Time out for succulents

A "time out" usually refers to a suspension of activity, either as punishment for a naughty child or a pause in athletic play.  In this case, it refers to short breaks from my caregiver activities to putter in the garden.  It being summer, a questionable time to do any planting here, my puttering was generally confined to work involving succulents.

Shortly after my husband's surgery, blogger friend Denise of A Growing Obsession contacted me to ask if I'd like some of the plantlets (aka bulbils) she'd harvested from a bloomed out Agave vilmoriniana 'Stained Glass' (variegated octopus agave) in her SoCal garden.  She offered to mail them to me but she ended up dropping them off as she prepared to leave town.  There were a LOT of them.

This bag alone contained on the order of 100 bulbils

She left me the stalk too, with more plantlets that hadn't yet been harvested

 

As I've no plans to open a nursery, I contacted  several local friends to see if I could pawn off any find someone to adopt a portion of them.  Two friends offered to take a "few" but another friend contacted a member of the local Cactus and Succulent Society to see if they were interested and, luckily, they were.

These are the plants I saved for myself and the 2 friends that asked for a few.  Not all will root but, of those that do, I'll probably save only 2-3 for myself as this agave gets very big.  I'll offer those that don't go to friends to my neighbors.  I haven't had a neighborhood giveaway in quite awhile so that'll be a good way to kick off the fall season.

This is what I offered to the representative from the Cactus & Succulent Society who graciously agreed to pick them up: 3 flats and the remaining unharvested bulbils.  I filled the flats with cactus soil mixed with what perlite I had on hand.  Each flat contained 36 tiny plants.

With the 'Stained Glass' Agaves sorted, at least for the time being, I took time to pull a large clump of dead Cerastium tomentosum (snow-in-summer), filling the empty spot with three Echeverias I'd purchased in late July.  The Cerastium spread but never bloomed and, even with cooler-than-usual summer temperatures, the foliage burned up.

The noID blue-toned clumping Echeverias (possibly E. imbricata) were purchased for another location but hopefully will be happy enough in this one

 

I also rescued a tiny agave that popped up under a clump of Aeoniums.

I removed an Agave colorata from the bed in which I found this small pup at least 2 years ago so the discovery was a surprise

By way of an update, the larger Agave colorata we dug out of our street-side succulent bed earlier this month when we discovered that the drip line underneath it had sprung a leak, has a new home.

I think it's a better spot for this Agave colorata than the 2 areas I'd mentioned as prospects in my earlier post.  Maybe the pup will end up here too once it grows larger.

I'd like to add more rock to the bed shown above but, as I need help picking it up from the local building and landscaping supply outlet, that'll have to wait.  My husband will be limited from lifting anything heavy for some time yet.  In addition to its purely aesthetic value, rock helps to retain moisture, limits evaporation, and modulates soil temperature so, under current circumstances, the more the better.

This little vignette shows just how happy succulents are snuggled in among rocks.  The plants here include Aeonium 'Lily Pad', Crassula orbicularis var rosularis, and noID Haworthia (possibly H. retusa).

I've done a little hand-watering, mostly of plants in pots and my cutting garden, as well as deadheading.  Although I'm itching to cut back a host of scruffy plants, I'm trying to hold off until our temperatures are consistently cooler.  October would be optimal but it remains to be seen if I can restrain myself that long.

Best wishes for a pleasant weekend.  I'll close with a new dahlia bloom to start the weekend off right.

The tuber that produced this flower was sold to me as Dahlia 'Akita', which it's definitely not.  Based on the flower's size, the petal shape, and the proportion of white versus red color, my best guess is that it's 'Duet' or maybe 'Rebecca's World' but then dahlias can mutate quite a lot as they mature.

 

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

 

 

An easy fix

The garden and I reach a low point in August.  Even in good years (namely, those with decent rainfall), the garden looks badly stressed by this time of year.  I usually spend a lot of time dispensing emergency rations of water but this year, with virtually the entire State of California in severe drought, I think twice before administering any aid.  I gave the lemon tree at the bottom of our slope, which I suspect has been in place for 25 or more years, a good soak last Saturday when my husband (who usually pays no attention to plants) expressed concern that it was dying.  Two days ago, I accepted the fact that my favorite Correa, 'Sister Dawn', planted in 2018, was dead.  Large sections of creeping thyme in various areas have died out.  I could go on.  Wishing to avoid the bleak newscasts for at least awhile, I decided to see what I could accomplish in the garden to put a positive spin on its appearance.

Rather than tackle one of the areas that looks really bad, I decided to start with an area that looks relatively good.  My hope was that, with a little work, it could look even better.

This is the dry garden on the northeast side of the house.  The issues here aren't readily apparent in this wide shot.

Even in this closeup shot, the problem may be hard to see.  But there's a large, nearly invisible Agave ovatifolia lurking behind that Cistus shrub in the center.

The whale's tongue agave and the octopus agave next to it are still visible in this rear view photo, taken partway down the concrete stairway that leads to the back slope but, with the Callistemon viridiflorus in the foreground getting larger, that may not be the case for long

My first objective was to remove the Cistus 'Victor Reiter' I'd planted from a 4-inch pot in 2016.  It grew taller than I'd envisioned and didn't get enough sun to bloom well, and of course it was blocking the view of my oldest Agave ovatifolia.  I thought of relocating it but I didn't have an immediate placement in mind so I took cuttings instead.

I took twenty cuttings in all, storing them in this area behind the garage that gets only morning sun.  This is admittedly not the best time of year to take cuttings but I hope at least a few will root.

Other than periodically getting poked by the nearby agaves, the Cistus came out with relative ease.  Agave ovatifolia regained its rightful place as a focal point.

Ta-da!

And here's a closeup from the same vantage point used in my second photo

There's now an empty space in front of the agave that needs to be filled.  There are half a dozen agave pups I can't identify there but I'll probably pot them up to give away as they're too small to have any impact.  I noticed I have grass seedlings in another section of this area so I may transplant one or two of those here.

NoID agave pups.  There are several other agaves nearby, any of which might be the parent.

I'm fairly certain that this grass seedling is Melinus nerviglumis (aka ruby grass).  Unlike the Cistus, it doesn't get very big so it might be a good fit in the empty spot in front of Agave ovatifolia.

After a midday break, I tackled cleanup of the area behind the Agave ovatifolia.  In addition to pulling weeds, I trimmed back rosemary and lightly pruned both the 'Hachiya' persimmon tree (currently laden with fruit) and Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey'.

As shown in the "before" shot on the left, the tall Coprosma was interfering with the massive arms of Agave vilmoriniana.  The photo on the right was taken after I cleaned things up.

I pulled out a lot of self-seeded Dorycnium hirsutum (aka Hairy Canary Clover), potting up one viable seedling to fill an empty space where another clover died last year.

Assuming the seedling on the left survives being roughly yanked out the ground, I'll transplant it in the empty spot shown on the right once our rainy season (hopefully) starts

Dorycnium is a lovely plant in and out of bloom but it's a rampant self-seeder and a vigorous spreader.  I cut back some of the plants swamping other plants during my cleanup operation as well.

The photo on the left shows a clover covering a clump of grass and infringing on nearby agaves.  The photos on the right show the clover in two areas after it was cut back.

The ivy growing into the area from the back slope needs to be cut back as well but that's a job for another time.  At least the day's cleanup effort left me in a more positive frame of mind.  I can't solve climate change or the world's other problems but at least I can accomplish little things that improve the appearance of my garden.  Best wishes for a pleasant weekend.

All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Foliage Follow-up: Stressed out succulents

My Aloe wickensii provided the jumping off point for this month's foliage follow-up, the meme hosted by Pam at Digging.  I know that succulents will frequently turn red when exposed to water and/or heat stress but I didn't know that they could twist and turn themselves like acrobats until I saw this:

Originally planted in 2014, the area in which this Aloe wickensii is planted is more exposed now due to the thinning of nearby trees.  The photo on the left was taken from the side and the view on the right was taken from overhead.

According to an on-line source such shape changes can be a response to extreme heat and intense sunlight.  I felt like covering my head and hiding too after last month's awful heatwave, which occurred on the heels of a period of unusually cool spring weather.

The Aloe sent me looking for other signs of stress among my succulents.  Agave 'Jaws', which sits just a few feet away from Aloe wickensii in the same bed showed little sign of stress; however, upon close examination, I did discover a surprise

I almost stepped on a tiny Agave pup that showed up about a foot away from 'Jaws' (to the left of the larger plant in the photo on the left)

Aeoniums enter dormancy this time of year so their change of shape isn't extraordinary.

These Aeoniums, planted in the narrow space between the outer fireplace wall and the driveway, are curling inward but they're not nearly as stressed as those along the street entering our neighborhood, which look more like round balls.

Shade, especially afternoon shade, seemed to buffer some succulents.

Aloe vanbalenii x ferox, shown here partially in the shade of a peppermint willow (Agonis flexuosa) with Sedum x rubrotinctum and Aeonium nobile, doesn't seem the least bit stressed

Agave bracteosa, planted nearby, is assuming a new shape but I think that's a natural progression in this case.  It's common names include Candelabrum Agave and Squid Agave.

The 2 Agave 'Blue Flame' that sit along the street receive a good amount of shade in mid-afternoon.  These 2 are in much better shape than the 'Blue Flame' and 'Blue Glow' specimens I have in full sun in the bed on the southeast side of the house, some of which suffered from "agave edema" when the heat suddenly soared last month.

The lower leaves of Agave impressa yellowed last year after the shrubs behind it died off and it received more sun but the bright red streaks shown here are new

The Agaves in the dry garden on the northeast side of the house showed no signs of stress.

Agave ovatifolia's only threat is being overcome by the spread of the trailing Lantana

And the same could be said for Agave vilmoriniana

All in all the succulents managed June's heat relatively well but I am thinking about moving poor Aloe wickensii.

Visit Pam at Digging to find other foliage highlights.


All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wednesday Vignettes: Spiky & Soft

Two garden vignettes struck my fancy this week so I'm sharing both as part of the Wednesday Vignette theme hosted by Anna at Flutter & Hum.

The first is a photo taken of an Agave vilmoriniana (Octopus Agave) in my dry garden.  The shot was taken in the late afternoon from the slope side of my dry garden looking back toward the house, an angle not usually viewed by visitors.  I like the way the sun and shadows emphasize the curves of the agave's twisted leaves, as well as the way the colors of the surrounding plants play off one another.

The Agave is backed by trailing Lantana and a Gauva tree.  Coprosma 'Plum Hussey' is on the left and a water-stressed Limonium perezii and pink-flowered Cistus 'Sunset' are on the right.  (My 160-gallon rain tank, now full, can be seen in the distance alongside the house.)

The second vignette features Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum' (aka purple fountain grass).  In the first photo, the sun picked up the soft fuzzy qualities of the flower plumes.  It's a gorgeous plant this time of year, when other plants are usually in full retreat from the sun and heat.  Like Stipa tenuissima (Mexican feather grass), this plant has a reputation for being invasive in California but, unlike the former, I've seen absolutely no sign of re-seeding by this species in my own garden.

The Pennisetum is surrounded by silver Jacobaeus martima, currently sporting yellow flowers, with a Ceanothus hedge behind it and the foliage of Agonis flexuosa (peppermint willow) dangling down from above

In my second photo, the sun was fading on the horizon so the plumes don't shine as brightly but the plant in the foreground is nicely echoed by a second Pennisetum in the distance.  I cut the plant in the driveway back hard in winter and it still hasn't fully regained its former dimensions.

For other vignettes, from the garden and otherwise, visit Anna at Flutter and Hum.


All material © 2012-2015 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party