Game Of Thorns

Yes, technically those are spines

Looks good:

 Looks good:

 Not so good:

 The slope known as Fall Project 2012, which didn't get completed in any significant way until the spring of 2015, has been a thorn in my side.  The drought hung on until the end of 2016, so the young plants placed early in 2015 didn't get sufficient moisture for almost two years.  I should have watered much more, but we were under mandatory water restrictions. The slope has never filled in enough to provide satisfaction.

The Cordyline 'Festival Grass' that have done well provide the lush exuberance I was hoping for, but only a few of them have done well. 
Pretty good

 Not so good

 I have been trying to determine why some are doing well while others are not.  One effort was to water one of them every single day for a while, to see if more water would help.  Drainage on the slope is excellent--too excellent, really.  I gave one plant two gallons of extra water every day for two months.  Did it help? 

 Nope.  

The new theory is that the root system was too small on planting.  The successful plants did have larger root systems.  

I'm trying a couple new plants;  growing them in pots in easy conditions to get as big a root system as possible before planting them up on the slope.   These plants tend to be sold with almost no roots.  New plant #1:

 New plant #2:

 In the meantime, all the Agave 'Blue Glow' plantlets have been growing this year and are actually visible now up there on the slope.  That's something.

Any other thorns to consider?  Oh, of course.  It's going to be 90F (32 C) every day for the next week.  Yuck.

Chili Thirps love heat.  Every rose last summer was ruined by them.  This year, as soon as damage appeared, I have sprayed just the very tips of new growth with Spinosad, after all pollinators had gone back to the hive for the night.  
Bit of damage:

 This bit that got sprayed at the right time looks totally beautifully normal:

Whoo hoo!  Success.  

 This mulch mess isn't much of a thorn.  Every morning the Towhees scratch through the mulch at the edge of the street, looking for edibles.  Every afternoon I sweep the mulch back because it looks so messy.  But we love Towhees, so it's (mostly) okay. 

 The thorn here is a lack of flowers.  This is a deciduous Agapanthus.  I moved it this year to a place where it could get irrigation, and it looks far better and larger.  But no flowers yet. 

 This is unexpected rather than thorny.  Sweet peas in summer?!?  Not here, usually.  These came up from fallen seeds from last winter's plants.  Huh.  How 'bout that? 
Why haven't you fried?  It's 90F!

Okay, this is a thorn:  I need to fix the Iochroma's support pronto.  It's growing back fast.  I'm not going to fix it when it is 90F, though.  

 Not a thorn:  I thought Dahlia 'Catching Fire' wasn't coming back this year.  It's very late because it is placed where the soil is quite shaded.  Cool soil = slow to emerge.  But here it is:

The gardening game's okay after all.  Or it will be, when it stops being 90F.    

And a spine is a modified leaf or stipule.  A prickle is modified epidermis, and a thorn is a modified branch.  

A Game Of Thrones is a series of novels or an HBO TV show involving a whole lot of characters, gory violence and token but mandatory nudity.  Haven't seen it.