Moving ahead with fall garden projects

We've had a blessedly cool stretch of weather and I've plunged ahead with more of the garden projects I've had on my mind for many weeks.

The first involved the removal of the Echium webbii I featured in a foliage post last month.  It had reached the stage in which it had more bare woody branches than foliage and I felt it needed to be replaced.

The before photo on the left indicates what an important place it held in my back garden landscape.  The photo on the right following its removal shows how empty the area is without it.  The replacement Echium webbii in the middle foreground was received by mail order in a 4-inch pot.  I checked my photo archive to verify that it's the right plant as the foliage looks very different than that of the mature plant.  I found other photos showing that it bulked up well within 6 months.

As the new plant (shown right in a closeup photo) looked a little sad, I hedged my bets by taking cuttings from the mature plant before I took it out (left).  I wasn't successful in getting earlier cuttings of this particular Echium to take but maybe I'll get at least one plant from the 10 cuttings I took.  I also ordered a backup plant from the grower this week.

 

I've never been really happy with the roses on the west side of the driveway I inherited with the garden.  Over the years, I've reduced the water I provide to all my plants (with the exception of those in my cutting garden) in response to our perpetual issues with drought.  These roses have looked worse with each passing year and even the extraordinary level of rain we received this year wasn't enough to improve the situation.  I finally made the difficult decision to remove them in favor of more drought-tolerant plants.  I've retained the rose bushes on the east side of the driveway that have managed to get by with what they receive from the the irrigation system twice a week during our extended rain-less season.

Two of the 6 almost dead roses are shown in the top 2 photos.  The (admittedly poor) photo on the bottom left shows the bushes before they were taken out.  I think the soil was too sandy and fast draining for the roses and soil supplements hadn't cured the problem.  Following removal of the roses I added 3 lavender plants (Lavandula angustifolia) I had on hand to a couple I already had in place.  I'll probably add more lavender and Moroccan daisies (Pyrethropsis hosmariense) in this area.

 

 

I removed a bloomed-out Mangave 'Bloodspot' this week as well.

'Bloodspot', purchased in 2015, was my very first Mangave.  It bloomed 3 times and died out in the middle, producing pups in the process.  I divided the clump and got 5 viable pups, although I ended up keeping only the 4 largest ones.

I planted 2 of the pups at the base of the faux bird bath in my cutting garden, shown in the top 2 photos.  One pup went back into the spot the mother plant had occupied (bottom, left).  The last one replaced the sad succulents that formerly occupied the frog pot (lower, right).

In addition to the frog pot, I replanted another pot that was looking sad after two years of long, hot summers.

I replanted this Talavera-style pot with an Echeveria agavoides 'Gilva', a few small cuttings of Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi', and a few noID cuttings I took from elsewhere in my garden

The Aeoniums I removed from the bed in my back garden last week went out on the street for another giveaway.

I wasn't sure how attractive passers-by might feel about the Aeoniums, especially as I've given these away before.  I potted up the 'Kiwi' cuttings in 4-inch pots in an effort to increase their appeal but I just dumped the Aeonium arboreum cuttings into plastic pots and hoped for the best.  As of last night about one-third of the Aeonium arboreum rosettes and half the 'Kiwi' pots had found new homes.  I'll leave them out another day before dropping the leftovers in my green recycle bin.

 

The garden has provided a few surprises this week too.

Two more Dahlias showed up: 'Fairway Spur' on the left and 'Enchantress' in the middle.  The third photo is a noID Plumeria a neighbor gave me 2 years ago after rescuing it from someone's trash can.

I discovered this fellow under an outdoor rug on our back patio when I was adjusting the rug to eliminate a wrinkle.  I'm not sure which one of us was more startled.  The snake sped away quickly once uncovered.  An Instagram commenter identified it as a two-striped gartersnake (Thamnophis hammondii).

 

Another warm-up is expected from Friday through Monday so I'm making the most of all the opportunities I have to work in the garden this week.  Household chores are on hold until those temperatures soar once more and I'm compelled to hole up in the house again.

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party