Musical chairs in the garden

While most of my end-of-summer/early fall cleanup has involved clearing debris, pruning overgrown plants, and removing plants that are dead, dying or unappealing, filling waste bins in the process, I've also divided plants, harvested succulent pups, and taken cuttings.  This post focuses on some of the latter activities.

I pulled 5 healthy pups of the large Aloe striata x maculata planted at the top of the slope on the southwest side of the garden.  I'm planning to plant 2-4 of the pups near the mother plant in the area now occupied by Aeonium arboreum (shown in the bottom 2 photos).  I've used that Aeonium as a filler all over my garden and it's time to switch things up with other plants.

In the street-side succulent bed, I discovered that a large Crassula ovata (jade plant) had tipped over the short wall that divides the bed from the upper level occupied by the lath house (left photo).  I took weight off it by cutting it back.  Cuttings of the Crassula and tall Senecio amaniensis that had also toppled over are shown on the right.

I potted up 2 small cuttings of the Crassula, one of the Sencio, and 5 of the tiny Agave mitis 'Multicolor' bulbils I harvested in July, now rooted.  I'll hold onto these for now for possible placement elsewhere in the garden once the plants are ready to be transplanted.

I texted the head of the local Cactus & Succulent Society to see if they might have an interest on taking 2 flats of rooted Agave mitis 'Multicolor' bulbils, a 6-pack of Agave 'Blue Glow' bulbils, and maybe the remaining Crassula and Senecio cuttings.  If not, I'll put the lot out for neighbors.  I fear the bulbils may not find a home in the neighborhood...

 

I've identified some plants that probably need to go, as well as a couple that might benefit from being moved.

Clockwise from the upper left, the plants that I'm currently looking to remove include: Psoralea pinnata, Salvia lanceolata (growing up through the middle of an Acacia 'Cousin Itt'),  and Trichostema 'Midnight Magic' (shown in the 2 bottom photos).  I like 'Midnight Magic', a cultivar of California's native woolly blue curls, but the right half of the woody plant has died.  Rather than chop it in half, I ordered a replacement as part of Annie's Annuals California native plant sale.

The 2 plants that may qualify for a move to boost their bloom potential are Dais cotinifolia (aka pom-pom tree, left) and Protea nerifolia 'Pink Ice' (right).  Neither has ever flowered and I think both want more sun.

 

Of course, while I'm cutting back and removing plants, I haven't been able to stop myself from adding new ones at the same time.

On Annie's last mail order sale, I picked up 2 more Eryngium planum 'Blue Glitter', only to discover that the one I planted in 2022 appears to have self-seeded (see photo on the right).  On the same sale I got Achillea millefolium, an Anchusa capensis, and another Echium webbii (not shown).

Gerhard of Succulents and More introduced readers to Steve Super Gardens in a recent post and I ended up ordered 2 Aeoniums, 'Dark Star' (bottom left) and 'Octo Ink' (bottom right), as well as a Pelargonium gibbosum (not shown).  In addition, they sent me an intriguing Aeonium hierrense (bottom middle).

Aeonium hierrense (aka tree houseleek) reportedly gets up to 3 feet tall.  I'm considering the 2 areas shown above for its placement.  I couldn't find a photo of a mature specimen on Steve Super Garden's site but you can see it here.

 

Instead of culling out, cutting back, giving away, or moving plants, some deserve notice just for being where they are.

Hippeastrum 'Luna' surprised me with an out-of-season bloom

Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun' has maintained a steady mass of flowers all summer with just occasional deadheading

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Things are looking up

During the so-called "dog days of summer" it's hard for me not to look askance at what's wrong with my garden.  I looked up the origins of that expression and found that, according to one source, the ancient Greeks and Romans believed that the period from July 3rd through August 11th was particularly hot and uncomfortable because that was when the Earth drew closest to Sirius, the "dog star."  Based on that description, it would appear that the "dog days" end today; however, the same source went on to state that, in actuality, Sirius doesn't rise until mid-August, which suggests we're not out of the woods yet. Nonetheless, I found several bright spots in my garden this week.

 The local pollinators are active.

Butterfly activity has noticeably increased since the Zinnias began to bloom.  I've seen a handful of different species but the only one I've captured in photos was the the Gulf Fritillary.

Bumblebees have suddenly become more prevalent too

Anna's hummingbirds are here year-round.  This one perches on the Ginkgo tree when resting, while keeping an eye out for intruders in its territory, which includes a nearby strawberry tree (Arbutus 'Marina').  Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' is currently getting a lot of hummingbird attention too, along with Grevillea 'Superb'.

The lesser goldfinches have been hanging around my cutting garden and I haven't been at all clear why.  I feared they were up to no good but I've chosen to believe that's not the case based on the following photos.

Using a telephoto lens, I stayed a suitable distance away in an effort to get a handle on their activity in the cutting garden when I'm not around.  I'd noticed a lot of ragged sunflower leaves.  When I examined the leaves after catching them on camera pecking at them, I concluded that they may be picking tiny insects off the leaves, battering them in the process.  I'm not sure of that, though, so I'm going to refill the feeders that usually stay empty during the summer months.

The dahlias I've been waiting for seemingly forever are finally starting to flower.

Dahlia 'Catching Fire' is the first to bloom

I've found buds on most of the dahlias but they aren't in a hurry to open.  This is Dahlia 'Mikayla Miranda', classified as a late blooming variety, but then all mine seem to be late bloomers this year.  Granted, I planted the tubers about 6 weeks later than I did in 2022 due to the unusually cool temperatures that stretched into June.

Unlike the dahlias, my Amaryllis aren't keeping me waiting.

Stems of Amaryllis belladonna (aka naked ladies because the flower stalks appear after the foliage dies back in late spring) are suddenly popping up all over.  This is a true Amaryllis, not to be confused with the Hippeastrums commonly referred to as Amaryllis.  I have pink and white forms, although the white variety usually lags weeks behind the more common pink variety.

 

With some help from my husband, two of the three agaves that bloomed this year, Agave mitis 'Multicolor' and Agave vilmoriniana, are now gone.  However, I've held off on cutting the bloom stalk of Agave 'Blue Glow' in the hope of getting bulbils.

It appears my patience is bearing fruit, or rather plantlets.  At least 4 bulbils have formed near the top of the stalk of this agave, which isn't known for pupping heavily, if at all.  I'm giving it until at least the end of the month before cutting down the stalk.  The mother plant shows no sign of decline to date.  A neighbor had a similar experience and now, months after cutting the stalk on hers, another bloom stalk is developing from a pup poking out the side of her mother plant.  My plant also has side pups.

We even got a tiny bit of rain on Wednesday and again on Thursday.  It wasn't measurable but it brought down our temperatures.  As I walked the neighborhood in the late afternoon, raindrops kept falling on my head and I spent the twenty minutes it takes to complete two rounds of the area trying to remember the lyrics to the song from the classic movie 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' that came to mind.  If that reference hasn't triggered your own memory, you can find the lyrics in the following YouTube video.  Warning: it may take some time to remove the ear worm from your head!

For the record, I'd be happy to have raindrops falling more heavily on my head but that's not likely to happen until October at the earliest.  Still, the change of seasons, cooler weather, and the opportunity to get planting again isn't all that far off.  As the song says: "It won't be long till happiness steps up to greet me."

Best wishes for a pleasant weekend!

Dithering in the heat

It's been too hot to do much of anything in the garden this week, admittedly not as hot as many areas of the country but uncomfortable nevertheless.  My gardening activities are mostly confined to the early morning hours and focused primarily on watering and basic cleanup.  The cutting garden, replanted in late June, demands the most attention.

The photo of the cutting garden on the left was taken June 22nd after I'd replanted 2 of the raised beds.  The photo on the right was taken July 20th.  I removed all the sweet pea vines and replanted the third raised bed at the end of June.  Most of the dahlias have ballooned in size and the zinnia seedlings are coming along well, although few of the sunflowers have done much.

This mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) greets me every time I step into the cutting garden, except when he's in the back garden stealing blueberries.  He thinks he's very stealthy. 

I've been spending a lot of time watering containers too, including these 2 in my front garden, both of which contain dahlias.  The 'Catching Fire' Dahlia here is the first of my dahlias to produce a bud (right).

I spend a ridiculous amount of time cleaning up after the Magnolia grandiflora in the front garden.  Because the area surrounding the tree is covered in bark mulch, it isn't possible to sweep the leaves up without losing mulch in the process so I pick most up by hand.

 

While working in the front garden I decided it was time to cut down the bloom stalk of Agave mitis 'Multicolor'.  This was the first of three agaves to bloom this year and its bulbils appeared well-developed.

The smallish Agave 'Multicolor' sits on a low slope facing west.  Its bloom stalk developed in November.

The cut stalk was about 8.5 feet tall.  The bulbils formed in tight clusters.  When separated, each individual bulbil was fairly small.

I saved 91 bulbils, planting them in 2 flats.  I'll pot up the best of these once they develop better roots.  I don't imagine I'll retain more than 20, most of which I'll give away once they're larger.

 

Unfortunately, while working in the front garden, I noticed signs of gopher activity in the area surrounding the Agave 'Multicolor'.

The mound visible here between Echium 'Star of Madiera' and Leucadendron 'Safari Goldstrike' suggests gopher activity.  I saw a few similar mounds nearby.  The sudden death of a healthy clump  of Gazania was the first sign, followed by the decline of other plants.

My prized Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', which sits next to the Echium, has been dropping a copious amount of leaves on a level I've never seen before.  I've mounted a campaign to drive the gopher(s) out but I'm concerned I may lose the Grevillea.

The Oscularia deltoides (foreground, right) is also showing signs of decline due to gopher activity.  I installed 2 sonic devices in the area and have followed up this week with repeated applications of a granular deterrent that I water into the soil.  Those actions worked for me last time I had a gopher problem.

I cleared this path so I can walk through the area again, removing much of the Gaura lindheimeri, as well as Lotus hirsutus.  I expect to dig up the Oscularia and the rest of the Gaura soon.

 

As temperatures and time permits, tasks still in the queue include the following:

Removing the base of the dying Agave 'Multicolor'.  This isn't as easy as it may look as the area is sloped and surrounding plants and rock make it difficult for me to shovel it out.

I'm planning to go ahead with the removal of the Echium, which has more bare branches than foliage left.  I already have a replacement on hand.

Removing this bloomed-out Agave vilmoriniana before the rapidly decaying base allows the stalk to topple over on my Agave ovatifolia is also a priority.  I planted bulbils from an Agave vilmoriniana 'Stained Glass' given to me last year and, with limited "nursery" space, I don't feel a need to retain this plant's bulbils.

Action on this Agave 'Blue Glow' is still on hold.  The plant shows no signs of decline at its base and I'm giving it extra time to see if I'll get any viable bulbils from it.

 

Rather than dwell on complaints about the heat, I'll send you into the weekend with a few cooling images.

A mass of Agapanthus in my back garden border with the ocean in the background

Morning glory (Ipomoea) growing in a neighbor's garden (not mine!)

Jacarandas blooming at last in 2 gardens in my neighborhood - they're late to flower this year

 

Enjoy your weekend!

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

An Agave's Legacy

Reactions to a blooming agave can be mixed.

My best guess is that I planted the 2 Agave desmettiana 'Variegata' shown here sometime in 2014 from 1-gallon containers.  The containers (and the plants) were bigger than those I usually buy.  This photo of them forming bloom stalks was taken in mid-October 2018.

On the one hand, agave bloom spikes are usually impressive, soaring many feet above the plant with the flowers drawing bees and even hummingbirds by the droves while they last.

My 2 plants were in full bloom in March

While the blooms are attractive, agaves are monocarpic, which means they signify the beginning of the end for the plant.  Although I have more agaves than I can count off the top of my head, I'd never had any bloom until these 2 Agave desmettiana 'Variegata' did so.  I usually purchase my plants in small containers; however, I inherited a large clump of mature Agave attenuata with the garden but even those plants have never produced blooms.  I've something on the order of a dozen Agave 'Blue Glow' scattered about, all purchased at about the same time in small pots, and I live in apprehension that one day they'll all bloom at once, leaving large holes throughout my garden.

I had no idea that the process from the emergence of a bloom spike to the plants' ultimate death would be quite so lengthy.  The stalks I first noticed in October grew steadily but didn't bloom until March of this year.  The blooms didn't last long, perhaps a few weeks between the 2 plants, but the bulbils or plantlets formed so slowly that, for a time, I didn't think they were going to develop at all.   It wasn't until June that I became confident that I was going to get a crop of baby agaves out of those flower stalks.

As August turned to September, the bloom stalks were visibly leaning toward the street and the bases of the 2 bloomed-out plants had shriveled.  Prompted by a post on an agave harvest published by Hoover Boo of Piece of Eden, I decided that I'd better cut those stalks before they came crashing down on a neighbor's car (or a construction worker's truck).  Of course, I chose what may be the hottest week we've had all summer to tackle the job.  Luckily for me, the bloom spikes of my agaves aren't as tall - or as heavy - as some.

This is what the plants looked like immediately before I went to work

As you can see, there was little left of the agave's foliage by this point

There were lots of bulbils, though!

After cutting down the stalks, I hauled my harvest into the shade and began sorting through the bulbils, pulling out those that were of decent size, well-formed, and showed some sign of variegation.

I tossed the vast majority of the bulbils, saving just 30 for myself (shown in the pot on the left) and putting aside another 100 or so to give away (shown in the pot on the right)

I stuck those I saved for myself in a flat of loose, gritty soil to allow them to develop roots.

Here's my stash.  I stuck the largest bulbil in a small plastic pot.

A few showed marked variegation like this one

I decided to offer the remainder of those I'd saved to neighbors.  Although succulents have become a lot more popular in our dry climate in recent years, I wondered if there would be sufficient interest in caring for these baby plantlets until they developed roots and could more easily survive on their own.

I found 3 empty plastic 6-packs and stuck bulbils in each pocket in the hope people might find them more appealing packaged this way.  I left the rest of the giveaway plantlets in the plastic pot I'd placed them in while sorting them out. 

I placed all the plants slated as giveaways on this low wall at the edge of our driveway, facing the street.  I've previously done the same thing with lemons and succulent cuttings with generally positive results.

I also left flyers with general information on the plants.  The 3 agaves shown in the photo on the flyer are actually pups of the same 2 bloomed-out agaves that produced the crop of bulbils.

Two of the six-packs of bulbils were picked up early Wednesday morning.  Then a truck containing sandblasting equipment arrived for work on our house, hiding my sign and the rest of the plants from view.  With our temperature headed into the mid-90sF, I moved the plants out of view into a shadier location.  I put the plants out again Wednesday evening and someone, or possibly multiple someones, picked up the rest of the giveaway plants before the heat climbed yesterday.  I'm counting that a success.  Agave desmettiana babies: may you live long and prosper.

Enjoy your weekend!


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party