Jacarandas/The Nest/ & Etc

The neighbor's three Jacarandas are in flower.  The trees themselves are in sad shape.  They were volunteers that sprouted and grew on their own.  One is about one foot away from an oak tree and a citrus tree, One grows at a 45 degree angle a few feet from the third.  They've never been properly pruned or shaped to create a strong structure.  But the flowers are pretty. 

Aside:  I like this similar photo for the afternoon light hitting the Callistemon to the right of the column, creating a bright green splash against a dark background.   

Jacarandas drop a lot of flower litter that should not stepped on because when stepped on it turns into slippery mush. Then there is the reseeding issue.  I pull a dozen or so seedling trees every year.  Beautiful but eventually quite large trees that here need skilled pruning when young to create a strong, balanced structure. 

Lady Flycatcher was hiding from the Santa Ana winds on Monday.  Tuesday morning no longer building.  She  sat in it off and on.  Wednesday morning:  one session of sitting.  What's going on?  Normally four eggs are laid and there can be two nestings, the second between June 1 and July 13.
Arrows indicate tip of beak, and tail

Ah:  I read on a bird site that males share incubation duties, so there may be some switching off occurring.  They like to nest in shade with water nearby; the chosen place is in shade, with water nearby, so they must have read the same thing I did.   

In gardening activity, the two Coprosma repens 'Pacific Sunset' are gone.  
That background foliage:  loved that, but it didn't last.  

Attractive small shrub in many ways, but mine constantly reverted their brilliant 'Pacific Sunset' foliage colors, so I was constantly removing non-'Sunset' foliage.  It got tedious.  'Pacific Sunset' would revert to 'Tequila Sunrise'.  The 'Tequila Sunrise' foliage reverted to something like 'Karo's Red', and the 'Karo's Red' foliage (which is chocolate brown, not red) reverted to...green.  I got tired of trying to keep the sun setting, and the replacements are, of course, hummingbird plants.  The Coprosmas didn't seem to support birds or pollinators.  

In their favor, they seemed to have no insect pests whatsoever, and they didn't need much water.  Happy to have grown them a while, now moving on. 

Replaced one with a rooted Salvia cutting, currently under a piece of shade cloth while the temperature is 100F, (behind the Coast Buckwheat just about to flower).  There's also a Dahlia stem flopping because it was engulfed by the Coprosma, and the purple-blue is Brodiaea laxa 'Queen Fabiola'.

Replaced the other Coprosma with a rooted Cuphea cutting.  Did you know you can root Cuphea stems in a glass of water?  Me, neither.  Tried it.  It worked.  We'll see if it can grow to become a plant.  It's protected by that black pot, so the rabbits don't eat it 

Another thing that needs doing is moving the 'Davids Red' Abutilon here: 

"What Abutilon?", you ask.  "All I see are two Hydrangeas."  

Exactly.  That's why I need to move it.  It's in that dark place in the center of the photo. 

Meanwhile, little 'Matilda' rose is blooming nicely...

...and early morning light just strikes an 'Ambridge Rose' and a Clematis flower, with 'Laguna' rose and Grevillea 'Moonlight' still in shadow beyond. 

That's wazzup here.