A few hours on a sunny Saturday

Yesterday Matt and I went to the garden to do a few quick tasks and noticed that the Aloe ferox (Bitter Aloe) is about to flower for the first time.

This was a tiny little 4" plant from Annie's Annuals less than 3 short years ago in April 2009 and it has grown magnificently.  It'll be an awesome sight when the flowers open - I can't wait to see how it looks. This is a tree Aloe meaning it'll grow into a 9' high tree eventually. Or maybe sooner than we thought at this rate!

After that I planted some Amaryllis belladonna (Naked Lady) bulbs in three spots in the brights bed. These were on the lower left bed path, and doing OK, but I think some pink flowers in the brights bed will be fab.

They like to be planted with the tips of the bulbs showing - as you can see in the photo the ones on the right are covered with dirt correctly, the ones on the left are about to be covered. I hope they like their new spots. Sometimes they get upset by being moved and won't flower the following year but hopefully I've moved them at a time when they're totally dormant and won't care.

There are a few more of these bulbs around the garden (in the left bed) that I want to consolidate into clumps in the brights bed - better do that soon.

Lastly Matt and I sat on the steps and started delicately weeding the grass and other weeds from the sides. This job takes quite some time to do correctly - there are a lot of little Sisyrinchium californicum (Yellow-eyed Grass) clumps that look like grass there, mixed with grass.

We want to keep the Yellow-eyed Grass, and not the boring grass. Tricky work, but oddly rewarding. In the pic you can see a before and after section.