Work day chop!

John and Bob clearing
out shrubs

Today's workday had an energetic crew: Janna, Matt, Emily, Bob and John convened on the garden to make a mark on the plants that have died of drought.


Janna got to work turning the compost and the rest of us cleared a huge amount of dead material to the now HUGE pile in the dog area. Today the plants that got removed were two Kunzea baxteri who, despite having survived the drought were too floppy in form to live where they had been planted. Our Cytisus scoparius (Scotch Broom) had died too - a volunteer who had been cheerfully providing a splash of yellow for a few years, but is now as dead as a dodo. It joined the others on the heap.

Janna all smiles
taking a break form the compost

We also lifted the canopy of the nearby Hakea suaveolens and Berberis linearifolia, cut back the Salvia leucantha (Mexican Sage), Salvia canariensis (Canary Island Sage) and Plectranthus argentea severely, and gave the Watsonia bulbs a haircut.

The whole brights bed looks really different now with only one big tree left, and a determined pair of taller plants: Cussonia spicata and a Berberis linearifolia who needs to be cut down to size...

Before

In the meantime, Matt went and fetched a large Agave "Green Giant" from PRG as it was buried under a Malva. It came up to join the other big Agave of the same cultivar by the wrong way sign. I cleared out tons of overgrown Pelargoniums in the area, and we moved a Coprosma "Evening Glow" to the left bed, and a clump of Watsonias to where the others are. All we need to do there now is add a few grasses and the area is transformed.

After

After all this, Matt and I went and bought some new plants to replace the dead ones - plants we know are tougher than tough! We got 5 Cordylines and a Coprosma, all thanks to a great donation by Christopher Johnson of Mississippi Street!

NBC Bay Area, volunteers and lots of agaves

Yesterday's volunteer day was hot hot hot - what a weekend of roasting weather!

Some of our core volunteers came out to play: Emily, Nate, Carlin, Keyvan, Anna, Mary, John, Eliot, Amanda and I worked up quite a sweat doing lots of tasks.

The Amaryllis belladonna and Chasmanthes were cut back by Carlin, Nate did some twig border work, Anna sprayed vinegar on weeds to kill them, Mary deadheaded Agapanthus, John turned the compost and lots of weeds were pulled garden-wide. I cut back some Watsonias and Agapanthus too.

Oh yeah - and NBC Bay area was there to film it all! I got miked up for the workday and had to try not to swear as much as I usually do (!) while being followed around by the lovely Garvin and Claire from NBC. It was sort of fun!

The spot airs a week on Tuesday and I'll post a link when it's online. They came down to my house after the workday to do an interview too - as a result of preparing for that our house is now nice and clean, so at least there's that...

In the meantime John and Matt were in Healdsburg collecting Agaves and all sorts of goodies from a garden that was being demolished - how tragic. They came back around 3pm with carloads of amazing things. Huge Agaves, stunning Puyas, gorgeous Yuccas - such cool stuff. Among them:

Dyckia - a ground cover type
Agave americana "Lemon Lime"
Agave angustifolia 
Agave pachycentra (mislabeled?)
Agave "Rosa Gorda"
Agave salmiana "Butterfingers"
Agave weberi (maybe)
Puya alpestris (maybe)
Puya - some kind of giant, silvery one
Yucca aloifolia "Marginata"
Yucca elephantipes "Variegata"

Mental! We planted a few right away and today Matt planted some more. Awesome haul guys!!!

Weeding - it's what we do

Lush bed

If you don't like weeding, you shouldn't get involved in gardening: it's 80% of the job! Luckily there's something wonderfully rewarding about all the parts of weeding: sitting in the sun, removing offending plants, beautifying the plants you like, and turning the fruits of your labor into compost. All stages are total win!

This evening I went out for an hour of weeding, and pulled three tubtrugs full out of various beds while noticing all the changes in the garden recently. The Kniphofias, Watsonias and Irises are flowering.

Watsonias

The vine on the entryway arch, Dipogon lignosus, is flowering too, and smells great. And the Echium simplex right behind it is flowering for the first time since we planted it in May 2009 - a tall tower of white flowers. At last.

I started getting bitten by mosquitoes so I left but it was a really nice quiet time in the garden.

Preparation for a special event

Alstroemeerias in the front bed

We are planning for a special event next weekend. On Sunday April 21st we invite all our volunteers to join us at PRG (Pennsylvania Railroad Garden at 100 Pennsylvania) and see what happens. We can't yet release the details but we think you'll enjoy it :)

With all that in mind, yesterday Matt and I weeded at PRG. Not too many weeds on the fence side, quite a few on the street side. Next weekend on Saturday the 20th we're having a special weeding party to get the block cleaned up for Sunday, so come on down!

Today Matt and I went out to tackle some of the weeds at PG. We did about 2.5 hours of weeding and I worked my way down one side of the left bed, removing a ton of weeds. I also noticed that the lavender Watsonias we transplanted there last year are flowering at last! There's a clump of white ones nearby that are getting ready to flower too.

Cardoon haircut

As I was cutting back the cardoon that's always flopping into the pathway (not to self: move it when it does back) I discovered the old leaves lying under it are a very effective weed barrier mulch. I added a few of the newly-cut leaves under the plant to suppress more weeds. The rest will make great compost.

Shed - part 1

Jessica, Matt, Paloma,
Patrick and Nate: digging it.

Today's volunteer day was, as usual, amazing. Although I'm pulled left and right with questions, and as a result feel like my contribution is minimal, I look around at the end of the day and see the results and I'm always deeply impressed by what everyone accomplished.

Today, we set out to get the new shed's foundation area set up. This involved a lot of digging - out came the digging bar, and Jessica, Matt, Patrick, Nate and Paloma set to work next to the composter levelling out an area for the new shed.

Patrick, Emily and
John: pruning it.

The footprint of the shed is 8' x 4' so there was a good amount of rock hard dirt to move away from the site to get it to fit on the sloped area. Several large rocks came out, and several cupcakes were consumed as energy boosters. The dirt was spread along the pathway, and Jessica and John added a plank there to prevent it all rolling downhill.

Emily, Jason, Eddy, Maile and Carlin showed up, and Matt and Eddy went to buy lumber for the foundation of the shed. This left everyone else at a loose end so I got them going on extra tasks.

How to prune a Euphorbia, by Jessica.

The Salvia gesnerifolia "Tequila" lost half it's height, as did the unknown Salvia next to it, thanks to Carlin.  The aster Symphyotrichum novi-belgii "Bill's Big Blue" was cut down to the ground and a Euphorbia "Excalibur"was cut back to just the right level by Jessica.

Neatly bordered by John.

The Verbena bonariensis was cut to the ground and the border rebuilt by John,  One clump of the Crocosmia "Lucifer" was cut back, and many weeds were eradicated by Paloma, Emily and Maile. And the white Watsonia bulbs that had been hanging around forever finally got planted by Patrick, thank goodness. Lastly, Jason, Emily and Jessica trimmed up and planted a whole lot of Calandrinia spectabilis cuttings given to us by Anna.

Matt and Eddy came back from their little lumber odyssey with the right stuff for the job, and quickly set about installing a 10' long, 12" tall terrace parallel to the composters, held in place with rebar.

Don't they look pleased?

They flattened the area and you can see from the pics that the 4' x 8' piece of plywood for the foundation fits perfectly. Great job team - if Matt and I get a "wild hare" to finish putting up the shed I'll send out an email so anyone interested can join in. Wild hares welcome ;)

Wrong Way done right

The area behind the Wrong Way sign has been a bit of a mess for a while. After the Cannas were infected with Canna virus we had to throw them all out, which left some Gaillardias and some Watsonias. Spring reminded me that the Watsonias were mostly white ones when they flowered - they need to go to the left bed. But what other plants could go in that spot? The directives were a) xeric or very drought tolerant, b) bright colored if possible c) no taller than 4' high to preserve the line of sight for drivers exiting the freeway.


I'd recently planted a Coprosma there, and Janet moved out Banksia spinulosa over there too. And today Matt and I went by the Flora Grubb sale and we just went for it. We bought:

1 large red Phormium "Guardsman"
3 Elymus magellanicus
1 Agave gypsophila
1 Aloe tomentosa (with three heads - we can divide it!)
1 Arctotis "Burgundy"

These plants make a great rich red and silvery combination. We got back to the garden and started by ripping out a bunch of Gaillardias and Watsonias - that felt good! The stage was set.

We placed the plants we'd bought in various areas, then we hunted through the plants in the back area and added to that group:

1 Agave lophantha
1 Agave salmiana ssp. crassispina
5 Agave parryii
1 Euphorbia "Excalibur"
14 Lychnis coronaria (Rose Campion)
5 Aeonium arboreum "Atropurpureum"
2 Aeonium arborium "Zwartkop"

With all these ready to go we started planting. After a few hours all 36 plants were watered in, and we cleaned up and built a fresh new twig border with the lovely branches Deric and Kome gave us. We even gave some Watsonias that were left over to a nice couple from Fremont who were visiting the garden.

Done! I'm really pleased with how it all looks, and it'll all grow in and be beautiful AND low maintenance, I hope. I've decided to add a few Artemisias around the base of the Phormium and Agave lophantha to pick up the silvery theme too - might try rooting up my own.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention I planted some Portulaca grandiflora (Moss-rose Purslane) in the bright bed last week, At $6 for 18 plants from Home Despot these sunny, heat-loving little annuals should fill in the front of that bed nicely.

Bindweed is the antichrist

Francisca

Saturday's volunteer day was great as always. We had a dozen people show up and work away for 2 hours, putting in a total of 24 person-hours of work which had an astonishing effect on the garden. We got so much done and several people asked if there were additional work days planned before the next official one. Well if they're THAT keen,who am I to stand in the way?

I sprinkled some multicolored California poppy seeds and yellow Calendula seeds along the lavender hedge as I pondered project number one for the day: to remove bindweed from the dog area and lay down weed barrier cloth. After covering this with mulch it should prevent bindweed from flourishing there. No, it won't stop it altogether, but it will put a severe dent in the party scene that the bindweed has been enjoying. Fingers crossed!

Uzuri and David

I'd estimated we'd get one 6' x 100' long strip done, but we got two strips done. Emily led the enthusiastic group comprised of Elliot, Paloma, David, Uzuri, Donna, Francisca and Leslie, who systematically rid the area of weeds. Leslie also pruned the Salvia "Anthony Parker" which was a bit overdue for a haircut.

In the meantime, I worked in the left bed alongside Carlin, who managed to prune back several unruly plants in no time at all. The cardoon, Cortaderia, Euphorbia "Blackbird", Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum), Watsonia and Artemisia "Powis Castle" all got a trim.

Donna and Emily

I cut back the red Canna, a rosemary and a lavender, and together we worked on the Helichrysum petiolare and Coprosma that were threatening to take over the Phormium back there.

Emily moved the two Aquilegias from the left bed up by the bench - it was just too hot and dry for them. Janet moved a Banksia spinulosa over to a spot behind the wrong way sign too - that one wasn't getting enough sun. Dee cut back the Watsonias in the brights bed among other tasks, and Debbie cleaned up a great deal of weeds from the steps area.

Paloma and Elliot

While all this was going on, Matt was busy in the back slope. At the end of the day I was astonished to see how much work he'd done in cutting out terraces, securely marking the area for the new steps, and moving the compost bin up slope to the base of the compost heap.

Go team!

Sunny Sunday

 

Watsonia flower

Today was another lovely warm day, so I went to the garden and tried to figure out the best way to organize the area behind the wrong way sign. With the recent demise of all our Cannas due to infection with canna virus, we have had to dig them all out and replace them with something else.

I removed a bunch of leftover Cannas and weeds, and moved a Gaillardia over to the edge. Then I planted a nice red Coprosma of some unknown variety that I'd been saving at home. I'm going to move our Banksia over there too, and add a Euphorbia and some Aloes and Agaves too. I'll have to wait until the white Watsonias are done flowering though - they're just getting started and won't appreciate being moved right now.

Scilla flower

In the top bed I planted a Cussonia spicata as a tall accent on the right end. This is a really cool small African cabbage tree that has lovely unusual leaves. We have room for one more Cussonia at the garden and I'm aiming for one of the blue-grey leaved species.

In the middle back bed I weeded and trimmed, and redid the front border using the branches Deric and Kome gave us. Perfect branches for weaving - long, supple and smooth. I wish we could get loads more, but luckily we have a nice pile that'll last a while.

California poppy "White Linen"

After all that I was a bit hot, so I walked up the street to get a drink. On the way I dropped in to Plow to let the owners know what's wrong with their pear tree out front (a fungus) and on the way back I met Karen who as it turns out owned the original Tibouchina that Jim planted at the garden!

Sun!

Red bed makeover
part deux.

After the last week of perishing cold, rain and hail, we are back to sun. Matt and I met Emily in the garden today and knocked a few tasks off the list.

First we removed all the plants from the south end of the red bed and rearranged them. We had too many red colored planted there (hazard of calling it the "red bed" I suppose!) and too many tall plants at the front/short ones in the back.

First we pulled out the giant clump of lavender Watsonias out - about to start flowering, their subtle color is lost in that bed. Matt took out a clump of Dianella tasmanica in the left bed and replaced it with the Watsonias.

Osteospermum and lavender

We brought a yellow variegated Phormium to the front, added a yellow Santolina virens, a lime green Euphorbia characias and a purple and lime green Salvia mexicana "Limelight" to one group. Next we uncovered a group of three Kniphofia uvaria "Flamenco" from the front middle bed for a dose of orange hues, and rearranged the purple bearded Irises there.

Blue skies and daffodils!

Next we replanted three Dianthus "Fire Star" and five burgundy Gazanias at the very front, and rearranged the Anemones and Ranunculus too. After Emily left I planted a Plectranthus argenatus and a Salvia curviflora too.

Matt propagated from Cortaderias and I mulched and watered things in.

Trimming

 

Today I got to the garden around 3pm, and stayed til 7pm. Matt propagated 3+ flats of Calandrinias donated by Deborah for the back border, while I hand watered the cactus wall, left bed, lavender hedge, sale plants and bamboo.

The Gazanas in the red bed are looking lovely - the colors fade in an interesting way. Shame the flowers only open in full sun. (left)

I also trimmed up the last of the Watsonias in the red bed. Youc an see from the photo, left, that they are growing in all nice and green and the dried up brown parts had to go. Which meant carefully nipping them out... quite tedious work! This clump is mixed red and white Watsonias that I need to separate out when they next flower - I think I'll have to put tags on the white corms and dig them up when they're done flowering, to move to the left bed.

Lastly I went along the cactus wall deadheading and tidying. The Puya venusta (left) is looking quite lovely in a twirly, serrated way - I wonder when it'll flower?

Rain?!?

Last night it rained a bit. Not in any meaningful way - just enough to make the patio wet - but the garden felt "fresh" when Matt and I went out there this morning.

Between 10am and 3pm we took care of quite a few things:

- Watered the left bed, Canna area, front border, back border, steps, sale plants, and the back half of the middle back bed.
- Deadheaded Cannas, daylilies

- Trimmed up the Watsonias
- Noticed that the Aster "Bill's Big Blue" is starting to flower (left)
- Tied the Mexican fan palm fronds together as they had a case of the flops.
- Planted two Artemisias donated by a neighbor (photo above), and potted two lavenders (ditto) to save for the lavender hedge in fall. Hate to plant anything now, but it was plant and water, or pot up and water... neither is ideal!

- Visited with our little orange cat friend (left), who was hunting mice in the borders. Also chatted with Arum, Ron, Nate and Tanya!

Tomorrow afternoon I hope to water the cactus wall and bamboo areas.

The Plant Sale Cometh

With so much going on at the garden it is hard to focus on just one thing!!! Roses, Columbine, Anemone, Ranunculus, Dianthus, Watsonia, Iris ... on and on... the list is practically endless of plants that are putting on a stellar spring flower show.

But enough about what the botanical members of the garden are doing, on to the volunteers! Over the weekend Josh pulled a ton weeds, including ivy and 'god-knows-what out of the aloes on the slope' and much of the ever present bindweed. He even watered the asters for the plant sale. Double gold star for you Josh!

After work today Ryan and I stopped by Janet's house to pick up a plethora of wonderful plants she has donated for the Plant Sale on May 1st. As a sneak peak, the photo is of two absolutely giant Amaryllis for the sale. Many thanks Janet! Tomorrow I will catalog the new plants, and do some additional weeding in the garden.

Plant profile: Watsonia

Plants come in a huge variety of forms – shrubs, vines, trees and so on. I have a fondness for tall, spiky types, and they get extra points if they have lovely flowers. Watsonias fit the bill – they have tall and spiky leaves, they flower in early spring when not much else is going on, they’re evergreen, perennial, and they don’t need much help to do well. They do like fairly rich soil, but aside from that they're a nice, tough plant.

They are well adapted to our Mediterranean climate, and grow from corms – you can divide them every 3-5 years and give them to friends. We got a big clump from Matt’s mum a year ago and it’s flowering with lovely lavender flowers for the first time now, in the left bed. I’m hoping to divide that clump in two next fall, and move the red and white clumps to better spots soon too.

Latin name: Watsonia ("watt-SO-nee-ee-ah")

Common name: Bugle Lily

Originally from: southern Africa

Blooms: In Spring long stalks hold up small lily-like flowers in lavender/pink, red, orange or white

Light: Full sun please!

Water: Rain is plenty.

Where to find in P. Garden: There’s a big clump of the lavender colored type in the red bed, and also a white and a red behind the Wrong Way sign. I don’t know the species we have, but hope to find out.

Watsonia is a genus in the Iridaceae family of 52 species from southern Africa named after Sir William Watson, an 18th century British botanist. The genus was introduced as a garden ornamental to Australia in 1907 and was widespread by the 1940s. Species are centered in the southwestern Cape of South Africa but extend north into Namaqualand and east into the summer rainfall areas of eastern South Africa, Swaziland, and Lesotho. Many are quite tall (4’+) with fans of sword-shaped leaves and spikes of showy (often many) flowers.

A few species have become aggressive weeds in Australia, New Zealand, and California, especially Watsonia meriana var. bulbillifera.

Phantom weeder - revealed!

This morning as I was surveying the lie of the land, the mystery weeder was revealed to me! While I won't give his exact identity (I don't know, maybe he wants to out himself?) let's just say he is actually a staunch supporter of P. Garden! A nice person! Who thought he was doing us a favor!

The way he put it, he was actually pulling out weeds. And what can I say? He was! Poppies, Blue-Eyed Grass and Corn Marigolds are in fact weeds to some people... we cannot fault his logic - they grow wild! (How the Ceanothus came to be pulled is still a slight mystery)

So I showed him how some small, baby plants are very hard to distinguish from weeds at that age. Take, for example, the baby Gaillardias, which even I would pull out except that I know what they are. And I told him we're growing some California natives because they don't need much water, have pretty flowers, and the local wildlife appreciates it. Which brings up the interesting definition of what a weed is to different people. And what a flower bed should look like: neat rows, or a mass of colors?

Happily, he's offered to "weed between the lines" - in other words, anything growing in the paths is a weed for sure. I am really grateful for the help there!

For one, I now think it's hilarious because he really was trying to do us a favor (let's face it, we do have weed-weeds!) and for two, I am very relieved that there isn't some nutter on the loose ripping up plants in the night. Thirdly, I'm very grateful that he told me about his nighttime gardening, otherwise I'd have been stressing and worrying and restless about it all (see yesterday's post for general angst.) And finally, I have to say "thank you" because he was doing some well-intentioned dirty work for P. Garden. You cannot fault a man like that.

Top: Pineapple Mint (Mentha suaveolens variegata) growing well, and a red Watsonia (not an orange Crocosmia as we thought when we planted it!)

Getting ready for tomorrow

Photos: Malcolmia (Virginia stock), Watsonia and Papaver rhoeas (Flanders poppy)

I have been a bit jangled this week getting ready for my International Guerrilla Sunflower Day planting tomorrow. So much to do!

- Get compost from WholeFoods
- Get t-posts or rebar to make a fence around the sunflowers (Gary!)
- Get tying wire to fix the hole in the fence down there
- Get a garden fork from the hardware store
- Give pep talk to sunflower seedlings

It is supposed to rain today. Which would be brilliant for the plants. Except that aside from a few drops earlier, it looks suspiciously like another warmish, cloudy-ish, but basically sunny Spring day in Frisky Town. Drat.

In other news, Roger from renowned coffe shop Farley's up the hill stopped us on the street this morning to ask if I was the one doing the garden. He loves it, and he's gonna sort out some coffee ground for us (for use as compost, mulch) - woohoo! We had been going to Starbucks for grounds but they recently put the brakes on that, and besides, we'd like to support our local business anyway. Yeah!

Last night I potted up the cactus cuttings that Denise donated. They're chunky fellas - and very spiny. Love it - thanks Denise!



Update: it rained, properly - hurrah! After work I rushed over to the San Francisco Botanical Society preview sale. It was a zoo, and full of tipsy gardeners making rash decisions about fluffy rhododendrons. I personally kept things low profile, only picking up the following:

- Iris douglasiana (Douglas Iris - garden hybrid)
- A very dark red Sedum (no label, could be "Lynda Windsor" or something)
- Salvia gesneriiflora "Tequila" (Big Mexican Scarlet Sage) - "it's huge" - three separate volunteers told me. "I know" I replied, smugly. Have been wanting one since we saw one when the parents were over visiting.

See? I can make sensible plant decisions! And I know just where to plant 'em ;)

Jaded?

Up with the lark (or should that be mockingbird?) today to head down to the Mission. Wendy is a nice craigslister who used to have a large jade plant (Crassula ovata) in her front garden she wanted rid of. Now it's mine-all-mine! We split it up and beautified two places with it. Could it be that we have enough Jade now? Possibly.

I planted Leah's vinca minor and Russian sages (Perovskia) in various places, tidied plum offcuts into bouquets and made five people quite happy I think ;) Then, later in the day, I planted a big clump of Julia's Watsonia that did not want to be divided by a weakling such as myself. I did manage to split apart lots of mini Agapanthus to put by the sidewalk but my god, digging holes there is a misery.

Carrie dropped by and gave me a yummy gift, Jim must have been through while I was out because his dog poop sign-and-biodegradable-bag-station is open for business (hurrah!) and Jess and Sophie came by for a chat. Sophie learned the word "shovel" today - how long until I can get her digging?

I still have a big clump of Agapanthus and John's Yuccas to plant. I am stressed about the big Yucca especially - it needs to be planted but I don't have the Matt-power yet! I will talk to him tonight and we'll make a plan.

I am completely exhausted. It must be wine o'clock by now!

Holiday splurge

We went to Mendocino at the holidays and I was able to visit Digging Dog Nursery and go on another plant buying bender, enabled by my parents who gave me a $100 gift certificate to spend there! Of course by the time I had selected everything it cost twice that... it's amazing how much a tiny pot of sad-looking weedy stuff goes for... *mutter*

The people at Digging Dog are nice, and have a fondness for follies (we were interested to find that they are building some pyramids) and ornamental grasses, (which we declined to be interested in.) They did manage to get me to buy just the sort of self-involved, microscopically subtle, austere-looking plants that I despise through the cunning use of floral language in their catalog, which was annoying. However, I grabbed a few obnoxious plant cliches while nobody was looking, so - hah! Take that, modern gardening!

So here's what we hauled home - Matt's parents gave us loads of plants dug from their gardens too, so the car is pretty muddy now:

1 Kniphofia "Wayside Flame" (red hot poker)
1 Achillea "Walter Funke" (yarrow)
1 Buddleja
3 Crocosmia "Lucifer"
2 Euphorbia myrsinites
2 Euphorbia rigida
1 Thymus minor
1 Thymus "Latavin Lucy"
(both to be featured in a Matt-driven path project soon)
3 Eryngium planum "Sapphire Blue"
1 Aster "Bill's Big Blue" (It's a bit obnoxious already - I sort of regret this one. Maybe I should have got 3 based on Ikea display principles?)
1 Cordyline Australis "Red Sensation"
1 Salvia "Anthony Parker"
1 Sedum spectabile "Neon"
1 Yucca flaccida "Garland Gold"
1 Coprosma x Kirkii "Variegata"
3 Rosmarinus officinalis "Santa Barbara"
1 Phlomis (what the hell is this? Why did I buy it? Argh!)
1 Penstemon x Mexicali "Pike's Peak Purple" (Again, no idea how this ended up in the car)















From Matt's Mum and Skip:
Several Peruvian lillies (?)
1 clump of unidentified thing
Loads of iris, unidentified (will probably have to live at the barn where it's damper)
2 roses (ditto)
Watsonia clump (not sure on color)
(and tons of lamb's ears that we must have forgotten to bring home - such a bummer, as I really wanted them!)

Seeds from Matt's dad:
Echium "Pride of Madera"
Malcolmia
Yellow daisy of some sort
And something else I can't remember right now...

So anyway we had to get them all in the ground the minute we arrived home after our 4 hour drive (*mutter*) as they looked as carsick as I felt. Matt decided on a new bed, front and center (above), to showcase the kniphofia, euphorbias, yucca and cordyline, (which are my new favorites) and put anything unidentified on the outside edge by the sidewalk so we can monitor them in case they turn out to be (horrors) uncoordinated malcontents (left.)

Sage showed up and dammit, I had already planted the salvia (oh that would have been funny, right? Right??) but he got stuck in anyway, and he brought wine. Excellent. Mmmm!

Got to do some watering tomorrow...