What's Up In The Garden First Half Of November 2018

A brief, vague hint of autumn foliage color, when the light is just right.

In a news photo, California's other autumn color

October was mostly beautiful, just a little too hot at times.  Some October days I could work for hours .  On others, the heat drove me back indoors. 
Wind, again

 November began beautiful.  In the last few days, a contentious election, yet another mass murder by gun (twelve dead, mostly young) just eleven days after the previous one (eleven dead, mostly elderly), and then Santa Ana wind events and the resulting terrible fires.  

Much to absorb all at once.  We've gotten wind but so far have escaped any wildfire.  We must remain alert.  The winds will continue to roar here for at least two more days.
Yet another news photo illustrating how easily palms catch fire and in turn spread it further via burning embers 

In the garden, any chore no matter how tedious seems a privilege.  

It took days to hack the fern roots out of the broken koi shower.  The roots had formed a solid mass.  Removing them was difficult. 

The last small bit of fern root, with my shoe for scale

 Finally emptied out.  Now it needs to be washed off and out. 

 The volcanic rock chunks need to be washed and all bits of fern root must be removed. The fern must not grow back.  Too vigorous. 

 The grates upon which the rock chunks rested need cleaning, too. 

 Planting.  Banksia marginata 'Mini Marg' got the Eriogonum's spot.  I was re-examining a list of what not to plant in a high-fire-risk area, and Eriogonum was near the top.  I liked it a lot but it didn't seem like a must-keep.  Plenty of bees visited the flowers, but not a lot of native butterflies, possibly because of the back gully location.  The spot is sunny but it is surrounded by shade, and butterflies seem to prefer staying in sun.   Adjacent, the first few autumn flowers opening on the Tagetes lemonii. 

 Aloe x tweediae sent up a flower stalk.  It is being overwhelmed by Leucospermum 'Yellow Bird'.  Aloe x tweediae itself was overwhelming Aloe microstigma...

 ...so I moved Aloe microstigma, pinked up by summer stress, to an empty spot.  This is an extremely dry spot and needs a drip sprayer.  Aloe microstigma is a species that requires a dry spot, but even microstigma cannot handle a location as dry as it is here.

 There are other open places on the front slope, but they need additional irrigation in order to support a plant, even a very xeric on.  I must tackle the irrigation issue next.  

Aloe suprafoliata, which has its own irrigation dripper, is pushing out six(!) flower stems.  Five are easily seen, with the sixth still down in the very center of the plant.

 I've been pondering what to do with the Arbutus 'Marina'.  Somewhere in Proteana, probably.  It could hide the ugly Eucalyptus and the power pole on the property behind us.  

Another possibility is here, as the future replacement for lovely Pittosporum tenuifolia 'Ivory Sheen'.  

Three big, established P. tenuifolias in the neighborhood died recently.  Too hot?  Too dry?  As our summers get hotter, Pittosporums seem less happy here.  The Arbutus is slow enough; the Pittosporum could live a while more, as the Arbutus takes its time establishing.  Then the Arbutus takes over.  It's an option. 

 I cut back the Salvia 'Amistad' planted at the base of the Pittosporum.  The Oak seedling I planted last fall, as the future replacement for the Pittosporum, is doing fine.  I'm rethinking the oak, because there is another about 20 feet away, and because our native Oak's root system is eventually (several decades) quite aggressive.

 The strong Santa Ana wind event we had back on October 15th bent the young 'Reed' Avocado almost horizontal.  A 6 foot ladder we were going to throw out because it is no longer safe to use, is temporarily propping up the 'Reed'.  It needs further work, but it's a start.  Of all Avocados, 'Reed' has the very finest flavor, buttery and nutty. 

The other mature avocado tree, a 'Fuerte', has PDOs (potentially delicious objects) hanging from the branches;  we never mentioning what these objects actually are until they are picked and ripening in the house, to avoid jinxes.  Best flavor starting the second half of December and continuing thru March. 

  The Salvia 'Blast' transplanted a month ago is growing.  It even has a flower.  Much happier here, soon to produce hummingbird and bee food. 

The Dahlias and most Salvias are cut back, dead foliage cleaned out of the Iris and Hemerocallis, and chili thrips damage cut off most of the roses so they will look good through December.  

 The last Zinnia is still doing great.

 New this year rose 'Easy On The Eyes' woke up, having done nothing during the heat of summer.

 Ditto for 'Sweet Surprise', of the Garvinea series Gerberas. 
Sweet, indeed.  

 It's been such a struggle to find places for new plants, it forced me to avoid plant shopping.  There are a couple of places where a little extra irrigation would enable a couple more Aloes to get planted in the ground.  So that's next. 
Additional irrigation on hold until the wind eases

  At dawn on some mornings, the air is still.  Birds and gardener venture out.

 What happens in your garden, the first half of November?