This and that

I woke up Monday morning to find a thick blanket laying over the Port of Los Angeles below us.  This happens periodically each year but it still feels queer, like a scene from the Twilight Zone.  We're used to an active scene at the Port.  Even at night, it's fully lit up, like something you'd see from the window of an airplane as you descend to land at a busy airport.  On Saturday, the marine layer blew in during the late afternoon hours and the harbor lights were literally blacked out by the fog.  That, and the relative silence that seems to accompany dense fog, was creepy.   Then Monday morning, although the marine layer was entirely gone at our elevation by 6am, the fog condensed over the Port, making it virtually invisible.

All you could see of the harbor was the top of shipping cranes and the upper section of the Vincent Thomas Bridge

A closer look

This shot showing part of my back garden emphasizes how clear it was at our elevation by comparison to the Port.  Our property sits just over 800 feet above sea level.

As temperatures ramped up, the fog cleared, revealing the Port once again.

It was clear by 10am that morning.  The view revealed 2 cruise ships in the harbor.

The thick blanket was back - and even deeper - on Tuesday morning, however.

Even the cranes and bridge were buried under the clouds yesterday morning.  The fog never lifted entirely on that occasion.

The weather forecast suggests we're in for a marked change as the week continues.  There's a solid prospect of rain on the horizon, starting as early as Thursday and possibly stretching through the weekend.  That's a good/bad thing as my annual tree trimming exercise is scheduled to start at 8am Thursday morning.  The latest forecasts now suggest that rain won't arrive until late afternoon that day so I'm hoping that the tree service's work won't be postponed.  I'd like to get that activity over and done with.

The ornamental pear tree in the front garden is dropping leaves by the bushel.  I'm sweeping them up every other day now so I'm looking forward to that particular tree's scheduled trimming.  Seventeen trees and large shrubs are on the list for trimming and 2 dead shrubs are slated for removal so it'll be a jam-packed day.

There's still relatively little fall color here but, for perhaps the first time, the 'Hachiya' persimmon (Diospyros kaki) produced some pretty leaf color, along with its fruit.  The leaves usually go from green straight to brown before they drop.  In contrast, the 'Fuyu' persimmon is only just showing some color.

As I wait for the tree trimmers, I'm trying to get more bulbs in the ground before the next rainstorm, as well as continuing my fall garden cleanup.  

I spent most of my time in the garden yesterday watering and tidying things up, getting only 20 Ranunculus corms planted.  I received the last of my fall bulb orders yesterday and would love to get them planted up before the rain arrives but that may be unrealistic.  I still have a significant number of bulbs in the refrigerator getting the equivalent of their winter chill so they won't be planted until mid-December.

Meanwhile, my husband went ahead with removal of the wood fence bisecting our north side garden despite what I thought was an agreement to bring in a contractor to handle it.  He took the fence down in manageable stages.  (The plan for the fence's removal was discussed in an earlier post here.)

This was stage 2, which involved removal of two-third's of the planks between the posts

The rest of the planks went in stage 3

Removal of the posts was the hardest part.  My husband discovered that the posts (albeit not the cedar planks) were riddled with termite damage.

View looking from the northeast side of the garden looking west once the fence was gone

View from the cutting garden looking east

Once the active termites have been dealt with, the baton passes to me to weave the formerly separated areas together.  Sadly, I think the 'Pink Pearl' Leptospermums will have to go, much as I love them.  They look ungainly without the backdrop of the fence.  I'm trying to think of a spot to put one elsewhere but I expect I'll be filling in most of the empty space shown here, originally occupied with rosemary shrubs, with succulents.

The plan for removal of the pergola attached to the front of the house remains open for further discussion.

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