More Berkeley Hills shade garden

Meant to throw these pics up with the last post about our maintenance and renovation account up in the Berkeley hills but was experiencing technical difficulties... I love the door and other details on this house. Everything is so beautifully done. The homeowner did the containers herself, but I wish I had thought of that--variegated abutilon with mondo grass surrounding it--so simple and pretty! We did the design and planting of the little cutout area in the deck, just keeping it simple and Japanese-inspired, with some rocks, mondo grass, and bamboo (clumping, of course, since it's planted in the ground).

Maintenance activities in this woodland shade garden right now include pruning the rhododendrons that bloomed in early summer to control shape and size, and spraying down all the foliage really well to clean the dust and spiderwebs off the leaves--it's that time of year! When we have a stretch of really hot days it can't hurt to do some supplemental deep hand-watering (to supplement that done by your irrigation system, if you have one). Just make sure you do it really early in the morning or early evening when the sun has faded a bit to prevent burning the leaves.