Rain Delay

My husband and I got busy with another project late last week.  It involved removing one of the large 'Blue Flame' Agaves in the south-side garden, although upon deliberation, not one I'd originally identified.  Instead, I targeted the largest one, which was also the most damaged by sunburn and scarring.  I quickly realized that I wouldn't be able to handle it by myself and sought help from my husband.  He took care of the heavy lifting, with me helping to remove the debris.

I'll start with a before and after shot.

The top photo was taken in early January.  The bottom one was taken on January 31st.  If you don't immediately see the difference, look at the area behind the Euphorbia 'Sticks on Fire' at the center of each shot.

I took this photo using my cell phone after my husband cut off all the agave's leaves and dug up the core of the plant.  He used a small saw given to us as a gift to cut the hefty leaves - until it jammed and he had to revert to manual tools.

This is the agave's trimmed carcass, which I couldn't even pick up.  We rolled it into a corner to dry out for a time.

The leaves were so heavy, they had to be left in our driveway to dry out before we loaded them into our green recycle bins for pickup yesterday with their weight evenly distributed between the three bins.  The agave's carcass will be cut into two or more pieces before they go into the recycle bin next week.  Meanwhile, I got to work cleaning up the area opened up by its removal.  I cut back the Vitex trifolia, woody sections of one of two Salvia clevelandii, and the dead spikes around the base of the Dasylirion longissimum (aka Mexican grass tree).  I also removed masses of Senecio serpens (aka blue chalksticks), pups of Agave americana mediopicta 'Alba', and pesky grass weeds with deep roots (which could be crabgrass or possibly bermuda grass planted long ago by prior owners).  I can't claim I got all the grass weeds as some are wrapped under and around other large, prickly agaves.

This view from the west side looking east doesn't look much different

This side view shows off the 3 Agave mediopicta 'Alba' that have been partially hidden for some time

View of the cleared area from the dirt path behind the bed, offering sight of the seldom seen Agave 'Mr Ripple' on the lower right.  I added soil suitable for cactus and succulents to smooth out the bare areas.

View of the area from the east side looking southwest.  The yellow trug behind the Euphorbia 'Sticks on Fire' was full of cuttings.

I replanted some of the area I'd cleared with cuttings of Senecio serpens but there's still a good-sized empty spot to be filled.

There are 9 Senecio serpens clumps here and a few others outside the photo's frame on the left

This is the empty spot

I've been considering options for filling the open space while leaving sufficient room to facilitate future weeding and other maintenance work.  Rain interrupted my work schedule.

I filled several trugs with rainwater once daylight arrived but it was coming down so hard and fast I didn't even try moving any of it.  As it was, I got soaked just going to pick up the newspaper from the driveway.

I considered moving this Agave attenuata 'Raea's Gold' to the open area but these agaves are liberal puppers and I don't need a replay of my problem with 'Blue Flame'.  This is the mother plant we removed from the back border in December because it was crowding Aloe vanbalenii x ferox.  It's currently in a pot.  I may plant it in the community garden at the entrance to our neighborhood once it's developed more roots.

I have an Agave ovalifolia 'Vanzie' planted at the back of the south-side bed about 6 feet away from the empty space (shown left).  It's handsome and doesn't pup so I'm inclined to plant the small specimen of the same plant I've had in a pot for a year (shown right) in the middle of the empty area.

As filler material, I'm considering a variety of Aeoniums.  Clockwise from the upper left: Aeonium 'Jack Catlin' (pups that had been hidden behind the agave we removed, which hadn't received the sun needed to bring out their burgundy edges), A. 'Velour' (shown in another area of my garden), and 2 other varieties I purchased by mail order a few months ago, A. 'Octo Ink' and A. 'Dark Star'.

I still have plants in need of new homes too.

The largest of the Agave mediopicta 'Alba' pups went into the empty pot in the north-side garden

2 more agave pups and piles of Senecio serpens that will probably be given away

We got 2.32 inches of rain in less than ten hours yesterday.  It came down heavily, causing freeway and local road closures for a few hours.  Our own neighborhood road, periodically used by skateboarders looking for thrills (despite signs prohibiting that), looked like a river for a time.  Today should be mainly dry but another, larger atmospheric river is expected to move through beginning late Saturday.  Current forecasts suggest that rain could continue through the following Saturday, which is a unnerving.  Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing.

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party