Another Fine Self Inflicted Mess

If there are sometimes unintentional successes (as above), there are also, despite thought and planning, unintentional mistakes.  I spent several hours fixing one of those last week.  

Here's the mess.  There were multiple problems.  I'd moved a very small weak 'Amistad' Salvia there last fall to keep it alive during heat waves, intending to move it elsewhere as soon as the winter rains begain.  Well, the winter rains really never arrived, and in the meantime small weak 'Amistad'  rapidly became big strong vigorous I-Love-This-Spot 'Amistad'.  Problem was, there were other plants trying to grow there, too.

 'Amistad' cut down and dug out

One of the other plants in that space was the Dahlia 'Funny Face' that had been so glorious in 2017. 
In July 2017, on the left:

The clump of  'Funny Face' had apparently rotted, so I thought I'd dig out the rot.

 Except it wasn't rotted.  It was just slow to sprout because of all the shade cast by 'Amistad'.  A big happy clump of firm healthy tubers and multiple shoots just emerging, and I disturbed it.  Ahhhh! 

 Also endangered by 'Amistad' was a January purchased and planted, very fragrant HT rose called 'Baronne de Rothschild'.   Unfortunately 'Baronne de Rothschild' turned out to be a different Rothschild, probably a 19th century Hybrid Perpetual without fragrance but with the Hybrid Perpetuals tendency to both Rust and Mildew and not repeat bloom.  Grrr! 

Arrrrgggghhh!

 In the midst of all this was a Very Sad 'Abraham Darby' that I'd moved here in the hope of saving it.  I decided it just wasn't worth saving.  A wonderful rose but after a decade of nursing it along I gave up.  Out!

 And yet another:  a very small weak 'Wendy's Wish' Salvia I'd moved here at the same time as the very small weak 'Amistad' to recover.  It is recovering, but not like 'Amistad' did.  'Wendy' needs moving, too. 

 So all that was in about a three foot square (one square meter) space.  Why did I do that?  Because it was fall and there were terrible heat waves and the plants had a better chance to survive in the ground and I was going to move them as soon as the winter rains started and the winter rains never did, damn it.
  
'Amistad' went down to the gully, to an irrigated place recently vacated by a dead 'Marjorie Channon' Pittosporum. 

 Of course I didn't take the time to put 'Amistad' on a tarp before lugging it downstairs, so I dropped a trail of soil all the way to the Salvia's new place. 

The Dahlia got moved to the left of the false Baronne, the place where 'Abraham Darby' was removed and discarded.   I should have discarded Baronne as well, but, it's brand new...perhaps I'll move it down to the gully.  When the winter rains arrive. 

 Speaking of the gully, another mistake corrected.  I had Eremophila glabra 'Mingenew Gold' up on the west slope where it was slowly dying--too dry.  Moved to the gully and soaked, it may well survive. 

 This area of the gully is all renewed and mulched now.  'Mingenew Gold' is indicated by the yellow arrow in the next photo.  The white arrow indicates the Key or Mexican lime tree that suffered so terribly from the neighbor's overhanging Eucalyptus.  It made a rapid recovery.  

To the left of the lime tree the hedge of 'Marjorie Channon' Pittosporum has also recovered from Euc abuse, though not as rapidly as has the lime tree.   The 'Icee Blue' Podocarpus is in the foreground center; behind them is the Eremophila and the surviving roses that were here before the drought.  On the left, some very low-water-need plants for hummers and butterflies:  Salvia clevelandii, Phlomis, Eriogonum, Tagetes lemonii, Metrosideros 'Springfire'.  Behind the Metrosideros is Lantana 'Cosmic Firestorm' and the transplanted Salvia 'Amistad'.

 Most of the fire trap weed jungle cleared out next door. 

 Enough of the gully.  Time for some flowers.  Here's that Skyscraper Series Salvia, labeled "Deep Purple", is light pink. 

Here's the other 'Skyscraper', also not purple.  The flower looks very much like Salvia 'Wendy's Wish'.  

 Out on the front slope, the first bloom ever from Aloe tweediae.  A. tweediae is an east African Aloe (Kenya and Uganda).  It is a close relative of Aloe secundiflora.

 Another front sloper:  another light round of flowers from Leucophyllum 'Thunder Cloud';

 And a magnificent show from Aloe camperi, partly hidden by Grevillea 'Moonlight' and a Dasylirion.  Happy camperi.  Wowzah!

 And Leucospermum 'Yellow Bird'?  Still good.  Very good. 

 I'll be at the Garden Blogger's Fling the rest of this week, with house sitters taking care of the pups.  Blog comments may not get posted until next week.  In the meantime, happy gardening!