky for me. I love them so much but they don't always love me! Too much afternoon sun, deer, over watering, woodland bugs, you name it.... I've had my struggles to keep them alive.

Gardening with some plants can be a struggle . Seems like summer is tough on ornamental maples that they hate full hot afternoon sun. I have lost three in the past few years. The moles will dig tunnels that channel away water from the trees roots. Very difficult to see until to late as they are suseptable to many fungal diseases and summer insects.

I have not replaced them and leave the areas to ground covers or other shrubs that like sun. I'm getting up in years & have had both hips replaced. So gardening has become a different system and techniques developed to my handicap to maintain what I have developed over the years from nothing.

I haven't seen the flowers from the hydrangeas for years . I do hang helium balloons and hang sparkly computer discs in summer to keep deer away. Lots of other things used to discourage them. I'm hanging on to hope this season as the hydrangeas have started to bloom that it's working ....

I had a big deer problem too until I built a fence. I tried everything it seemed to keep them away.

I can imagine that it has taken some adjustments in the garden after two hip replacements. Sounds like you've really mastered your growing conditions.

My prior house was an entire different garden climate so I've had to adjust.

Your garden is very well designed and extraordinary with the garden plant selection that show off the juxtaposition of textures to increase flow and maintain beauty all thru your garden season,

My garden is sort of winding down not many flowers any more or deer, mole, gopher bait as I call them. I used to have over 35 different types of dahlias that bloom until fall. Dahlia tubers Just called in every gopher within a mile.

Lots of long days of light up here we are so close to the equator it's light until until 9:40 pm. So the weeds are sort of taking over. Its time to load up my tank sprayer that fits in my garden mower wagon and keep the weeds from blooming. I'm a little late this year with spraying for poison Ivy, poison sumac and wild blackberries sprouting up everywhere from birds. It's still raining every day or it's too windy. Usually after July I can get out a safely and hand spray . There are 5 acres & its a lot of territory and the wind currents have blown in many weed seeds . The pastures are growing another crop of hay and the neighbors crop of red clover is attracting bees that's a good thing and gophers that's a nightmare. I never spray the pastures when the horses are still actively feeding so when fall comes I shut down areas and block off from the horses spray for dangerous poisonous toxin in weeds especially tangy ragwort even wild carrot or queen Ann's lace Daucus carota are extremely poisonous to stock animals & even cherry tree leaves. I Rotate spraying the pastures every three weeks in fall until the total pasture is sprayed and reseeded.

Sorry so long.. just rethinking garden chores out loud I guess coming up.

Have a nice day and keep your garden pics coming!