The proposed plantings for my front garden. If what they say is true, and La Niña will be with us through May, then now is the perfect time to transform my front garden. This will give the new plants plenty of time to become established before things heat up into the triple digits this summer. All of the plants listed above in the drawing are suppose to do well in shade, be okay with too much water and/or too little water, and endure extreme heat and cold.

I recently learned some heartbreaking news about my existing Miscanthus sinensis ‘Adagio’ . They are the three large white circular masses you see in front of the water feature (actually to the left of the pond in the above drawing). There is a mealybug native to China with no known natural predators that is killing off these ornamental grasses locally. And nothing can be done about it. By pulling the grasses apart and looking down into the crown, we found one nasty critter, which indicates the whole group is probably infected. So my three clumps will gradually decline over the next few years. They have been so glorious for the past ten years. Boohoo.

When the project is close to beginning, I will post a photo of how the garden looks now and over the next few months keep you up to date with the transformation. But first we need to send these construction drawings out to bid.