Extreme gardening: big game hunting up north

Today I met Top Plant Donation Coordinator John and P. Garden's very own Caltrans personality Jes at the garden for a field trip up north. We went to Sonoma to dig up Opuntia (Pricky Pear) and then to Larkspur for Agaves and it was a helluva dig.

Jes can rip an 8' tall, 200# spine-covered Opuntia out of the ground with her bare hands, and John can flip them over his head into a truck, so the whole thing was like some sort of bizarre and dangerous circus act. Extreme gardening, people. It's the new thing. I was able to contribute my knowledge of the "trucker's hitch" knot to the fray (thanks Gary) while securing our succulent load, but it just doesn't have enough pizazz to top cactus juggling. H'm.

Despite John's predictions to the contrary, the Agaves were keen to stay in Larkspur, so we ended up using Jes' truck to rip them out of the ground (take that, roots!) and we made it home by 2pm. We got so much done in such a short time - what a blast! Thanks for a great day out and all your help, guys. (Photo shows Matt posing with one of the "big game" Opuntias, and several large Agave americana in the background that have been subdued - briefly!)

Back at the garden, I moved the Brugmansia to a better spot, watered with the new hose (heavy) and soaking wand (great) and enjoyed some time with neighbors Diana, Mara, Jim, Carrie and John.

Matt came home from baseball and moved some of the new plants around for me, then we picked up half a trees' worth of branches from down the street for more cunning twig weavery this week. A quick cleanup of spare bricks and trash, a refill off the top poop bag dispenser and a spot of daffodil deadheading and we were done for the weekend. Phew!