Earth Day is coming up

Join us at the gardens on Friday April 22nd for Earth Day! 50 Cent will not be in attendance but I am sure he would approve the meme at left.

We will be doing the usual garden maintenance you guys are so good at: weeding, pruning, planting, making compost and generally making our world a nicer place to be.

Time of start is TBD, but if you'd like to join in email annie @psgsf.org

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.

Reiner on the move

Today Matt and picked a quick task to complete: we noticed a gap in the right side of the brights bed and both said "big agave!" at the same time! Off we went to locate on that was outgrowing it's previous location...

We came upon a Agave weberi "Reiner's Selection" at PRG that was being crushed under a big Malva. We dug the beast out and it was a sizeable plant! We left a few pups in the ground to grow on, and wheelbarrowed the monster up to PG.

Didn't take long at all to plant, and looks great under the Cussonia spicata. I'll look for a nice variegated Coprosma to go behind it and balance things out.

Before and after

Here's a good "before, after, and today" evolution of the left bed as you walk into the garden.

L-R: February 2009, February 2010 and February 2016

In 2009 we had a Leucadendron at the front - that was killed by dog pee. You can also see lots of small clumps of Dietes that did really well in the end.

By 2010 the Leucadendron at the front was killed by dog pee. I replaced it with a very successful Cortaderia selloana "Silver Comet" and our Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) is to the right, behind it. I'd put a small Agave americana variegata at the front, and some yellow Osteospermum are flowering away merrily to the right of that. The Brugmansia was the biggest plant in the bed, and a small Phormium tenax "Rubrum" and a clump of orange flowering Chasmanthe are poking up at the back. A small Coprosma australis (variegated) and a Euonymus japonica "Microphylla Variegata" (Variegated Boxleaf Euonymus) can be seen as smallish, yellowish blobs on the left side too/ We'd made a nice twig border around the bed front to define it too.

And today in 2016 the Cortaderia selloana "Silver Comet" did so well that we've divided it and retained a clump at the front, with a nice Phlomis fruticosa (Jerusalem sage) to its left. The Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus) is still going strong, too. The Agave americana variegata at the front got too big and moved elsewhere, and the yellow Osteospermum didn't last: I replaced them with Cotyledon orbiculata var. oblonga clumps.

The Brugmansia is still there, but dwarfed by the big Hakea suaveolens, and the small Phormium tenax "Rubrum" is now huge though you can't see it since the Dodonaea viscosa (Purple Hopseed Bush) planted in 2009 is bigger. I moved a red Cordyline nearby, and the clump of orange flowering Chasmanthe got swapped for a yellow clump you can see flowering. The Coprosma australis (variegated) got huge and was very successful, and the Euonymus japonica "Microphylla Variegata" (Variegated Boxleaf Euonymus) struggled a bit but lives on, seeming to do better this last year. The twig border composted away, and was replaced by stones again.

Good to look back now and again to see what plants do best, and remember which ones not to buy again ;)

One job

Matt and I went out to do a quick task and decided on removing the last of the Agave tequiliana stump. We got all the leaves cleaned up but the main core is so heavy and rooted that we'll have to complete it another day. 

In other news the Aloe arborescens are flowering beautifully!

Sawing

Nate and Debbie

Today's volunteer workday was warm and sunny, and the ground nicely damp after all the recent rain storms we have had - the perfect day for a spot of serious weeding.

Emily, Debbie and Nate joined me in the garden and set to work - those three in the front border, while I set about weeding the Agave gypsophila bed in the middle back bed, the bottom of the steps, parts of the brights bed and the back border.

Matt chainsawing

In the meantime, Matt went to rent a chainsaw from Action Rentals.

We've been trying to get a chipper from the city in order to clear the gigantic pile of brush up in the dog area, but the plans always fall through, so in a fit of desperation Matt located a chainsaw to at least cut the fallen tree into smaller parts we can chip next time.

As the saying goes, when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail... and Matt was naturally keen to chainsaw anything he could while he was able to wield the power tool.

Agave tequiliana, ex

With that in mind he took down the Agave tequiliana from the cactus wall - once stately succulent, now post-flowering wreck.

The gaping hole left by the Agave tequiliana means we have a spot for a very impressive cactus of epic proportions to fill. What will it be? A ghostly giant Agave franzosinii? A spine-laden Opuntia subulata (Cane Cholla)? Or a replacement Agave tequiliana, but this time the variegated form?

Agave gypsophila bed weeded

In a last fit of chainsaw madness, Matt also cut 1/3 of the Pittorsporum on the terraces that was dead.

Not a bad day's work!

Before and after: storm drain

Here's a good before and after photo set.

The first photo is of the storm drain looking out towards Pennsylvania Avenue from January 25, 2009. the second photo is almost the same view from today, seven years later - the Agave americana in the first photo is the one you can see further back in the second photo.

Weeds and things

Hardenbergia violacea

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours weeding and picking trash at PRG. Things are looking good there since I moved the dumped chair to the top where poor Mariposa Center Garden used to be (city appointed developers ripped it out without consulting SFDPW or SF Parks Alliance), alongside the bath tub someone left there last week. 

Aeonium

Also left at PRG last week was a dozen 16' long 6"x2" fence boards, wrapped in tarps and plopped down on top of some Santolinas. I got rid of those within an hour by posting them FREE on Nextdoor Potrero, and someone was delighted to have 'em. However, the bath and chair are not as attractive, so I installed the free 311 app on my phone and uploaded a photo an service request this evening.

Chasmanthe floribunda

Back at PG, the Hardenbergia violacea is flowering up a storm way down at the back of the terraces, as well as the yellow Chasmanthe floribunda in the left bed (two clumps), and the Aeoniums are growing strongly. Bulbs are coming up, weeds are easy to pull, and all that remains this week is to secure a wood chipper for the volunteer day next weekend so we can get rid of the unsightly pile in the dog area!

Yuck

Similarly, whoever has been systematically hacking apart the big agave at the front entrance... What is wrong with you?

Cordyline forest

Matt and I planted 4 Cordylines and a Coprosma "Sunset" in a very quick trip today.

The Cordylines went in as a group in the brights bed and are:

• Red Sensation 
• Torbay Dazzler
• Coral
• Sundance

Three more to move/plant and our multicolored Cordyline forest will be complete! Time for rain please :)

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!

Planting and moving

The Phormum "Alison Blackman" grew from a lovely little girl into a boisterous teenager pretty quickly, and she was taking up too much space at the edge of a path, as you can see in the photo to the left. 

Today Matt and I moved her to the brights bed. She will have a lot more room to flop around and be surly, and I used all the removed leaves as mulch (my new policy with Cordyline and Phormium leaves, which don't compost well and therefor make a great weed suppressant!) After that Matt planted some Euphorbias around the base of the clump.

Then after that we moved an Agave weberi from the "wrong way" sign area to the bench area, to create a focal point. We added six Bulbinella robusta plants, and moved a variegated Dietes to where the above-mentioned Phormium used to live.

Circle complete!

After that, we weeded the front bed and created some spaces to plant six Agave filifera in two groups.