We lined the lower pathway, redid the bed at the bottom of the steps with rocks, and put the rest of the rocks up in the top bed (until we can build that properly)
Latin name: Agave potatorum "Cameron Blue" ("ah-GAH-vay pot-ah-TOR-um")
Common name: "Cameron Blue" agave, Butterfly Agave
Originally from: Puebla and
Oaxaca
Blooms: A 10-20' tall spike with yellow flowers happens once in the plant's lifetime.
Light: Full sun.
Water: Winter rain is enough.
Height x width: 18" x 18"
Zones: 8-11
Where to find in P. Garden: Three at the top of PG
A small to medium sized solitary agave (no pups, boo hoo) from
the semi-arid highlands between 4,000 and 7,000 feet of Puebla and
Oaxaca, with wide broad gray leaves that form in a lovely symmetrical
rosette to 1 to 2 feet tall by 2 to 3 feet wide. The leaves have chestnut brown
spines and a wavy 1" long terminal spine.
This cute little agave was appreciated by the Nahuatl Indians who called it "papalometl" meaning "Butterfly Agave", and it's now also known as maguey Tobalá locally, but the species name "potatorum" comes from the Latin word "potator"' meaning "of the drinkers" because the plant was used to make alcoholic drinks (mezcal brand Los Nahuales uses a. potatorum for example.)
Like all (or most) agaves, this one wants full sun very little water - surprise! A great choice for water wise gardens. Plant a nice swath of these little spiky things.
Yeah, getting a permit to block off 9 parking spots for a couple hours is proving very difficult, due to COVID. The SFPA is involved in trying to make it happen, but we might have to do it the following week.
Back to today. We moved 4 rocks to the upper area to start a terrace along the top of the garden. Then we planted 3 Beschorneria parmentieri. Well, that's what they were labeled as. But in fact there's no such species... there is a Furcraea parmentieri... but it doesn't look anything like these plants... which actually look like Agave vilmoriniana to me. Well, whatever they are, there are three of them planted at the garden now so good luck with that.
I trimmed up the front arch vine (again) and picked up the usual discarded clothing and rubbish from the garden, while noticing that 311 still hasn't come for the waste left last week. So I put it in the 311 app again.
The photo? That's Matt next to a Yucca faxoniana at Berkeley Botanic Gardens last week. I would DIE to have one of these! Total CHONK.
Hilary set up the hose and got to work watering. Despite a light sprinkling of rain in Pacifica last night, nothing fell in SF as far as I could tell and some plants still need help.
Andrea turned ALL the compost and she and Hilary removed and spread several tubs of good compost too. Before that, we had to remove a bunch of lavender clippings someone left in the composter, and bag them for city removal.
Meanwhile, Matt, Josh and Chris set about cleaning up the severely messy west end of the drainage ditch. Yep, we will get rain soon and that ditch is very function at those times so it need to be cleared of debris. Loads of Opuntia had fallen in, along with rocks, sticks and dirt. In about an hour they had it totally cleared and it looks fantastic.
Lastly, the tool chest took a hit: someone broke in. It's been years since that has happened and this time it doesn't look like much was taken... mostly because we don't keep much in there anymore. But it's still annoying.
Chris fetched his power drill and he and Matt fixed it right up. Oh well. Nothing can spoil this day.
Back to celebrating our new president!
Yesterday Matt and I went rock shopping at Rice Trucking and Soil Farm in Half Moon Bay. We picked out 10 large boulders for PRG and two pallets of smaller rocks for PG.
The plan is to replace smaller boulders at PRG with bigger ones. People tend to shove the little ones out of the way so they can park on the sidewalk which is so rude.
Then we will take the smaller rocks and use them to build up the downslope edges of some beds at PG. Mmm, rocks!
After that, we turned our attention to the lower path at PG. We have recently planted some aloes and agaves down there but the area was still looking pretty scruffy and as it’s fairly steeply sloped in the left bed it needed to be held up somehow.
After that, we turned our attention to the lower path at PG. We have recently planted some aloes and agaves down there but the area was still looking pretty scruffy and as it’s fairly steeply sloped in the left bed it needed to be held up somehow.
Knowing that some of the smaller boulders at PRG don’t really prevent cars from getting too close to the sidewalk we decided to re-purpose half a dozen of them. We went down and selected two and Matt put them on a dolly and drag them up the street. As you can imagine, they are extremely heavy and that was not a vast amount of fun.
So I drove the truck down we loaded two more rocks on the dolly and then hooked the dolly onto the back of my trucks hitch…
We installed the six rocks and I think the result was really worth the huge amount of effort as you can see from the photos!
After that we did a little watering and packed up for the rest of the day.
Today Matt and I dug up and moved a nice big Agave weberi “Arizona Star” to PRG from our house. This replaces one of the ones that flowered there this year and subsequently died, as they do. Big job but great result I think.
We will need to find another large agave to go in the other bio retention cell at PRG where an "Arizona Star" flowered... but I think we will recover from today's effort first ;)
We also moved a large Agave “Sharkskin” from home and three others from the bottom of PRG into a group halfway up the street. Not bad! Previously there were three Agave impressa there, but they failed to impress. One died right away and the other two were looking extra ropey. We brought the survivors home to see if they can be rehabilitated.Lastly at PG we rescued a pot of Gaillardias someone left there, and some Agave vilmoriniana bulbils I had hoped would grow bigger on the stalk, but someone cut it down instead. Ack! At least I found the stalk and saved the small babies.
Latin name: Yucca rostrata ("YOU-kah ross-TRAH-tah")
Common name: Beaked Yucca, Big Bend Yucca
Originally from: Western Texas and northern
Mexico in the states of Chihuahua and Coahuila.
Blooms: Large clusters of white flowers bloom on yellow-orange
colored stalks that rise above the foliage on mature plants in late
spring.
Light: Full sun.
Water: Winter rain is enough - hates waterlogged roots.
Height x width: 15' x 10'
Zones: 5 to 11
Where to find in P. Garden: We have five down at PRG in a group
Yuccas are a staple at PG and PRG, and this one is particularly beautiful. A very slow-growing (and therefore expensive in large sizes) tree-like yucca with upright stems and beautiful gray-blue narrow foliage that can branch, but usually doesn't.Growing slowly to to 12-15 feet tall, it has 2 foot long, somewhat stiff, slightly waxy, pale bluish-green leaves with very thin yellow margins,which make up a gorgeous rosette on top of the stems.
Give it a warm sunny areas with good drainage and perhaps occasional summer water and it will do well down to 0°F. Gophers do like it though, so if they annoy your garden plant it in a big basket.
It is sometimes confused with Yucca
rigida which has stiffer leaves that are more bowed in cross section
compared to the flat leaves of Yucca rostrata. A quick way to tell if you are confused which plant you are looking at is to imagine falling headfirst into it. Yucca rostrata would release you with scratches. Yucca rostrata would keep you impaled on its stems.... forever...
Matt planted three Agave desmettiana variegata, and moved another big one to join the ones down on the lower path at PG. I put in one Agave lophantha, an Agave filifera, and arranged two new Agave shawii with the rest of the group we have - all growing quickly and starting to look very cool; see pic.
We watered a few very dry plants, weeded, and tidied the vine on the arch, and walked down to admire how clean and weedless PRG is right now. Except for a couple spots we will tackle at the next volunteer day :)
We headed to the garden and watered a few plants probably for the last time this year. Then we rearranged some of the Agaves behind the wrong way sign. That area has been a “pup farm” where we let small Agaves grow on. Now it’s time to make sense of it all.
And yesterday Tomas and co were back to do some weeding at PRG. They removed some big Agaves that had flowered and cleaned up the path - a whole day of work for two people that has made a huge difference.
Thanks to Josh and Tomas for making it happen.
I lured Josh to the October workday by saying we were planting new plants. On the day as we loaded the truck I realized we didn't actually have plants ready to go in the ground this week but it was too late to tell Josh to stay home. Haha. That would never happen ;)
Despite this he was his always cheerful self, and along with Matt, Chris, Bill and Hilary we worked away in the warm sun and got a few fun tasks done.
Bill turned the compost - emptying one bin completely and almost another, and getting several trugs of compost out which was spread around where needed. It's a really solid workout doing that, and I so appreciate anyone who turns compost. Rock on Bill!
All those salvias went into the compost heap, and we also filled 7 paper bags for 311 to pick up - all the non compostable sticks and other things that take forever to break down in our bins go in those bags, and get composted elsewhere.
Then what to put in the spot at the bottom of the steps? Well, a cactus that was there had been struggling due to a bramble crushing it. Chris and Josh removed and replanted the cactus, and gave the bramble a haircut.
We decided to plant them with the other three Yucca rostrata we have at PRG - one large 4' tall Yucca rostrata "Blue Velvet" that we planted back in February 2013 when PRG was first built, and two Yucca rostrata "Blue Velvet" that are about 2' tall, planted in January 2019.
Surprisingly the ones we had planted in the past were doing well, despite the fact that a big tree mallow (Lavatera maritima) was completely shading them and dumping lots of leaves and spent flowers into their crowns. So it had to GO! Out came the saws and pruners and pretty quickly the shrub was cut back to a more manageable size.
We moved one of the medium sized yuccas to one side, and added the smaller new ones around that area to make a nice group. They're slow growing but one day this will look lovely.
We put in a 311 green waste pickup request and tidied up - hop the city can remove the branches ASAP.
Yucca filifera was discovered in the 1840’s in North-Eastern Mexico by explorer Josiah Gregg. It was introduced to Europe in the 1870’s. I hadn't seen these for sale until last year at Flora Grubb gardens, where I immediately pounced on one to try it out.
A common plant in North-Eastern Mexico, and in Mexico as a whole, it
is found at altitudes of 1400-7800', in
areas with an annual rainfall of around 11-24". Yucca filifera grows in a huge variety of environments, and can be seen in huge forests at the foot of mountains in deep soils, in desert-scrub, grassland, thorn-scrub and occasionally in oak or
pinyon-juniper woodland.
With rigid, narrow leaves, 1.5" wide and 18" long arranged around the trunk, the plant looks like Yucca aloifolia except with thin white threadlike leaf margins: the name filifera is from Latin ‘filim’ meaning thread; and ‘fera’ meaning carrying.
Yucca filifera is a tall branching evergreen tree that, in 20-50 years, can reach 25-40' tall with a spread of 8-15'. The trunk usually branches at around 10-14' and can develop a massive and wide base when old. They only seem to be available in a 5 gallon single stemmed size at retail and wholesalers, though I have tried to get larger ones - no luck.
As with many tough and common plants, they have a lot of uses. Indigenous people used the leaves of Yucca filifera as a roof covering and as a source of fiber for handcrafting. The flowers, fruit and stem can be eaten raw or cooked and the flower spike cooked and eaten like asparagus. Yucca filifera can also be dried and crushed for use as a flavoring, though I've no idea what it would taste like.
Saponins in general have a number of potential, modern day medicinal applications as they are found to exhibit anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties and have antibacterial effects. They are thought to help reduce cholesterol levels, kill bacteria, and inhibit tumor growth.
On the whole this is a super xeric garden plant and I highly recommend it.
Summer has given way to fall, but if you've lived in the Bay area for long you'll know now is the driest time of year. The gardens are parched and the ground is dusty dry, and we have watered a few plants (new tree Aloes, and a palm we planted) but some plants love the heat. Agave is one genus that thinks the hotter the better!
We did have some weird weather recently that some agaves didn't love though. A hot dry spell, followed by foggy, smoke-laden air, leads to some agaves ending up with edema scarring.
These mottled marks on some leaves are caused by water being pulled up to the leaves during hot weather, but stopping in its tracks when cool, humid weather hits. The cells loaded with water then burst and scar the leaves. Unfortunate, but the plants will eventually grow new leaves.
We also planted some great agaves that Matt and I have been growing. Josh put in three Agave maximiliana... or they might be Agave zebra. Except both of these species are supposed to be solitary and this one pups like mad...We will just have to wait and see what they turn into.
Josh also planted a group of seven Agave desmettiana variegates behind the wrong way sign. That area has become a huge farm for baby agaves but we hope to reorganize the plants, put them in groups, and make something pretty out of it all soon.
In exchange he gave us some lovely plants for the garden, including three Aloe polyphylla hybrids which we planted right away on the lower pathway where they will hopefully thrive. Matt added five more Agave desmettiana variegates in that area too, as well as a few on the way to the tool trunk.
A week later Matt and I were back at the garden, planting yet more Agaves we have been growing on at home. We did two groups of Agave gypsophylla up in the top area of PG, and a group of three Yucca aloifolia "Magenta Magic" down at PRG.
We had our June workday and I didn't take any photos! What's wrong with me? Don't answer that. We did get a lot done: compost got turned by John, loads of Chasmanthe and Euphorbia characias got cut back, and mountains of weeds removed from their smug little lives by Chris, Matt and John's friend whose name I forgot (sorry!)
Last week Matt and I popped out to water a couple of plants as well. We bumped into Chris who was there mulching his Agave bed - the area behind the wrong way sign. He's been BUSY cleaning that area up and it looks outstanding. We use it as a "pup farm" for baby Agaves to grow on and they have been doing really well so it's time to rearrange them, maybe add some ground cover.
Matt and I spent a couple hours weeding at the garden today. We turned two compost bins and watered them (after removing a huge amount of trash from one bin) and while Matt watered other already parched looking plants, I tied back the Phlomis at the steps and then cut back a lot of Chasmanthe.
Latin name: Cistus purpureus ("SISS-tuss purr-purr-EEE-uss")
I cleared the path from the top of the steps to the top of the garden - about 3 giant tubtrugs of weeds to the composter. Matt was doing something but I have no idea what.
