July's ups and downs (so far)

We've been very lucky with respect to our daytime temperatures so far.  While another so-called heat dome is still toasting most of California, launching wildfires, our temperatures along the Southern California coast have yet to climb above the mid-80sF (29C) this July.  I'm crediting the persistence of our morning marine layer.  Most days, it dissipates by 8am but last Saturday we were socked in until 2pm.  It was lovely.

View of back garden after 8am last Saturday.  The harbor below us was entirely invisible,

This photo was also taken in the back garden,  The Ginkgo tree and the hedge looked like they were sitting on the edge of the world with the erasure of the homes across the canyon. 

View from the front garden looking northwest into an apparent void 

This front garden view had a more Twilight Zone edge, with a lone garbage bin left behind on the street.  Unfortunately, it also highlighted the surprising decline of Leucadendron 'Safari Goldstrike' on the left.  I lost 2 branches of that shrub last year and now the rest of it seems to be dying off.  Growing on a moderate slope, I can only guess whether the soil drains too well in that spot or the gopher that formerly resided there was responsible.

This photo was taken around 3pm when the sky was blue and the harbor could be seen again.  A smoggy haze has been present on the horizon since the 4th of July fireworks.  Although private displays are illegal in our high fire risk area, it wasn't evident from the war zone we experienced yet again this year.

A neighbor's cat has paid me periodic visits.

I still miss my beloved Pipig but this big boy has dropped by now and then.  He got stuck on a fence and complained loudly so I picked him up and set him down safely.  He's come back twice since and has been quite friendly.  I don't know his name but I understand that a neighbor 5 doors up the street adopted him when he was dumped in the canyon by someone as a kitten.

Unfortunately, a gopher has also paid me a visit, popping up in, of all places, my cutting garden.

I don't know why a gopher would move in here, where a large area is covered by raised planters and barrels and equal area is covered with a thick layer of gravel, but one did!  When the first hole on the left appeared I poured deterrent granules and water down it, filled it in, and inserted a sonic deterrent spike in that spot.  A few days later the second hole showed up at the edge of a barrel just 3 feet away (shown on the right).  I've looked into the lethal black-hole traps but, after reading the reviews, wasn't sure how helpful it would be.

The Italian Navy also recently paid a visit nearby.  The Amerigo Vespucci, almost one hundred years old and reputed to be "the most beautiful ship in the world," docked at the Port of Los Angeles from July 3rd through the 8th as part of a two-year worldwide voyage visiting fifteen countries.  Visitors with reservations received free guided tours and had the opportunity to participate in a variety of events celebrating the Italian culture.  Although its arrival received some low-key press, by the time I heard about it from a neighbor, all the spots on the tour had been booked.

I managed to get a photo of the ship from my back garden, though.  I used my new camera, which has a 40x optical zoom feature.  This photo was larger and clearer than than the one I took with my Nikon's telephoto lens.

 

Rounding out early July's ups and downs is an event that involves a little of both.  Yesterday, construction and plumbing crews arrived at 7:30am to replace the copper pipes in our 73 year old house and to refurbish our living room chimney.  We replaced the pipe in our kitchen when we renovated it and other parts of the house in 2019 but we didn't think about repiping the rest of the house until we experienced one after another pinhole leaks later.  As three different teams are involved in the process, I'm not sure how long this is going to take.  The kitchen, the living room, our main bedroom, and my home office aren't directly impacted but everything we removed from the affected areas, two bathrooms, the laundry room and my husband's office, have ended up in those spaces.  And there's no escaping the noise!

Even though I knew they had to open up the walls to replace the pipes, I underestimated just how much space would be affected.  This is just 2 of the 5 walls opened so far.

Even the cutting garden is nominally impacted

  

The good news is that, when they're done, we shouldn't have to worry about any more bulging walls, water bill surprises, or a leaking chimney.  A little pain now should save us more in the future.

I hope your July offers ups with any downs!  My sympathy to all those experiencing heatwaves or weather-related floods.

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Time to get started

The holidays are over and our decorations have been packed away.  Although I've yet to make up my 2024 "to-do" list, I thought it was time to at least fill in the empty spot in my street side garden.  After all it's been bare since the dead Auranticarpa rhombifolium at the south end was removed in late September.

This is a recent shot of the street-side succulent bed.  I thought I had a closeup photo of the empty space in front of the lath house but, if I took one, I can't find it.  As it stands, even as I worked to fill the spot formerly occupied by the tree-sized shrub, I'm concerned that the remaining Auranticarpa on the far right is now also in decline.

Instead of adding new plants, I ended up moving others that were already there.  Someone (not me!) had stepped on the small Agave colorata I'd originally planned to move there and I decided it wasn't worth saving.  However, an Agave americana 'Mediopicta Alba' I'd planted two years ago as a pup deserved more room so I decided to give it pride of place and fill in around the edges.

The mid-sized 'Mediopicta Alba' had already produced 2 pups of its own so I moved the larger of the 2 as well.  The 2 Agave 'Blue Flame' pups on the left will quickly fill the area between them.

I also planted 2 small cuttings of Echium handiense 'Pride of Fuerteventura' and 3 cuttings of Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' behind the 'Mediopicta Alba'.  Unfortunately, at present they're barely visible in the larger photo.

As I tidied up the area in the process of making these changes, I generated succulent cuttings.

There's not enough here to warrant a giveaway yet but I'm willing to bet I'll have more within another couple of weeks

I spent a little time beheading the overgrown Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' in another area but I've yet to finish replanting those cuttings.

As soon as the cuttings callus over, most will go back into the area they came from.  A few of these may go into the street-side bed.

I've also started cutting back the bush violets (Barleria obtusa) that are quickly dropping their ripe seeds.  My largest clumps of these plants have been spreading not only by self-seeding but also by layering, where stems running along the ground root.  So, in addition to cutting the plants back to the ground, I need to reduce some of the clumps to a more manageable size.

I want to remove about one-third of this plant before the new growth develops much further.  The plant should rebound within 2-3 months.

My efforts to control the gophers, described in an earlier post, aren't going well.  Supposedly, these are solitary animals that maintain territories of about an acre in size but, if that's true, the animals have gerrymandered their territories because their mounds are popping up in widely different areas of our half-acre lot.

A fresh gopher's mound that appeared just outside my lath house on New Year's Day is shown on the left.  I poured deterrent granules down the hole, stomped the soil back into place, scattered more granules on top and watered it in (shown right).

Yesterday, more tunnels appeared directly adjacent to the lath house, in the street-side bed next to an Aloe lukeana, and in 2 new spots in back garden.  (All these photos were taken after I stomped the soil back in place.)  I'd tried to channel the gophers eastward toward the back slope but the uncooperative critters are moving west instead.

I'll end this post on a more positive note with a few pretty pictures of recent blooms.

Aloe 'Moonglow'

Lachenalia viridiflora was beaten down by earlier rainstorms but I had to share the fabulous turquoise color of those flowers

I'll be back on Friday with my quarterly wide-shots post, which should provide a good springboard for planning future garden projects.

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

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

Wednesday Vignette: Taking the good with the bad

On Saturday, my Ginkgo biloba 'Autumn Gold' tree finally got its roots in the ground, replacing the mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) we removed last October after we failed to halt its decline.  I still do a double take every time I look out the kitchen window.

According to reports, the tree is slow to establish so getting started with a taller specimen was probably a good thing 

Its leaves turn gold in the fall and its said to be relatively pest and disease free

Back in December, I'd put aside several plants to fill the area around the tree so I was glad to finally get those in the ground as well.

I added three dark-blue flowered Agapanthus 'Elaine' purchased by mail order in 4-inch pots in December, which I'd potted up and held for installation under the new tree.  I also popped in five small Pelargonium sidiodes divisions I took from plants that had originally grown under the mimosa. 

This is one of the two original Pelargoniums I still had growing in this spot.  I'm hoping the tiny divisions will develop as nicely.

That's the good news.  The bad news was a discovery made while clearing the south side garden of some excessively exuberant Alyssum (Lobularia maritima) and other weeds yesterday afternoon.

It appears the gophers are back!  I saw no evidence of gopher activity in this area last year.  Even though they cleared out of my garden last year, I suspected they'd be back as my neighbors are regularly plagued by them.

I'd read that gophers don't like succulents but this one seems to have set up operations directly under Agave 'Blue Flame'

The solar-powered sonic deterrents combined with a granular repellent watered into the soil worked well last year but the sonic devices generally ceased working within a year.  As their batteries can't be replaced and as I don't want to continuously funnel plastic into the local landfill, I'm going to try making do with the granular repellent.  Maybe the local coyote will help out, assuming he's not put off by the repellent.

For more Wednesday Vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.

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

Getting started

It's finally cooled down and the air quality, while not good, is much better.  Yesterday was the first day that actually felt like fall to me here in coastal Southern California.  We're expecting temperatures to rise again starting Sunday but, for now, I'm taking advantage of the improved conditions to get started on some garden projects.  Two trees are slated for removal and others are to be trimmed on October 29th but I felt I could get a bit of work done on my front slope even before the tree service crew troops in.

The initial focus of my attention was the south end of the moderate front slope across from my lath (shade) house.  It hasn't looked great for some time but a den set up by a gopher earlier this year at the slope's base made things worse, which finally pressed me into action.  My husband actually kicked things off when, just before the last heatwave, he decided to remove the three 'Mutabilis' rose shrubs I'd been talking about taking out for months.

This photo was taken shortly after the roses were dug up but their absence isn't all that noticeable

The roses, which came with the house, had never done well.  The photo on the left shows two of the shrubs (one nearly dead) before they were removed and the photo on the right shows the emptied space.

The day before yesterday, I started removing masses of dormant Aeonium arboreum from the area, as well as the Honey Euryops (Euryops virgineus) that partially hid the gopher's den.

The Euryops had grown too large for this spot and in any case  I couldn't do anything to clean up the mess the gopher had made without removing it.  I took cuttings of the plant in the hope of getting viable plants to put elsewhere or give away.

At one time there was a fairly neat mound outside the gopher's den but I flattened it considerably since I started working in the area.  The photo on the right shows the tidy opening the gopher had made.

This is what the space looked like after I threw in the trowel late yesterday.  In addition to pulling most of the Aeonium, I cut back the self-planted Cotoneaster on the upper left and cleaned up the clumps of Festuca californica next to it on the right.  However, I spent most of my time pulling up the opportunistic roots of asparagus fern.  I'll never get it all but I'd like to seriously slow its spread.

There's still a lot to do before I'll be ready to replant the area.  I have to dismantle the portion of the dry-stack curb the gopher tore apart and refill his hidey-hole with the dirt he excavated.  I'll also try to remove still more of the asparagus fern roots that riddle the area.  Then I plan to create flatter planting areas using the rock we saved after dismantling the indoor barbecue in our dining room during last year's home remodel.  That may be the toughest step as the rock we have isn't ideal - I'm hoping I can break some of it into smaller pieces.  When that's done, I'll add some planting mix and/or compost and replant.

I've got a few ideas in mind for replanting the area but I'm not hurrying the plant selection process.

When the mimosa tree comes out in the back garden, I'm going to redesign the area surrounding the patio to make room for a new tree (yet to be identified).  The succulent beds adjacent to the patio will be scaled back so these Agave colorata will probably need relocating and I think the front slope may be just the place for them.

In the meantime, I'm happier having a cleaner slate.

The photo on the left shows the area as I photographed it for my October 2nd wide shots post.  The photo on the right shows it when I completed my initial cleanup yesterday.

I'm sure I can find a few other things to take care of before the heat returns and the tree service arrives.  Best wishes for a pleasant weekend of gardening to all!

All material © 2012-2020 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party