Too hot to trot

Watch this space...

Today Matt and I wanted to get our customary "one task and out" done, but we ended up not completing it because it was so hot!

We started out weeding in the left bed as we tried to decide on the Task of the Day. I wanted to move a tree aloe (Aloe bainesii aka Aloe barberae) from the cactus wall where it was not thriving, to the left bed.

When we got in there, we realized we'd need to weed the slope in front of it, then cut out a few long branches of yucca to access it.

OK with that done, the nearby area looked ratty. A recent failed experiment with a huge puya had left a gap, and the columnar cacti in the spot looked unplanned: the Echinopsis pachanoi (San Pedro cacti) we laid on the ground to root have grown about 12" of height since 2009. That's slow. Now you know why I get really upset when people lop them off and steal them. The Euphorbia ammak cactus we planted in 2009 looks great, but it's off to one side. Another sits behind a thick yucca nearby, so that needs to move into center stage, and be joined by a third from over by the compost heap so we can make a nice looking trio.

I removed an ordinary looking Opuntia and some Crassula ovata (Jade Plants), and also the Echinopsis pachanoi cacti. We'll put them elsewhere. Then I started trying to move a Euphorbia ammak.  But the heat! We left the area cleaned up, planted the yucca branches quickly, and retreated to the house to recover.