Working through the gloom

It's June in coastal Southern California, which means we're in the thick of it with "June Gloom," when the marine layer is historically at its deepest and most persistent, often extending throughout the morning hours into mid-afternoon.  Occasionally, we don't see blue sky at all but, thankfully, that's not common at our elevation.  Earlier this week, we actually accumulated 0.02/inch of precipitation courtesy of the marine layer but, unfortunately, that's not a normal occurrence.  (Our rain total, counted from October 1, 2024 to the present stands at 6.91 inches.)  

Photo taken yesterday morning looking east from the back door.  Yesterday's marine layer cleared earlier than usual just prior to noon.

The marine layer keeps our temperatures down when they're soaring in inland areas so I generally appreciate it despite the gray skies.  This year, I'm having a harder time with it mainly because a heavier political gloom is hanging over us.  Every time I think the current administration in Washington, DC couldn't sink any lower, they manage to dig the country into a deeper morass.  The President's decision to call up California's National Guard to quell protests over immigration raids, despite the objections of the State's governor and Los Angeles' mayor, has arguably intensified rather than eased unrest this week.  That was followed by an order for the Marines to come in, which has no valid justification as far as I've heard.  And that's just the latest of a string of actions that has me wondering what country I'm living in.  With the acceptance of gifts from foreign governments and cash in exchange for pardons, it's feeling like the US is becoming a banana republic.

Despite my negative outlook, I've tackled several small projects in the past week, most associated with the fallout from the recent plant removals I undertook in response to Los Angeles County's new "defensible space clearance" ordinance.  To start with, I finally tackled extending the brick border around the front garden bed that formerly housed two large shrubs next to the house.

We couldn't get bricks identical to those I used earlier but I don't think the difference is very noticable

I plan to fill in the gap between the bricks and the flagstones with creeping thyme, Thymus serpyllum 'Elfin' if I can find it in flats

I also pulled together plants I had on hand to begin filling in the bed adjacent to our garage that once held a large red powder puff shrub (Calliandra haematocephala).

Digging out the rest of the plants here and supplementing the soil took a surprising amount of time and effort as the ground was rock hard

I'd originally intended to install a large agave in the middle of this bed but it was too narrow a space to accept the options I had available.  It looks bare with the cuttings, pups and divisions I had on hand but I'll probably add other small succulents to create a mosaic look when I get a chance to do some shopping.

At present, the plants in the bed include: Top - Aeonium 'Jack Catlin', A. haworthii 'Kiwi', and a noID Aeonium
Middle: Bulbils of Agave 'Multicolor' (2 harvested in 2023) and a "rescued" Agave ovatifolia 'Vanzie'
Bottom: Pups of Mangave 'Silver Fox' and bromeliad Nidularium wittrockia leopardinum

I pulled the remaining Mexican feather grass (Nassella tenuissima) in my backyard border as well.

The "before" shot on the left was taken after I'd already made a start on removing the clumps.  The photo on the right is the "after" shot.  I'll eventually add groundcover material, probably either creeping thyme or succulents.

Several other clumps lay further along the border as shown in the "before" photo on the left.  The "after" shot on the right shows a few of the large Amaryllis belladonna bulbs I uncovered pushing themselves out of the soil in that border, some of which I hope to transplant in this area now that it's cleared of grass.

My husband also embarked on a project.  It involves renovating my lath (shade) house, which he built for me as a Christmas present in 2018.  It admittedly needed a few minor repairs but he concluded that it'd become lopsided as the ground underneath had settled over time.  I couldn't see it: nothing was falling off the shelves or had rendered it unsafe, but he no longer considered it up to par.  He's doing the hard work.  I just got involved in the process of removing the plants to clear space for him to work.

Before shots

After it was emptied

Initial work in progress as he raised and leveled the first section on the west side

The work continues.  In addition to raising and leveling all 4 sides, he's upgrading the nails that hold it together and repairing holes in the roof created by critters.

My plants are scattered all over the larger garden.

Most of the smaller plants landed on our south-side patio.  Others were put wherever we could find a shady spot.  I heard complaints that I have "too many" plants.

The Epiphyllums that hung from an upper shelf in the lath house currently sit on the bench under our Magnolia tree in the front garden.  Of course, one of them chose to bloom now when it can't be properly appreciated.

This is the best photo I could manage of one of the Epiphyllum 'King Midas' blooms

Two of the larger potted agaves sitting immediately outside the lath house got moved to the north-side garden.

The Agave 'Mateo' in the rear pot will probably be planted in this north-side bed once the fence decision is made.  The other agave, which I think is an Agave geminflora, stabbed both my husband and me so it'll probably remain in its pot (somewhere safe).

I'm by no means done addressing the other areas affected by last month's plant removals but I'm taking them on as time permits.  We've stalled on what to do with the wood fence on the north side of the house but I hope to address the bed outside the living room windows sometime this month before it becomes too hot to plant anything.  There's no evidence that the Fire Department had begun conducting its inspections as yet.  Interestingly, experts have recently criticized California's plan to establish a "zone zero" around homes in high fire risk areas as inadvisable in many circumstances, as you can read here.

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