Saturday started grey

... but became quite sunny!

I headed up to the garden with Matt around 9.30am for Volunteer Day, and met Emily and Arum there.

Matt went to town on the area in front of the bench, planting two Impatiens sodenii given to us by his dad, and moving around several Geranium macrorhizum to the front edge. He also moved several Nicotianas to a group at the top of the steps - in the winter when we remove the black sage and the Ceanothus that are not especially exciting from that area, there'll be room for something much cooler instead.

Later on we were joined by Tanya and Nathan who are new in town but they can stay: they were excellent volunteers who did a lot of weeding and seriously impressed me with their twig-weaving skills. Check out the pics (top, middle) of them in action, and the final result! Thanks guys!

Emily and Arum (pic bottom) weeded out some mint from the middle back bed, and I have to say the Scabiosas and Coreopsis there are looking fabulous. Those got deadheaded too - watch out - tons more flowers on the way! The lavender is also taking numbers and kicking butt, and the Tibouchina has come back and is flowering away right now. All in all, that part of the bed is looking quite nice.

Oh yes - how could I forget? We were also paid a visit by John whose wife Andrea sent us many plants for the sale, as well as Anna who helped us out with sale stuff too. John also brought some redwood planks we'll use for the Mariposa Center Garden to prevent mulch etc disappearing down the hill. Hurrah!