Sideline projects: Mangave pups

Rather than tackling some of my larger projects, I've been puttering around taking care of small ones, while completing ignoring preparations for the upcoming holidays.  I'm having a hard time getting in the mood for the latter this year.

Cleanup and division of two bloomed-out Mangaves were relatively easy tasks.  It seems that some of these plants bloom all too soon and the process leaves the mother plant looking disfigured.  However, all also seem to leave plenty of pups behind to replace themselves.  Even though it bloomed recently, I attended to the Mangave 'Pineapple Express' first because it presented the biggest eyesore.

It bloomed back in October.  The flowers weren't anything to get excited about in my view but the hummingbirds appreciated them.  The clump eventually produced 3 bloom stalks as some of pups surrounding the mother plant also flowered.

The photo on the left was taken immediately before I got started.  The photo of the right shows the mother plant after I'd dug it up.

I immediately replanted the largest pup shown on the left as it had plenty of attached roots.  It was replanted near the other 2 'Pineapple Express' plants I'd installed 3 years ago as part of a trio.

These are the other pups I harvested in a variety of sizes

As I hadn't found suitable grasses to hide the bare branches of the Ceanothus hedge I'd pruned months ago, I decided to plant 5 of the largest Mangave 'Pineapple Express' pups in that area.

The remaining pups went into temporary pots.  I'm not sure the smallest ones on the right will amount to anything but, if they develop better than expected, I'll give them away.  I'm hoping to use the larger pups elsewhere in my own garden once they're well-rooted.

The second bloomed-out Mangave was a 'Silver Fox', given to me by a friend as a pup several years ago after my original 'Silver Fox' bloomed-out.  It flowered back in February but was largely hidden by surrounding plants so it hadn't scream for attention.  I took care of it yesterday.

These are photos of the plant in flower in February.  For a relatively small plant it produces a tall stalk.

This is the empty spot left behind after I'd cut back some of the surrounding plants.  I haven't decided whether or not to return one of the pups to this spot - if I do, I expect it'll just get swamped by its neighbors again.

The mother plant was a tangled mess of pups, and more difficult to divide than 'Pineapple Express'

These were the pups I held onto.  Tinier ones went into the recycle bin.

I potted all of them up for now, even the largest one that had a decent root system

This week, I also pruned the twiggy 'Hachiya' persimmon (Diospyros kaki), which took a good hour or more.  It's less than a perfect job as I wasn't comfortable putting a ladder up on uneven ground.  It'll do for now but next year I think it'll go on my tree service list.

It's still pretty twiggy even though I filled half a green recycle bin with sticks.  The branches are brittle, which complicated matters and the sloping ground didn't help.

I'm waiting for the 'Fuyu' persimmon to drop most of its remaining leaves before I tackle pruning it.  It's branches are also brittle (and tall!) so I'll settle for doing the best I can to thin this one out too.  You may note that one of the 2 Leptospermum 'Pink Pearl' shrubs is already gone here - my husband got it out in a flash yesterday as its roots weren't deep.

This is the remaining Leptospermum.  I'll leave it for now as it still has plenty of flowers.  I may try just cutting it down by 3 feet as new information suggests it won't tolerate being cut to the ground.  Its tilt bugs me though.  That was probably the result of growing up tightly against the former fence for so many years.

I really do intend to get going on removal of the mass of ferns in that part of the garden sometime soon but I may attend to pruning the 'Fuyu' persimmon and the redbuds (Cercis occidentalis) first.  Sometimes I wish we got snow, putting garden work on hold for a time, but maintenance is a year-round activity here and, right now, virtually every part of my garden is calling for attention.

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