Another project ticked off the list

Last Friday I reported on one project involving a cleanup in my north-side garden.  I also referenced the horde of Aeonium arboreum I'd accumulated as "edging" in my cutting garden.  It started innocently enough.  Shortly after we moved into our current home in December 2010, a close friend gave me several cuttings of these plants, which I think she got from her parents' home.  Unsure what to do with them at that point, I planted them along the border occupied by three citrus trees in what was originally set up as a vegetable garden.  I figured I could always dig them up or harvest rosettes from the plants to place wherever I liked once I'd made some decisions about where I could use them.  And I did just that year, after year, after year.  But I never removed the mother plants and the clumps only grew larger and larger with each passing year, until I could barely move between them and the raised planters I now use for growing flowers to cut.  Meanwhile, I have more Aeoniums of numerous varieties spread about in virtually every corner of my garden.  

I decided that it was time for the Aeoniums in the citrus beds to go.

"Before" shot taken just over a week ago

Closeup of the ungainly efforts I'd previously made to prevent tripping over the plants extending into the pathway

I removed half the mass last Friday morning, filling one and a half of our three green bins.  I was planning to hold off on the rest so I'd have room in the bins for other material I planned to prune; however, I asked my husband to remove two stumps I couldn't budge.  Two hours later I discovered that he'd moved the stumps and the remaining expanse of Aeoniums.  I'd planned to give away the Aeoniums in the best shape but oh well!  As it was, it took me a couple of hours to pull up stems and roots still embedded in the soil.  I also paid a visit to my local garden center to pick up soil amendment to give the somewhat sad citrus trees a boost.

I really needed more than this but I didn't want to get ticketed for blocking my rear view on the way home

I could still use a couple more bags of soil amendment but at least the bed looks better already

Side view of the same bed

I also cleaned up an adjacent bed occupied by a persimmon tree, a dwarf Japanese maple, and more Aeoniums

One small Aeonium cutting filled this small planter on my back patio

So, do you think I visited the garden center and just picked up soil amendments?

I rarely leave a garden center without plants and this was no exception

In addition to a citrus fertilizer, set aside to spread after we harvest the citrus currently on the trees, I brought home two other varieties of Aeoniums and an Agave 'Snow Glow'.  I think I was relatively restrained.  I emptied a large pot in the succulent bed in front of the garage of Manfredas and Sedum that had seen better days to give my new Agave 'Snow Glow' pride of place.  I've looked for a reasonably-priced specimen of that agave for years.  Along the way, it could be said that I've lowered my expectations of what a "reasonable price" is.

This is the replanted pot.  Although the agave will probably fill the entire pot in time, I thought it could use an embellishment.

The burro's tail succulent (Sedum morganianum) in this pot has been trailing the ground for some time.  I took 6 cuttings to trail down the side of the pot containing 'Snow Glow'.

I did a little tweaking of the succulent bed while I was working in the area.

The 3 small pots of Aeonium decorum 'Sunburst' went into the bed next to the mutant cutting I took from elsewhere in my garden last year.  Note that 'Sunburst' and the "mutant" are similar in color but the variegation is flipped.  The mutant has yellow stripes down the middle of its leaves with green edges whereas the variegation in 'Sunburst' is the reverse.

I'd never seen Aeonium 'Super Bang' before so I picked up 3 of those in small pots and added them to this bed too

This noID Aloe was included with a variety of plants given to me by a neighbor in a temporary planter made of the base of a fallen palm frond.  It and its companions were stressed and needed to be planted in the ground.

I also moved around succulents that were crowding Veltheimia braceteata bulbs.  I transplanted the bulbs last year in the hope that, given time, they'll bulk up and bloom again.

I've more work to do on that succulent bed but that may take a backseat to the pruning I still need to finish now that my three green bins are empty again.  Meanwhile here are shots of yet another variety of my blooming Anemones to end the week on a colorful note.

These are both examples of Anemone coronaria 'Rarity'

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party