Thanksgiving

Cordyline "Sundance"

Well I'm off to Mendocino for Thanksgiving, and before I left I thought I'd better get that new Cordyline australis "Sundance" in the ground. A quick dig in the wet dirt and it's next to the bigger Cordyline "Red Sensation" in the middle front bed.

The plan is to add another type ("Torbay Dazzler"?) to make a group of three at varying heights and of varying colors, which I think will be a great tropical look in a bed that gets no water except rain. The "Red Sensation" is about 10' tall, and it was a tiny 4" pot size back in December 2008. Not a bad rate of growth!

Before...

After that I weeded a bit, and cut back some rosemary and the two Sedums in the middle back bed. Sedum telephium ssp. ruprechtii "Hab Gray" and Sedum spectabile "Neon" got cut back right to the ground, where you can see the new growth coming up in the "after"picture.

They ought to grow right back in and will be flowering again from about July onwards, but in the meantime they have yellow flags on them to stop them from being stepped on accidentally.

...and after.

These two Sedums have looked nice this year, but after seeing those of my aunt in Virginia this summer, I realized that Sedums need a lot more water than I thought to look spectacular, like hers. So should these two plants stay or go? I think I'll move them to a damper spot and give them another try.