Happy holidays!

Matt and I ran to the garden today to plant some plants! We put in three Santolina chamaecyparissus (Lavender Cotton) and ten Lychnis coronaria (Rose Campion) at PG. I grew the latter from seed this year, and I'm really hoping they take off as they are such pretty plants. We also cut back the dying (dead?) Cherry Plum tree and I used the branches to make some border edging.

After that we headed down to PRG and planted three Yucca filifera plants. Lots more to new plants come this winter, but it was great to get these in ahead of the rain. I also cleaned up some trash and put in a 311 request to pick up the pile.

Happy holidays friends! I hope it's relaxing, warm and rejuvenating.

New plants, new plans

Today Matt and I popped out to the garden to plant some plants at PRG.

We put in a 15 gallon Austrocylindropuntia subulata (tall spiky cactus), a 15 gallon Yucca filifera (tall spiky yucca), a 10 gallon Agave weberi "Arizona Star" and a 10 gallon Agave valenciana that came from Mat at Farallon Gardens.

We put the A.valenciana down by the larger group of the same species at the North end, and also moved two others to join them. They're looking great - and will get absolutely huge, so that's something to look forwards to.

Lastly we cut some yucca branches that were growing into other plants and put them to one side so we can get them rooted and plant them elsewhere.

Another great GROWTH Project day

I met the team from UCSF's GROWTH Project today to work at the gardens, and while we were supposed to spread mulch at the Triangle garden, we ended up planting at PRG instead because the mulch delivery truck died.

We weeded and picked trash up, and then spent some time clearing dead or damaged plants from a stretch of PRG first. Looks like someone set a big fire down there and a lot of plants were damaged... always sad to see. Now I have an area about 30' x 5' to replant.

After that we planted a Eucalyptus gunnii "Silver Drop" which was donated by Mat McGrath of Farallon Gardens recently. Exciting new plant for us! And we put in three new Yucca filifera as well - the ultimate ankle biter (aka plant that's very good at protecting areas of the garden). The ground was nice and moist so I feel like all these plants will do really well.

Wet from sky

It rained at the volunteer day, as it is apt to do this time of year, but nevertheless Matt, Chris and Josh helped with some fun tasks.

Matt harvested some Agave attenuatas and variegated Yucca branches so we can grow them on the for the garden. more plants!

Josh, Chris and I set about planting. We put in a dozen 1gallon Limonium sinuatum (Statice) plants that I have been growing for the last several months, and they are all along the front bed now - will look great! Then Josh planted four Leucophyta brownii that I'd also grown on for the garden.

Chris moved a Salvia canariensis up to the top of the garden, and rearranged some Agave filiferas in the front bed. After that he turned the compost which was a bit of a heavy task. I added some water and left the lids open so hopefully all that material composts down a bit faster.

And yeah - we watered in all the new plants. In the rain. Because the rains we have had so far have only dampened the top couple inches of dirt. It's amazing to see, we never stop being surprised by it, but we really, really are in a drought.

Photo: Lovely  Aloe "David Verity" that we got from Mat McGrath flowering away today.

Adios, tool chest

No surprise in winter, but we got some good rain last night. The gardens will be LOVING it. Last week Matt and I popped out to PG and removed the tool chest from the back area.

We built that tool chest back in October of 2015 and it's given is 7 long years of use. but the sad fact is that as much as we fortified it over the years, it was honestly just sitting there waiting for people to break in and steal all our stuff. More recently we have only used it for equipment we don't mind losing, but a recent break-in made me give up - so the chest has sat empty for a while. We will reuse the wood for something else.

We also did some trimming and pruning, and noted that the last rain meant the weed seeds are sprouting. JUST when you think they are all gone - oh no. Also sprouting is the very first flower we have ever had on an Agave attenuata. It's going to be a crazy bloom: watch out for that!

We have a volunteer day this weekend - Saturday 10-12 as usual - and the GROWTH Project will be joining us again next week. Come on down and help prepare for more rains - we might even be planting stuff (The. Most. Fun!) if the ground is damp enough!