Spring?

Dendromecon rigida
(Bush Poppy)

Well spring doesn't start til late March but it sure feels springy around here. very warm and sunny today, after a light rain yesterday, and the whole garden smells great. Especially the cherry plum trees whose pink canopy is lovely to sit under.

Today Matt and I went up to check on the Mariposa Center Garden after last week's work, and all the new plants look fantastic. Emily watered them earlier in the week and they seem to be settling in well.

Lavatera "Barnsley"

Lots of flowers to be seen in that garden, from Dietes to Dendromecon, Lavatera to Chasmanthe. With a bit of luck the new plants will take off and fill the gaps and the remaining work in that area will just be picking up trash and weeding occasionally. I hope we get lots of rain in the coming weeks as carrying water to that spot is a bit of a pain!

We headed up to P Garden afterwards and pottered around a bit. Pretty soon we were joined by Emily and Ryan and their dog Bentley.

Dietes bicolor

Matt removed all the leftover pots and so on from the area where the old shed was. We'll plant that area up soon - it's very hot and dry there so you can expect to see cacti and yuccas and so on there.

Matt next took a length of leftover wire fencing down to the Mariposa Center Garden and used it to enclose the gap in the fence Emily and I put up last year. With a bit of luck that'll prevent too much human or dog traffic from damaging the new plantings in that spot.

Lavatera assurgentiflora
(Island Mallow)

I planted some plants that had been waiting a while: A Euonymus japonica "Chollipo Gold" went in behind an Agave attenuata where the old rose "Whisky Mac" used to be. I pulled a lot of weeds in that area too, and while digging a hole for the Euonymus discovered a large piece of urbanite buried in the ground. After a lot of prying I had to get Matt to help lift it out and set it upright as a sort of small terrace.

No more "Whisky Mac"

A Pennisetum setaceum "Rubrum" went in the other side of the left bed to add more purple color by the Artemisia "Powis Castle," and Matt removed a large weed that has been masquerading as a nice plant for way too long nearby.


I noticed the terraces were looking remarkably weed-free. Emily tells me it must have been Carlin at work. What a nice surprise!

Agave and Euonymus instead!

Emily planted a Helleborus x sternii near the bench and a Salvia canariensis on the far right end of the brights bed and moved two Glaucium flavum (Yellow Horned Poppy) to the terraces where they'll appreciate the extra sun.

I got everything watered in and - voila!