Chris joined us and planted five Artemisia "Powis Castle", and then worked on removing an Agave salmiana that had flowered. It was a big job and he was mostly successful! completely successful in freeing it from the dirt, although the darn thing is so heavy we're going to need help moving it from that spot.
After we were done wrestling with the sharp-leaved plants, I chatted with Joe who is always out weeding and picking trash. PRG would not look like it does today without his help! What a guy,
I spent some time cleaning up trash at PG after that, and weeding a little, and then it was time for lunch. On the way home I called in the dumpster that has been sitting on the street at PRG for many months to try and get Recology to take it away. I also called in the pile of trash I found at PG and brought to the curb. Lots to do. We also have loads of plants to go in the ground at our next volunteer day: come help!
The genus Euphorbia is a wacky one. Plants in the genus can be shrubs, ground covers, cacti or even trees like this one - a succulent, weird looking mini tree. So easy to grow in the Bay Area - in fact, it seeds around so there will be plenty to share. You wonder why there aren't more to be seen!
During the heat of summer and fall it will drop a few leaves and the pom-poms get smaller (not a bad look!) but as soon as we get winter rain this little tree always burst into lusciousness again.
It's not a long-lived plant, with 10-15 years being average, but it needs no additional water and is very adaptable in our area. Hard frost will kill it - it is hardy only down to about 25 to 30 degrees - but it's easy to relocate a baby to the greenhouse or inside for safe keeping if a frost threatens. Like all Euphorbias, do avoid the white sap which can be very irritating to eyes and skin.
According to San Marcos Growers:
The name for the genus is derived from Euphorbus, the Greek physician of King Juba II of Numidia and later of Mauritania. In 12 B.C. King Juba named a cactus-like plant he found in the Atlas Mountains after his physician and later Carl Linnaeus assigned the name Euphorbia to the entire genus. The specific epithet honoring British nurseryman Edgar Lamb (1905-1980) was given to this plant in 1960 by the Swedish born Canary Island botanist Eric Sventenius. More recent phylogenetic work has determined that this name should be synonymous with a smaller growing plant also found on the island of Gomera, Euphorbia bourgaeana, and the name Euphorbia lambiorum is also sometimes used.
It’s a good thing the weather was so superb in Potrero Hill today, because it took us from 11 AM to about 2 PM to get the entire Triangle Garden heavily mulched with a nice 6 to 8 inch thick layer of that compost.
I have no doubt that all of the plants there will really appreciate it. And my poor sore arms and blistered fingers may take a while to forget all that work, but I think the people who pass by will appreciate it a lot as well. Thanks GROWTH team for all your hard work!
6 Santolina chamaecyparissus (Lavender Cotton)
5 Phlomis lanata (Woolly Jerusalem Sage)
10 Euphorbia characias ssp. wulfenii
5 Agave parryi - we bought 3 but one had big offsets that I spread around.
7 Agave palmeri subsp. chrysantha
Over time, plants can succumb to the hard life on the streets. In this case, we were looking for plants to replace the dozens killed when a homeless encampment set fire to an area down at PRG. We got a nice load to start us off:
6 Santolina chamaecyparissus (Lavender Cotton) - awesome plant. if you remember to prune it back hard in winter. Ahem...
5 Phlomis lanata (Woolly Jerusalem Sage - pictured) - a new species of this genus that does so well for us
10 Euphorbia characias ssp. wulfenii
3 Agave parryi - a new kind for us - we have the A. parryi truncata everywhere, but these have longer leaves
5 Agave palmeri subsp. chrysantha - another new species, and one that pups a lot. Meaning: lots of freebies fir us!
We'll plant these next weekend. Can't wait.
13 Lychnis coronaria (Rose Campion)
3 Agave americana striata
1 Cussonia paniculata
1 Peritoma arborea (Bladderpod)
Moved 1 Yucca from PG to PRG and planted two Yucca cuttings alongside it.
Josh and I cut back a Phlomis at PRG, I picked up litter, and Chris cut back a Lavatera with his usual decisiveness. We also put new signs into the kiosks at both PG and PRG - I hope they work to get more interest in our volunteer days!
By the way - all but the Lychnis and Peritoma plants were kindly donated by Mat McGrath of Farallon Gardens. Thanks Mat! Check him out on Facebook and Instagram!
At some point in your plant growing life you think "Yeah - I've really got this down: I can tell the difference between an Agave, an Aloe and a Yucca at 20 paces. Send me my Girl Scout Plant ID badge please!" Shortly thereafter you stumble across a Nolina and there's a lot of humming and hawing while you try to figure it out.
Commonly called bear grass, perhaps because members of the Lewis and Clark expedition, 19th century explorers of western America thought they were big, tough, bear-like grasses, even though they're not a grass. And since they couldn't tell the difference between several genera of plants they called them all bear grass (Yuccas, Xerophyllum and various Nolinas) so that only adds to the confusion.
According to San Marcos Growers:
The genus was named by Andre Michaux (1746-1802), a French botanist sent to North America by King Louis XVI. His name honors Abbé Pierre Charles (P.C.) Nolin, a French agriculturist and horticultural author. This species was first collected in 1898 by the naturalist Edward W. Nelson (1855-1934) at an elevation in the mountains near Miquihuana between 7,000-9,000 feet in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It was described in 1906 and named to honor Nelson by famed American botanist Joseph Nelson Rose (1862-1928), who with Nathaniel Lord Britton published the four volume tome "The Cactaceae".
Nolina nelsonii comes from the desert and mountain regions of Northern Mexico. It's easy to grow, grows slowly with (eventually) one or more trunks to create
outstanding 3-4’ across heads of slightly serrated (but not sharp) bluish 1” wide leaves. One mature, a thick bloom stalk 4’ tall pops up, holding thousands of creamy yellow, scented flowers - after flowering, that head dies but the plant will produce more. It likes ordinary soil, hates wet feet, is very deer resistant, and needs nothing but rain to water it in the Bay Area.
The rain runoff also washed out some of the path at PRG so watch your step. Lastly, I also cut back some Santolinas at PRG - that's a plant that need an annual haircut to stay neat, and somehow I forget every year.
We put in a 15 gallon Austrocylindropuntia subulata (tall spiky cactus), a 15 gallon Yucca filifera (tall spiky yucca), a 10 gallon Agave weberi "Arizona Star" and a 10 gallon Agave valenciana that came from Mat at Farallon Gardens.
We put the A.valenciana down by the larger group of the same species at the North end, and also moved two others to join them. They're looking great - and will get absolutely huge, so that's something to look forwards to.
Lastly we cut some yucca branches that were growing into other plants and put them to one side so we can get them rooted and plant them elsewhere.
We weeded and picked trash up, and then spent some time clearing dead or damaged plants from a stretch of PRG first. Looks like someone set a big fire down there and a lot of plants were damaged... always sad to see. Now I have an area about 30' x 5' to replant.
After that we planted a Eucalyptus gunnii "Silver Drop" which was donated by Mat McGrath of Farallon Gardens recently. Exciting new plant for us! And we put in three new Yucca filifera as well - the ultimate ankle biter (aka plant that's very good at protecting areas of the garden). The ground was nice and moist so I feel like all these plants will do really well.
