Scents and sensibility

Arctotis power activate!

Today I popped out to do a few hours of gardening in the calm, winter sunshine and noticed a lot of great smells in the garden. Used to be that the only smell was dog poop and freeway fumes...

Now, it's more like perfume! The cherry-plum tree blossoms smell like cherries. The hyacinths and narcissus scents are wafting around. And the Psoralea pinnata will be flowering soon - watch out for the smell of grape Kool-Aid!

Determined to get more plants out of their pots and planted, I went back to the terraces and weeded a lot of pots, pulling out a few items that could go in the ground right away.

Hesperoyucca whipplei

First up was a Yucca whipplei (syn. Hesperoyucca whipplei) also known as the chaparral yucca, or our Lord's candle.

That went in on the steps (damn Achillea roots everywhere... curse them!) and I also popped in an Agave parrasana (or some hybrid thereof, if you're an Agave expert) on the opposite side of the steps - a cute little clumping agave about the size of a softball.

I weeded the terraces as I sorted, and planted two Aloe brevifolia, a clump of Senecio kleiniiformis and four cuttings of Cotyledon barbeyi maybe? Not sure - Josh gave it to us.

Agave parrasana and hyacinth

I cut back the Salvia canariensis up by the dog area - that wooly monster grew really quickly, fell over and tripped. So it's back to stumps now though I expect it'll zoom right back up in no time.

I weeded out about 3 massive tubtrugs full of weeds.... time to move those pots in the back area so we can turn the compost! It is piling the heck up again. I have an idea to put almost-done compost in back bags in the sun for a week or two to kill weed seeds (our compost doesn't appear to get hot enough - lack of "brown" stuff in it I think)

Aloe speciosa - small...

I planted a Dendromecon harfordii (Bush Poppy) in the left bed, but am not convinced it'll do well as it was a bit stressed. Also getting to spread its roots today is an Aloe speciosa that's been waiting around forever. It went in behind the wrong way sign - I hope it grows nicely there.

Lastly I sorted out all the cuttings and Agave pups for the sale next weekend. Lots of plants have GOT TO GO so come on down Saturday 9.30am-12pm and buy some lovely, tough, xeric but cheap plants to support PSG!

Nature abhors a vacuum

Euphorbia characias

According to the ancient philosopher Aristotle, “Nature abhors a vacuum.” Aristotle based his conclusion on the observation that nature requires every space to be filled with something, even if that something is weeds.

According to my philosophy, weeds must go. And then nature once again takes over and requires the newly empty space to be filled with a plant I perceive to be a non-weed.

Nutshell version: today we weeded and planted.

Agave salmiana on the way out

After Emily set up the hose to water the PRG trees today (Thank you Fregosi Paints for donating water!) Matt and I went up to PG and set about our tasks.  First order of business: clean out the terraces, by planting lots of plants.

Naturally this resulted in minor despair, as we have a lot of plants. So we started by taking 6 Agaves down to the PRG/MCG area and planting them. Two Agave parryi, an Agave lophantha and two Agave americanas. I also popped in a Dendromecon harfordii.

I pruned the Salvias and cataloged many of the leftover plants on the terrace so we can sell them on Craigslist. Matt planted an Agave desmetiana and an A. "Sharkskin" down at the bottom of the terrace.

Agave salmiana rehomed

Next Matt moved to the cactus wall. There we had several large plants in one area competing for attention, with nobody winning. At least one had to go, so Matt selected an Agave salmiana - out it came, and into the front border. "The front border!?" you ask, shocked as this has long been an area filled with fluffy flowers and constant weeding and annoyance. Yes. We are going to add Agaves to the front border. And lo, it will be awesome.

While Matt was busy I ripped out the last lavender in the middle back bed, cut back the Plectranthus argentea there, moved a Tulbaghia violacea (Society Garlic) and weeded a lot of grass out from around things. I planted another clump of Calla Lily (Zantedeschia) from Michele there and yes, it all looks a bit sad but it'll perk up before you know it.

I also planted some sort of wavy-leafed Yucca that John gave me ages ago that had 2 Verbascums in the pot too (or somesuch) in the left bed, an Agave bracteosa and an Agave attenuata "Ray Of Light." Phew.

Cleanup continues

Agave attenuata

Today I went out to the garden to work on some projects ahead of our fab Wellness Block Party on Sunday - are you coming?

I planted a bunch of plants that have been waiting around.

6 little Aloes or Haworthias (what are they?) went around the base of the Pittosporum on the terraces. I'd placed another one there a few months back and it seems to be happy, so now there's a mini swath of them there. I'll post a pic later and try and get a positive ID.

Dendromecon rigida

1 Agave attenuata went next to the other one I'd placed in the left bed back in February.

1 Dendromecon rigida (Bush Poppy) - a CA native - went in the spot I cleared this week where we had a Lupinus arboreus. The latter was misbehaving (going dormant, looking dead, coming back to life and being extremely sprawly - disaster!) due to the soil conditions there - hopefully the Dendromecon will shine.

There was also the inevitable weeding and watering of the latest plants to be done. Lots to do this week - come to the volunteer day on Saturday and help us prep for the party!

Plant profile: Dendromecon rigida

Latin name: Dendromecon rigida (pronounced "den-dro-ME-con RIJ-id-ah")

Common name: Bush Poppy, Tree Poppy
Originally from: the foothills of the California Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada, and the chaparral and woodlands of southern California and northern Baja California Peninsula
Blooms: Bright yellow flowers cover the plant in spring but it flowers almost all year round.
Light: Full sun.
Water: Drought tolerant - rain is plenty.
Where to find in P. Garden: On the Mariposa Center Garden, actually.

Ah bush poppy. Evergreen, ever flowering and ever annoyingly hard to transplant. We've bought several for the Mariposa Center Garden and all but one has perished. It's the one that succeeded that makes me buy more...

Normally such a delicate little thing would be left to die and brushed under the rug, but the remaining shrub is a standout. A California native that's almost always in bloom, with a thick, tidy form, nice waxy foliage and no desire for water, it's the perfect plant for your xeric garden. You just can't move them. Ever. Or water them in the summer. Got it?

This plant is considered a "fire follower" in that it only germinates after a fire. If you want to try sowing some seeds, they say the best thing to do is burn them first! The plant is a bit short-lived: up to 10 years. but the seeds will survive in the soil for 5 to 10 times as long as the average plant lives.

Darn those Daily Deals...

Narcissus "Grand Soleil d'Or"

Months ago I jumped on an SFGate.com Daily Deal that gave $30 worth of plants from Golden Gate Park nursery for $15. In fact, I bought 4 of the coupons, so I was getting $120 worth of plants for $60. I was feeling pretty clever. I'd been up to the nursery a few times and each time either found no plants I wanted, or forgot the coupons, or something else prevented me from using them.

Well they were set to expire on February 1st so yesterday I had to get $120 worth of plants or else!

Aeonium

Happily I managed to find a lot of good selections, and asked a volunteer to go fetch a couple more from the back. After waiting around for almost an hour I was ready to leave, but finally she came back and I got my plants. They are:

Agave colorata x 2
Agave whipplei
Artemisia pyenocephala (Sandhill Sage)
Cistus aguliari
Cleome isomeris (syn. Isomeris arborea)
Coreopsis gigantea
Dendromecon rigida
Euonymus japonica "Chollipo Gold"
Helleborus x sternii
Lavatera assurgentiflora
Phlomis italica
Salvia canariensis

A bunch of these will go live on the Mariposa Center Garden.

only the best for P. Garden!

A kills weeds
with a smile!

In our pursuit of excellence, we imported a special guest volunteer today all the way from the UK! Actually, A is on vacation here and agreed to take several ours out of his day to weed at PG, which I found astonishing. I quickly handed him a trowel and gloves and got him to work though, and in 3+ hours he demolished many loads of weeds from the red bed. Thank you A!

In the meantime, Matt swept the steps and cut out the hillside at the bottom of them in preparation for the small wooden support planned for that spot to keep the callas in place.

Yesterday Matt, Emily and I went to the San Francisco Botanical Garden's sale, and bought a couple plants. Emily took the Dendromecon rigida (Bush Poppy) we got there down to the Mariposa Center Garden and planted it, replacing the one that sadly failed to thrive down there recently.

Tree Dahlia in full
force and effect!

I planted some yellow Chasmanthe floribunda bulbs in the left bed,  trimmed dead leaves of the Washingtonia palm (it's alive!), weeded a lot, organized the pots and gave some plants to a couple who dropped by the garden on Emily's advice: I hope to bribe them to come back and help us in the garden one day!

We also had an impromptu visit from Topher and her crew who came to see what I was up to, and Jess an her relations, ditto. I gave mini-tours and answered questions.

All in a a lot accomplished in 5 hours! This is just to add to the time Josh spent in the garden yesterday, weeding away. A good weekend all round I think.

Mariposa Center Garden revisited

Last night Emily, Gina and I planned to work on the Mariposa Center Garden (Mariposa at Pennsylvania), planting the plants we got using our donation from The Godmothers.

We met at 6pm and weeded, then laid out the plants I bought last weekend and started digging into the rocky, dry dirt. Thank you digging bar! Gina had a flash of genius and went home to get her digging bar too - pretty soon we were getting into the swing of it: use the digging bar to loosen dirt, then the shovel to empty the hole, then back to the digging bar, and so on.

3 Dendromecon rigida (Bush Poppy - picture below)

4 Lupinus arboreus (Yellow Bush Lupine)

5 Cistus "Sunset"

2 Lavatera "Barnsley"

1 Rosmarinus (Rosemary)

(We have 9 Achilleas, and a lot of Dietes left to plant, and we need a few Bougainvilleas to cover the fence)

Lots of people driving or jogging by shouted encouragement. And after a little while we were joined by a young man who probably lived on the street, and maybe had a few... issues, but he helped us dig a hole anyway.

Another guy used the hole (pic left) in the middle of the strip's fence (often repaired, never for long. Note to self: Call Caltrain again to get it fixed) to access the railroad tracks while we were there, and I had to explain to him when he returned that the hole will soon be filled and he'll need to get down to the tracks by another route. He wasn't pleased.

Such is gardening work on the street! Always lots of interesting characters. We managed to get Ryan to come down and provide male presence (and dig some holes!) which was much appreciated - I think he was going to go to the gym, but he got a different sort of workout!. And as the sun started to go down Matt joined us and we planted the last plant and watered everything in until it was dark.

Today I'll be picking up some fencing supplies to protect the new plants - all donated by Center Hardware (thanks Brandon and co!). If you have fencing skills and can help me pound in a few posts and attach the fence, let me know! We also need to mulch the strip heavily and water it weekly for a while - if you live nearby, can you help?

Bottom photo shows, from left, Gina, Emily, Ryan and me. Go team!

Paradise found!

I have long wanted a Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) in the garden, so when I got an email from Matt B, who lives in the neighborhood, that he was removing one from his garden, my ears pricked up! He offered to bring it to the garden this morning, and I was lucky enough to meet him after he dropped it off.

My Matt (Matt P) got to work planting it in the dampest spot in the garden - right by the spigot (see pic). He added a whole bucket of compost from the bin too. Should be a happy little Bird of Paradise there!

I planted an Arctotis "The Ravers: Pumpkin Pie" in front of the wrong way sign (can't have too many pinks, reds and oranges there) and noticed that two other plants had been left at the garden for us: a rosemary and another plant that looks like it sat in the sun too long and probably isn't going to make it. :( Note to donors: please let me know if you're planning to drop off a plant so I can get it into a safe spot ASAP!

After that, Matt and I drove down to Half Moon Bay to visit the nurseries there. I had some money burning a hole in my pocket that was given to Emily by Sharon - one of The Godmothers - for the Mariposa Center Garden opposite Center Hardware.  I had Emily's wishlist in my hand, and managed to get a few items she wanted, but had to pick others out that should do the same job as the selection wasn't ideal. Here's what I got:

3 Dendromecon rigida (Bush Poppy)

6 Lupinus arboreus (Yellow Bush Lupine)

4 Achillea millefolium "Red Velvet"

6 Achillea millefolium "Terracotta"

5 Cistus "Sunset"

2 Lavatera

I have to say it was wonderful to go plant shopping without having to be extremely picky and stingy, only buying the tiniest size of a plant as I usually have to, and only buying one specimen. I think this collection will make an immediate impact on that spot: thank you Godmthers! I'm going to help Emily plant them on Wednesday night. Do you want to help? Meet us at the strip at 6pm!