Heatstroke

It's hotter than a hot thing. Hotter today than yesterday - feels like 90 degrees in the garden!

Matt, John and I went to Pacifica to a plant sale. Picked up loads of massive pots of succulents that need to be divided and planted. Don't know what half of them are, but the prices were reasonable.

Among them:

Half a dozen orange Calendula daisies
4-5 Echeveria (the pink, ruffled kind)
Several Crassula corymbulosa “Red Pagoda”
Opuntia of some sort
Sedum rubrotinctum "Jelly Beans" or "Pork and Beans"
Aeonium "Zwartkop"
Euphorbia tirucalli "Sticks on Fire" (Red Pencil Tree)
Assorted little Aloes and suchlike.
Crassula lycopedioides (Watch Chain)
Kalanchoe tubiflora (Chandelier Plant)

So we planted some of those, as well as the little fuzzy Opuntia microdasys albata "Angel Wings" which split into two so there you go. So hot, so sweaty, so full of cactus spines - I'm knackered. And I still have to water! I think I'll work on propagating more Lavenders from cuttings in the house for a while...

Later:

So far I have 36 Lavender cuttings in. 72 cells of Aster seeds, about 50 Gazania and some Foxgloves and assorted other stuff - all from a friend in Tasmania! I've had mixed results with Lavenders (I kept them too dry) and seeds (too wet) in the past, with my main successes being sunflowers and Gaillardias.

Matt came back from his softball game and we went over to meet Emily at the community garden at 22nd and Connecticut. She saw the sunflower strip we planted, and emailed offering a massive 15 gallon tub of red Cannas, and more than a dozen paperwhite (Narcissus "Ariel") bulbs. Sweet! Two of my favorites! We admired her plot at the garden, and enjoyed talking with a fellow enthusiast. Thanks Emily.

Then we went to Flora Grubb Gardens for a bit of eye candy. Phew - it's like Whole Foods for plants! Managed to get away with only:

- Gazania rigens "Talent" (Treasure Flower)
- Cynara cardunculus (Cardoon) (I had been admiring our neighbor David's specimen just yesterday!)

So, quickly we planted the above, plus Cannas and paperwhites. The former in the "red bed" and the latter all around the bench area for a fragrant Springtime effect.

It's dark now - too late to water. We're going to get up extra early and do that before it gets hot, allegedly...