Some projects look easier than they turn out to be

As our morning marine layer backs off and temperatures begin to climb, I thought I'd tick off one of the easier projects on my list this week.  After all, I'd tackled the hard part a few months ago - or so I'd thought.

This is the area in question as photographed in January, a bed in the back garden badly congested with overgrown Aeoniums and a rambunctious Ceanothus

This photo, taken in late April, shows a worsened situation in which Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi' in the bed directly across from the one shown in the first photo had effectively merged with the other bed, impeding the flagstone path that lay between the 2 areas

This "after" shot was taken once I'd cleared the path by removing most of the Aeonium 'Kiwi' and a portion of the taller noID Aeonium arboreum planted in front of the large Ceanothus shrub

My stage two project was to pull out all of the tall, bare-legged Aeonium arboreum, lightly prune the Ceanothus, and then replant.  It appeared a quick and easy fix to me!

I thought I had a better shot facing that area but, if I did, I couldn't find it, and I didn't take an updated photo prior to starting this phase of the project.  This photo, taken on April 30th, has to suffice to show the leggy Aeoniums on the right.

Pulling out the large Aeoniums took longer than I thought it would as many of them were buried underneath the Ceanothus but it wasn't difficult, even though I enlisted my husband's help digging up the more stubborn stumps.

I saved a fraction of the Aeonium arboreum for use in replanting the area, focusing on stems with multiple rosettes.  What I can't use there, I'll plant elsewhere or give away.  The discards filled one of our 3 green recycle bins.

This is a shot of the bed once the Aeoniums (with the exception of 2 clumps of 'Kiwi') had been removed.  I'd foolishly ignored the asparagus fern buried in there until it was fully revealed.  It proved to be another problem.

I don't know if it's apparent in the preceding photo but that noID Ceanothus is a behemoth.  It's the only one left from the garden we inherited when we purchased the house.  Like the mass of Ceanothus that originally occupied the front garden, it's backed by the Xylosma congestum hedge that runs the entire length of the main level of the backyard garden as well as most of the front of our property.  I'd no reservations about pulling out the three massive Ceanothus in the front garden when the plants began dying because the narrow space between them and the Xylosma made me claustrophobic.  The Ceanothus-Xylosma pairing in the back creates a similar feeling but I seldom pass through that section of the path, which is generally used only by the gardeners during their quarterly shearing of the hedge.

Pruning the Ceanothus proved harder than I expected.  Not only does the bed slope downward there but there's another sharp drop of two to three feet between it and the maintenance path separating it from the Xylosma.  I thought about asking the gardeners to prune the top of the shrub for me but I expected they'd shear it with an electric pruner, leaving the top looking butchered so I did what I could with manual pruning shears.  Given the sloping ground, there was no way I was going to attempt the job atop a ladder, or ask my husband to do so.

Here's what the area currently looks like.  The dead lower limbs of the Ceanothus have been trimmed back but they're still homely.  New growth will emerge but I plan to replant the space in front to hide the shrub's base anyway.

Thankfully, my husband jumped in and did his best to remove two foxglove asparagus ferns (Asparagus densiflorus 'Myers').  That plant is a menace and should never, ever be planted directly into the ground, except perhaps by someone who lives in Death Valley.

Although I'd been assured that the foxtail form of this asparagus fern is better behaved than it cousin, it appears to be as bad or worse.  I introduced one plant but we found 2 and they'd spread over a wide area.  We filled 4 trugs with their bulbous roots and I doubt we got them all.  Our recently purchased Root Slayer paid for itself when used on the ferns' roots.

So, this project isn't entirely done.  I want to make another pass through the bed to make sure all (or at least the vast majority) of the asparagus ferns' bulbous roots are gone.  Then I need to supplement the soil and replant.  As yesterday's trip to the garden center didn't provide other ideas, I'll replant the bed with Aeonium cuttings once again, even though the Aeoniums are entering their dormant status.  They do a good job of masking the underskirts of that Ceanothus.  I just need to be more meticulous about keeping both the Aeoniums and the Ceanothus well-trimmed in the future.

I'll close my Friday post with some prettier photos of two succulent plants in flower at present.

I think this is a monkey tail cactus (Cleistocactus colademononis as that was how it was labeled but my phone thinks it's a rat tail cactus, C. winteri).  In any case these are its first blooms 

 

The sweet bell-shaped flowers of Cotyledon pendens in this mixed succulent container was a nice surprise.  I bought the plant for its foliage, having no idea what its flowers might look like.

Enjoy your weekend!

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