Overcast day

Weeping Yucca
(Yucca recurvifolia)

Today is a bit overcast and a good one to water the new plants. I spent about two hours with various sprinklers on various areas of the garden.

While they did their work I trimmed, deadheaded and weeded. The cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) is blooming, which means the leaves are going to die off shortly after and then it'll be cut back. That always leaves a big hole in the left bed for a month or two but it's worth it for the spectacular foliage the rest of the year.

The Weeping Yucca (Yucca recurvifolia) by the steps is flowering nicely for the first time - a very healthy plant. Another plant that's about to flower is the Agave parryi by the arch that I posted a photo of last week. Sadly this spells doom for that Agave - they die after flowering.  However, the flower spike is about 12' tall and very impressive, and should be there for many months. It's certainly going out with a bang!

Matilija poppy
(Romneya coulteri)

The fourth plant I noticed in bloom is the California native Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri) in the left bed, with it's fried egg style flowers on very tall stalks. It's a bit of a rascal in that it likes to spread and pop up in odd places, but it hasn't been too annoying yet.