Bonkers volunteer day. Bonkers, I tell you.

Jes was taking numbers
and kicking ass.

We had a lot planned for today and got a lot done with the help of LOTS of volunteers. Yes folks, once again the rule "many hands makes light work" was proven spectacularly.  We had 14 people working together in the garden, the weather was outstanding and everyone who came was cheerful, witty and good looking too! ;)

The main goal was a makeover of the red bed. Right away Matt, Nathan, Peter and Emily got stuck into the north end of the project, making a low retaining wall out of reclaimed asphalt chunks found in the garden. All the plants in that area were dug up and replanted in a better formation too.  

Nathan, Matt, Jes and Emily

Penstemons, Agastaches, Phormiums, Salvias and Lychnis all got dug up and swapped around. We added a bright yellow Coreopsis to set off the Phormium, and an Epolibium californica (California Fuchsia) too, and moved the low-growing Ceanothus "King Sipp" there to the front edge so it'll spill over. A nice coat of mulch and a deep watering completed the job: the entire area is totally remade.

Heather and Leslie:
detail work

In the meantime, Carlin, Gene, Heather and Leslie worked at the south end, carefully teasing sheep's sorrel (an evil weed) out from the base of several infested plants there.

Although sometimes a dull job, they really  performed this task with great care and attention to detail. This will prevent the spread of that nasty weed to other beds when we replant the iris elsewhere -  a great job done.

Jordan gets the job done.

While Peter moved on to prune a Salvia leucantha, Jes from Caltrans and Jordan from Royal Hawaiian Seafood cut back another S. leucantha and a Leonotis leonorus and swapped their position in the garden - pretty drastic stuff but I have to say Jes and Jordan were pretty well matched in the energy department so they powered through it in no time.

Peter finding spots for bulbs.

Janet later helped Jes plant some Salvia leucantha on the other side of the bed, while Peter was replanting Narcissus and Muscari aucheri (Grape Hyacinth) bulbs in the middle back bed.

By this time, Nathan had moved on to renovating the twig border along the front of the red bed.  Leslie and Riley helped him, and that was another task checked off in no time. Heather watered everything in thoroughly in the meantime, wrestling the hose expertly. I'm so glad I didn't have to do that!

Carlin knows what to do.

I don't think we have had a busier volunteer day: thank you all for your cheerful hard work. I hope you had fun and will come back again because we really enjoyed working with you! (Sorry we didn't get pics of everyone  - next time I hope I can do better.)