Arch and sparkle!

An old coworker of mine, in a far distant retail job, once told me the secret to sales: show the object for sale to the customer, touch the object, and "arch and sparkle!" In other works, assume a pose and expression of thrilledness, purely derived from proximity to the item for sale.

Today, there was a lot of similar "arch and sparkling" going on at P. Garden, mostly due to the excitement we got from helping Our Fearless Metalwork Artist (can we name him?) to install the brand-new-and-shiny garden arch!

8am this morning I was to be found in the Mission picking up some freebie plants (Craigslist posting forwarded to me by both John and Joan, separately!):

- 1 Ginger (Latin name unknown)
- 6 Aeoniums
- Various small bits of succulent and cactus















On arriving home I couldn't help but notice a large truck parked outside P. Garden... it turned out to be our friend, busily digging a hole for one of the posts for the arch! I gulped down my coffee and set to work digging too.... pretty soon Matt joined us, and before you know it, both posts are in. Then came the moving of the top part which weighed a lot. I was worried it would fall off and smash me flat, but no, we made it - the arch is up! Our friend went off to get his welding equipment, and on returning Jim allowed him to use his power to attach the top part.

It even has "PG" welded to it, which was painted a lovely copper color so it stands out, and the attention to detail in installing it went as far as making sure the wine barrel planters were level too. Shame the plants in them are wonky!

Lots of people stopped by to admire it - it is a huge hit. It's absolutely beautiful and I'm just thrilled at the look of our entranceway now! All that is left to do is pick the perfect, scented vine to climb up it.













We also had help in the garden today from Leah, who weeded the entire dog area as well as pruning many scraggly areas: the garden looks 1000% better, and I must get more mulch to prevent it from reverting to a weed pile.

Amar and his lovely wife Liza (sp?) came too, and they moved some wayward daffodils to a much better spot, as well as making a good start on some twig weaving. I must say it's not fair to ask a pregnant woman to help in the garden, but there you go - I'm a slave driver!

Other tasks that got done included moving a Penstemon, a Cosmos and an Acorus gramineus "Minimus Aureus" and of course a lot of weeding.