The Usual Autumn Activities

Cleaning up various plants that bloomed all summer and are now bedraggled.  Moving some stones to the front slope, to act as stepping stones.  Planting as many new acquisitions as possible.  Trying not to buy too much.  We went to a California native plant talk on Saturday;  I won a Dudleya hassei.  Nice, eh?  It looks like a sea anenome cluster.  I planted it next to a chunk of grey stone.
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I've been looking for an Agave ovatifolia for quite a while, and found one Saturday after the plant talk.  Agave ovatifolia can grow fast, so I bought the smallest one they had.  Last year I bought a 4" Agave labeled as ovatifolia, but, it having doubled in size, appears to be a 'Dragon Toes'.  Careful there, Natasha!
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On the way home from the plant talk we had lunch at a restaurant with steel Agave screens.  Steel Agaves would look so cool on my empty entry wall...
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Then home to the garden.  While I play with plants, the puppies keep watch for the neighbor's cat.
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It's so dry here the neighbor's Crassula are withering.  They will plump up again if we get some rain.
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Unlike the neighbors Crassulas, 'Mrs. B. R. Cant' gets water.
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Besides the Agave, I bought a second Buxus sempervivens 'Variegata' (30% off!) to go with the one I've had for years.  I love that Boxwood.  I planted and gave the first one an irrigation dripper about 2006 and have not touched it since except to admire.  It grows about 5" a year and looks as pristine as the day I planted it.  What would I do all day if all plants were that beautiful and that effortless?  Buy more and wonder where to put them, I guess.
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The new one is at the bottom of the photo:
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New baby gets a drink.
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Back out front I paused and thought about what a horrible mess this is.  Not visually--but to someday remove.  The thing will be a nightmare.  Agave augustifolia has created a big clump and merged with several A. desmetianas and three A. strictas.  Along with Senecio vitalis and Oscularia deltoides.  But today it looks good...
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I put some rocks at the top of the slope to act as stepping stones so I could plant a Crassula arborescens below that Alluaudia.  The stones look small but the weights came in at 60 lbs each, so they are not that small.  It was hard to move them.  I had to roll and flip them along because they were too heavy to carry.
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Another part of the slope looks good in warm afternoon light.
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There's another rock, but it was so heavy I could not get it up the slope, even by rolling or flipping.  It must weigh at least 80 lbs.  That's a newly planted subspecies of Agave horrida next to it.  
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Still on kitty watch...
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The roses are having a great autumn.  'Ebb Tide'.
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One rose I moved this spring, 'Marie Daly', having just survived in a terrible spot without sun or irrigation for nine or ten years, has recovered and done beautifully.  You just never know what will survive, do you?  There's 'Marie', on the left:
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She's laughing at me.  "Ha-ha-ha!  You could not kill me!"  No, I could not, and I am glad.
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The Sweet Peas are growing, but not fast.  The 'Royal Mix' germinated close to 100%.
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The "Early Mix" only germinated about 30%.
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I walk back and forth past the koi pond as I garden, and they beg at me for food.
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That's what I've been up to.   A lot of disorganized and somewhat random effort.  Are you organized in your gardening activities?  Likely more than I am.  I envy you. 

Comments

  1. Usually I try to stay pretty organized, but right now I am not at all. I do short, random chores when the weather and my back let me. Your roses are so beautiful, and your dogs, as usual, are just full of character.

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    1. The dogs are full of something, I guess "character" is a way to describe it. I hope your back heals up properly. Rest is often the best medicine. Hurt my hip badly last year but it's fine again--hope you get the same good results.

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  2. I almost always approach garden tasks randomly. Sometimes I'm focused, but usually the chores are tackled on a whim. Pretty much everything gets done though. (Making lists is often too overwhelming for me.)

    Can't argue with your results, so "disorganized" seems to be working for you. :)

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    1. Nice to know I'm not the only random gardener! Random seems to be working great for your garden as well!

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  3. Noooo, I am afraid not to be organized in garden activities at all. Certainly this autumn with storms it is a mess. Your garden looks so wonderful, the subtropical plants, like different agaves, crassulas in combination with roses. I like it very much, but most adorable are your puppies kitty watching.

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    1. The puppies are the stars here, even the roses don't quite compare.

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  4. This recitation of gardening efforts doesn't sound disorganized to me at all. Some days are just for smaller tasks, rather than mighty projects. Speaking of mighty projects, those stones sound like they'd comprise one each. I love that planting of agaves, senecio and oscularia: it's positively lush!

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    Replies
    1. I think my days of smaller tasks are a way of avoiding the mighty stuff!

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