Recent garden edits

My sister-in-law was in town this week and I didn't have a lot of time to work in the garden, much less put together blog posts, but I made a few edits to my south-side garden last weekend I thought I'd share in this short post.

You may recall that we removed a number of agaves from the main area of the south-end garden earlier this year.  We took out the all-too-exuberant 'Blue Flame' Agaves that were overtaking the bed in stages in July (as shown here and here).  In September, we tackled removal of a large 'Blue Glow' Agave that had bloomed twice and was left looking worse for the wear (as shown here).  Those actions left some large holes and it's taken me awhile to decide how to fill them.  My efforts there are by not means done but there's been some progress.

I removed a small Agave titanota that'd been hidden under the 'Blue Flame' Agaves in this area and planted the 'Sun Glow' Agave I'd purchased months ago in the middle of the space.  I filled in around it with cuttings of Senecio mandraliscae (aka blue chalksticks) and Aeonium 'Sunburst'.  It's going to take some time before everything fills out.

I potted up the Agave titanota and 2 pups to use elsewhere or give away

I added soil and cleaned up the area that'd been occupied by the bloomed-out 'Blue Glow' Agave and added more cuttings of Aeonium 'Sunburst' there.  I'm tentatively planning to fill in a portion of the remaining blank space with a Pelargonium, possibly 'White Lady', which produces small white flowers and loves to spread itself about.

I tweaked two smaller beds nearby too.

The 'Mission to Mars' Mangave shown in the center of this photo had a smaller Mangave, which I can only guess was a pup, growing under its leaves on the right.  I neglected to take a before shot but, because it was getting quite large, I dug it up and replanted it in front of its parent.  There's an even smaller Mangave in the foreground on the right, which I think is 'Tooth Fairy'.

This is a closeup of the Mangave pup.  It has coloring similar to 'Mission to Mars' and I've no record of planting any other members of the species in this area.

I can't recall if I've shown this small bed adjacent to the catio before.  It originally was filled with a mass of Mexican feather grass (Nasella tenuissima) and self-seeded Daucus carota, which I removed in the interest of eliminating flammable material so close to the house.  I recently planted 'Bronze Blend' Dutch Iris bulbs in the foreground and also added more bromeliad divisions (Neoregelia 'Guinea' x 'Pepper').  I may add even more divisions of the same Neoregelia soon.

I still have work to do in the cutting garden but, as I got an early start this year and the weather isn't quite right to sow sweet peas or other seeds yet, that can wait another week or so.  Meanwhile I received the second of my recent bulb orders and they may be given priority.

100 more bulbs, not all of which I can't honestly claim I've identified spaces for

Although my garden feels short on flowers at the moment, I did get a surprise when I noticed a touch of bright pink in my front garden.

Protea 'Claire' in the front garden already has one good-sized flower open and I counted at least 6 more buds working to catch up.  Meanwhile, my Protea neriifolia 'Pink Ice', tucked into a shadier section of the north-side garden, has yet to show signs of any buds.

Best wishes for a good weekend.  Although I wasn't able to join a "No Kings" rally myself last Saturday, I was very impressed by the strength of the turnout, estimated at between 7 and 8.2 million peaceful protesters.  Sadly, the White House responded by releasing a pathetic and tawdry AI-generated video that brings shame on the presidential office.  In my opinion, every elected official that fails to note that disgrace isn't worth keeping in office.  As an independent voter, I'm disgusted to the point of nausea.

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