Monday, June 26, 2017

Genentech Gives Back to Pennsylvania Garden

What an amazing crew turned out for the 2017 Genentech Gives Back event at Pennsylvania Garden! We had over a dozen rough and ready folks turn out to get the garden into shape. It was a warm and lovely day, perfect for a  for a solid three hour workday in the morning. Chris and I were on-hand to lead them through the day's activities.


  • Weeding the dog area, seating area, and cactus wall pathway
  • Mulching the seating area
  • Trimming back the overgrowth on numerous pathways
  • Having a good time!!
The three hours went by quickly and we had a mountain of debris to show for all of our hard work. Thanks to Genentech for coming out to the gardens (for 4 years now?), and you are always welcome back.

Monday, June 5, 2017

All sorts of improvements

Leslie
Saturday's volunteer day was great - we had a dedicated and skilled crew on hand so a lot of wonderful things were accomplished.

Leslie is a stalwart regular and she worked on the middle pathways and beds, ably removing all sorts of weeds, of which we have a surprising number, unfortunately. 

I weeded as much as possible too - we have a good sized pile now  and with a bit of luck can get a debris box for an upcoming workday in order to remove that AND the contents of the compost bins to start afresh.

Hilary
Hilary is new but I could tell right away by her botanical garden tee she was a pro! She got stuck in cutting back Chasmanthe and Euphorbias, as well as the large and somewhat wilty looking Salvia gesneriiflora "Tequila"in the brights bed.

That Salvia looked pretty dead after the Big Drought, but it came back with a vengeance. Of course looking wilted in early June isn't a great sign, but being cut back means it might conserve some energy and make it through.

Chris
Chris loves ripping things apart so I was able to direct his energy towards the now-defunct Euphorbia lambii (victim of too many windy nights) and an overly-enthusiastic Echium madrerense, both of which are now gone and the garden is much better for it.

I think he had a good time with that. You can see him here posing with an ex-Echium.

In the meantime, Matt closed off one side of the bottom paths with stones etc. Our HUGE Agave attenuata at the front just past the arch is sure to bloom soon, and it's really in the way of that path. Si closing that for now will prevent the Agave being dinged up, leaving another path and the sidewalk as two ways to get to the top of the garden.
 
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