Another outstanding volunteer day

Today we had a bunch of volunteers from The Presidio Group who, as it turns out, are a hard working bunch! With their help, and that of several other marvelous volunteers, we completed a number of tasks - some that have been lingering for way, way too long.

First we got not one but two compost heaps turned over by a pair of enthusiastic volunteers.

Next a whole gang went up to the dog area with Emily and weeded it clean, then buried a long section of carpet under the wood chips as weed suppressant. They also sorted through a pile of twigs to prepare for twig border manufacture at some later date.

Matt led a group down at the arch. He removed an area of bricks that were being pushed up by a root, and had created a tripping hazard. He flattened it and redid the brickwork, while his team pruned back the Dipogon lignosus (Cape Sweet Pea) on the arch, prevented it spreading into nearby beds, and cut back the Salvia leucantha there too.

After that was done he took his team into the storm drain area - a land populated with dangerous things (cacti) that have been left in post there for Much Too Long. They removed all the cacti - risking life and limb I might add - and sorted them into three groups: Store in the dog area for later, throw on the compost pile and plant now.

In the meantime, I took a team to the bottom of the steps and we eradicated all the ivy (evil, and something we've battled in the spot since May 2009) and Aptenia cordifolia (useful groundcover planted in January 2011 and since then gone berserk) from a good-sized area, and cut back all the Chasmanthe that are done flowering. When the area was cleared, we were ready to plant some new stuff - always fun.

We moved an Agave americana and some Aloe nobilis to better sites, and added an Aloe cameronii (Red Aloe), an Echinopsis pachanoi (San Pedro Cactus) from the storm drain and a gorgeous Agave salmiana "Butterfingers" bought for PG recently. Huge improvement!

Patrick weeded and swept the entrances and Keyvan weeded the pathways very carefully, Anna separated out a huge clump of the bromeliad Fascicularia pitcairnifolia recently donated by Josh into separate plants ready for planting, and at the end of the volunteer day the whole garden was looking really great. Go check it out!


Who did all this work? Nate, Patrick, Anna, Vitalia, Tom, Tony, Lilly, Nora, Julianna, Keyvan, Annie B., Victor, Susie, Carrie, Susan B., William, Susan S., and Anthony. Please take a bow!

Thanks to all the volunteers and to The Presidio Group for encouraging volunteer activities among their staff: what a productive, sunny day it was :)

Volunteer day: potting up

Patrick plants Aptenia

Today's volunteer workday started a little overcast and gloomy, but ended up sunny and fine as usual.

Things that got done:

John came over and traded me loads of Aptenia cordifolia cuttings for loads of Calandrinia spectabilis cuttings. A win for everyone!

Patrick then planted all the Aptenia cuttings into 4 flats as ground cover for the SPUR project (now known as the Pennsylvania Railroad Garden). He and Matt potted up all the Euphobia lambiis we have waiting for that project into 2 gallon or larger pots, as well as a load of Salvia "Anthony Parker."

Doryanthes palmeri

Patrick also swept the pathways into the garden neatly, which may seem like a pointless job with so much mulch floating around but it really makes a difference in my opinion. I like a neat path - so sue me!

Matt moved the Doryanthes palmeri (Spear Lily) from it's spot in the brights bed, completely hidden from view, to a much more prominent area as it deserves.

Eddy pruned back the naughty Dipogon lignosus vine on the arch at the entrance and stopped it's rampant spread into the next door bed. That was a task I was sort of hoping never to have to do, and Eddy made it so. The vine has had a severe haircut and should behave itself for a while now, fingers crossed!

Lavandula, Tibouchina
and Plectranthus

Bill and Jeanie cut back spent Chasmanthes, Cannas and Achilleas in the left and brights bed, and I moved the water sprinkler around and gave everything a nice drink. I also tidies the pots behind the shed and pruned several  branches from the cherry plum trees by the bench to let in more light and prevent heads hitting them when you go to sit down.

I potted up a flat of 4" pots of succulents and had a nice chat with Janet about how frustrating certain granting bodies who shall remain nameless can be, and the day was done.

Volunteer day lite

Gorgeous! Emily's not
bad either ;)

Today's volunteer effort was surprisingly productive, given that aside from me and Emily and Matt, the only people working were Eliot and Carlin. No problem: all seasoned hard workers, so the results were great. Miyuki and her baby girl Mia came to hang out and cheer us on.

Carlin worked on cutting back all the Chasmanthe in the garden. It'll be back in December - for now each clump is taking a rest. She also cut back Cannas, weeded and was generally the Queen of the Hori-Hori as usual.

Since Matt and I both have injured right wrists in a bizarre coincidence, Emily turned the compost bins. One was ready to empty - filled with gorgeous dirt, loaded with nutrients. She spread it under the Fuchsia, all over a spot by the bench and a few other areas. What a totally rewarding feeling to have made such a great product for the garden! Eliot watered the bins, one of which is now full to the top with new garden refuse, one of them cooking last month's batch, and one empty and ready to fill. Watering and turning the bins each month has made a huge difference to how quickly they composted down - pats on the back all around.

Agave lophantha and
Artemisia "Powis Castle"

Matt and I worked on the area behind the wrong way sign. All the Lychnis got cut back (lots of seeds fell, so we'll have tons more hot pink flowers soon) and all the past-their-sell-by-date corn marigolds and best-before-last-week California poppies got pulled out. I gave the spot a thorough watering and it's good to go.

Matt also weeded out tons of grass from the middle back bed and prevented the Aptenia cordifolia ground cover from strangling everything in the middle front bed.

Lastly, Emily cut back the Glaucium grandiflorum (Orange Horned Poppy) - need to move that back in the bed in the fall, as it did so excessively well at the edge and got too big. Nice problem to have!

Gnashing of teeth!

Today we had lots to do in the garden. Weeds abound, and lots of plants needed to be rearranged, potted up, and otherwise fussed over.

First I went to see Jo, who gave me Aloe arborescens and Aeonium cuttings, and an Agave attenuata pup! I was almost late due to chatting with Alison, Rick and the world's most enthusiastic dog, Peekaboo.

I got back to the garden and met a lady called Jackie her dog. She made a point of telling me that she always picks up her dog poop, and often other people's too. I thought "how nice... and this is not the first time someone has impressed on my how responsible they are regarding dog poop..."

Max came by and asked to be put to work. I gave him a sharp tool and let him loose on the Cannas, which he cut down really quickly. Next he cleared the bed behind the Wrong Way sign of evil baby Nasturtiums. Thanks Max!

While he was doing that a really nice lady whose name is Juana asked what was up with the sign. What sign? Why this sign taped to the poop bag dispenser at the top! (left) Oh my. Someone is really annoyed by dog poop - a dog owner no less. Don't read it if you are sensitive! I pondered what to do with the sign. I do appreciate the sentiment (some people don't pick up - is is nasty) but worried people might think I put it there. And it's not very friendly.

I left it up til the afternoon, and speaking to Jim found out this is version 2 of the sign - another one was posted several days ago. OK, so I think by now everyone has seen it, so I removed it. Sign posting person, thanks for trying to make the garden nicer for everyone - I appreciate the effort.

In the meantime Matt was busy in the Aloe area of the succulent slope, having moved a specimen from the middle back bed. We added Aptenia cordifolia from Leah as groundcover all around, and weeded a lot. We also moved a Crassula erosula "Campfire", Aloe glauca (Blue Aloe), Sedum nevii "Silver Frost" and Aeonium around in the middle back bed (photo top), moved the Salvia "Anthony Parker" to the red bed, and a clump of Hemerocallis (Daylily) to where it was, and potted up about 20 Aster "Bill's Big Blue" for the sale, as well as two roses.

Further diggings

Today Matt and I set out to remove some conifers that I planted a year ago, and which didn't prove to be as drought tolerant as I'd hoped. I figure they can go in the plant sale and find better homes.

We removed them from the area by the Brugmansia (all 5 of them) and potted them. We replaced them with two ornamental grasses (what kind, you ask? Miscanthus.... um... can't remember. Time will tell!), moved 2 ivory-colored Gazanias from behind the Wrong Way sign, moved the Yucca "Garland's Gold" out from under the Coprosma x Kirkii "Variegata," and brought John's deep burgundy Phormium to the front of the Brugmansia. The whole effect is a lot better, I think, and now, instead of having a conifer area we have an ornamental grass area - trendy!

We also moved a Hakea suaveolens (Sweet Hakea) a couple meters so it's not fighting with the Brugmansia.

We got an Aloe striata donated by Anita today - yippee! Got to find it a good spot. Also on the donations tip we got a watering can (yay!), and a bag of compost from Brad - thanks! Max and his friend-whose-name-might-have-been-Eric dropped by and we enjoyed the idea that it is Superbowl Sunday and the streets are nice and quiet. Sorry, I'm not good at names. I'm just not. Sorry.

I prepared three flats of the useful succulent ground cover Aptenia cordifolia from Leah. She gave us so much I could have made 15 flats, but I ran out of containers! We also moved an Opuntia from under the variagated Echium along with a lot of Sedum rubrotinctum ground cover. They went on the cactus wall, in a spot we made after removing a couple Agave americanas. I got covered in tiny glochids - the spines these Opuntias are covered in. Ouch!