A look at this week's projects

My approach to items on my "to do" list is usually haphazard and this week was no exception.  I finished cleaning up the leaf debris on the front slope on the southwest end of my garden, deadheading and cutting back plants in the process.  As one thing inevitably leads to another, I ended up doing some pruning and planting in the process too.

The shrub at the center of the photo on the left and highlighted in the photo on the right is another Auranticarpa rhombifolia (formerly Pittosporum rhombifolium).  I reduced it by about one-third this week as it was shading the plants surrounding it.  This one also came with the garden but it's green and healthy.

I also cut back branches of the cherry laurel shrubs that form a hedge along a portion of our south property line directly behind my lath (shade) house.  My purpose was to reveal this lovely potted Begonia luxuriens.  I also met with the arborist that owns the tree service I use every year.  I expect to have this hedge and 14 trees trimmed in late October.  Our heavier-than-usual rain was lovely but many of my trees and shrubs exploded in size as a result.

I pulled the remains of a sunflower from this pot and transplanted 3 Pelargonium schizopetalum I removed from another container in early summer.  The tuberous plants produce unusual flowers (which you can find in a 2022 post here).

In Wednesday's post, I remarked that I'd "liberated" several pups of an Aloe striata x maculata.  I went ahead with the plan I'd mentioned, removing the large Aeonium arboreum that occupied the spot next to the mother plant and planting 4 of the pups there.  I also removed a matching clump of Aeonium on the opposite side of the path (atop the retaining wall) to give a Pennisetum 'Fireworks' an opportunity to spread out.

In addition to the mother Aloe striata x maculata and its pups, this upper tier of the front slope contains 2 'Moonglow' Aloes, as well as several smaller succulents

Here's a closer look at the mother Aloe and 3 of the pups on the right.  The next tier contains 2 more Aloe striata-maculata and an Agave gypsophila.  The latter is looking sad but I think it may recover.

 

The south end of the front slope looks neater, which will do for now, but I expect I may end up beheading and replanting a lot of the Aeonium arboreum on either end of this section of the garden before the year's out.

Wide shot of the roughly terraced front slope showing the replanted upper tier

Wide shot of the area to the left of the pineapple guava tree, showing some of the large Agave desmettiana 'Variegata' planted there in 2018 as pups

 

Work on the street-side succulent bed also continued.  Taking out the stump of the Auranticarpa rhombifolia that died seemed to be a bigger job that the prior removals of these tree-like shrubs in 2016 and 2020; however, maybe our memories are faulty.

Photo of my husband's work midway through the process

In addition to that stump, I asked my husband to remove three large agave rosettes that were trailing into the street.  An electric saw make that a lot easier than digging out the stump.

Wide shot of the south end of the bed after the Auranticarpa stump, one Agave attenuata rosette, and 2 Agave 'Blue Flame' rosettes were removed.  I also cut back several Senecio amaniensis and removed an Echium handiense.  I hadn't planned to take out the Echium but it'd grown large enough to cover 2 small agaves. I took cuttings of the Echium, which (unlike Echium webbii) I've previously been successful in propagating that way.

I haven't yet replanted the area formerly occupied by the Auranticarpa and Echium handiense.  My current plan is to plant another Echium handiense in the rear area, assuming that one of my cuttings takes.  I'm going to dig up and move the beat-up Agave colorata shown in the photo on the lower right.  I plan to move 2 Agave americana 'Mediopicta Alba', planted as pups too close to Agave 'Blue Flame', to the empty area as well.

What didn't get done was removing the Aeoniums sticking out under the Xylosma congestum hedge.  It was on my (augmented) "to do" list but gardeners working across the street chose to deposit the debris that wouldn't fit into our neighbor's own green recycle bin into ours so there was no space to cram in the succulents.

With yesterday's late afternoon pickup, the Aeoniums will be pulled out today.  I heard back from the head of the local Cactus & Succulent Society but we haven't nailed the date to pickup what I've offered so, when I hear back from her, I'll ask about interest in the Aeoniums; however, I imagine I'm not the only one that has an overabundance of these plants.  (Note: Yes, some stems of the peppermint willows, Agonis flexuosa, visible in this photo died back this summer.  They're on the tree service's trimming list.)

 

We've a chance of rain this weekend, although I'm not going to count on it until I see it.  However, as the first Santa Ana wind event of the season is expected on Monday, bringing a heightened risk of wildfires with it, a little preemptive rain would be helpful.  I'll close with some of the latest bright spots, courtesy of my cutting garden.

Three more dahlias are blooming at last!  Left to right are: Dahlias 'Breakout', 'Calin', and 'Lady Darlene'.

Aeoniums aren't the only thing I have in overabundance right now.  I met 3 friends for lunch yesterday and arrived bearing dahlias.

 

Best wished for a wonderful weekend!

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