Volunteer whackday

Jackie and Amaryllis
belladonna - perfect match!

Today's volunteer workday involved some serious plant whacking.  The Lupinus arboreus in the left bed was exhibiting the same poor behavior as the Brugmansia in the same bed. That is: pretending to die off during summer drought so it can come back in the winter when it rains. However, that trick won't work with me! We don't want plants looking half dead for most of the year. It's an admirable trait in the wild, but since we don't intend to water the plants and dislike a scruffy look, they had to go.

I removed the Lupinus, Nate cut down the Brugmansia and distributed cuttings to other volunteers who have gardens that can accommodate them better. I cut back the Watsonias in that bed while Carl cut back the Watsonias in the brights bed.

Emily and Debbie

While that was happening, Emily, Jackie and Debbie weeded out a ton of Oenothera from the left bed, where it had gone weedy and scraggly after flowering and no doubt seeding everywhere (groan!)

Matt busied himself cutting back the two Salvias at in the dog area that need summer trimming. Salvia gesneriiflora "Tequila" and the unknown pinkish variety next to it got cut by half so they don't get too crazy next year.

After that he rescued several Bromeliads from the base of those plants were they were being overshadowed, and moved them to the front of the brights bed where they can shine.

Before and after left bed

Carlin pulled out loads of spent corn marigolds from the edge of the garden, to allow the Calandrinias there to get some light and grow better. Tanya deftly pulled loads of grass out from the back of the middle back bed, right before they seeded everywhere, and weeded pathways in general.

We watered a bunch of areas, and I put in two Athanasia pinnata in the left bed, next to the one we already have. It's a nice and unusual plant, but I think a grouping of three together will give a stronger look.

Spring Plant-A-Thon Part 2

First thing today I drove to West Portal to pick up some succulent cuttings from lovely Craigslister Christine O. Back at the garden I potted up quite a few of them, and planted others directly in the ground - mostly Cotyledon orbiculata.  Anna was at the garden when I arrived, and we later went to look at some plants being donated for the plant sale in May which she's offered to propagate for the sale. How nice is that?

To backtrack a bit, on Thursday I was traveling through Richmond and, like Emily recently, was sucked right into Annie's Annuals. I picked up three Silver Bush Lupines (Lupinus chamissonis) for the Canter Hardware Strip Garden, and for P. Garden I got:

Delosperma lavisiae (a pink-flowering ground cover succulent)
Cephalophyllum pillansii (similar, but with lemon yellow flowers)
Athanasia pinnata (a 4' wide, 6' tall feathery shrub with yellow flowers in spring)

Today I went out and planted the latter 3. I also met a big group of neighbors from the Rebuild Potrero scheme, who were interested in the garden and wanted to pick my brain on how it all started. Hope they found my babbling useful!

Photo above shows the lovely purple flowers of our Drosanthemum striatum behind the magenta-rimmed rosettes of an Aeonium haworthii. In the background are a Crassula tetragona and Aeonium "Zwartkop."