Surviving

 Though it is now summer, the garden still looks lovely.   Extreme summer heat has not yet arrived.
2. 'The Ambridge Rose'

 3. Dahlia 'Cafe Au Lait'

4. Unknown Rose

  5.  By the koi pond:

  6.  'Burgundy Iceberg' with Lomandra 'Platinum Beauty'

 7.  'Earth Angel'

Summer is not a good time to move plants, but the Gaura was bothering me.  When freshly in flower, against the dark background of the oak tree it looks fabulous.
 8. Not freshly in flower.  Time to cut it back again:

 However, it has multiple long periods of down time for so prominent a location.  Also, it is supposed to be a "dwarf".  Shoulder-high is not "dwarf".  I pulled it.  What to replace it with?  One candidate was the Erica speciosa languishing in too much shade.  The spot was very sunny before the Oak started shooting up and out.  Full shade was doing nothing good for the Erica. 
9.

  10.  The Gaura's location is getting shady too. The oak is really growing.  This area, which I reworked and reworked last year, is still unsatisfactory.

 I was able to dig up the Erica without disturbing the root system.  I moved it to a very sunny location near the smaller of the two Aloe 'Hercules', on the other side of the driveway.

11. Hopefully it can survive a summer move: 

 Another potential candidate for the Gaura's spot was a portion of a Lomandra 'Platinum Beauty', the intent being its white variegation would provide the same sort of drama that the white Gaura flowers had, without the Gaura's multiple downtimes.  However the spot is somewhat small, so ultimately I moved a little Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' into the location. Cuphea is sub-tropical to tropical; here summer is its active growth period.
12. 

 The Gaura area is still too random.  I should pull the two Orlaya, which are last year's seedlings that overwintered without flowering.  One is flowering, one is not.   

13.

 I did not see until prepping photos for this post there was a tiny insect at the bottom of the Orlaya flower.  It might be a hoverfly, which is a beneficial insect.  The adults eat pollen, but their larvae are insectavores and prey on aphids, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects.  The Orlaya can stay a while longer, then.

14. 

If the Hoverfly happens to lay some eggs on the roses, that would be a plus.  I've not seen a single aphid this year, but there will be plenty of Thrips. 

15. 'Moon Dance'

 

16.  Lots of new growth on the Leucadendrons 

 17.  Once Leucadendron new growth hardens up, the foliage becomes brightly colored for a period.  It glows like stained glass when the sun shines through it. 

Another plant needs moving.  The 'Snow Glow' Agave was overpowering an Echeveria, that might be 'Lola', or E. lilacina. 
18.

 19. Move the Echerveria where?  This empty corner might do.  It's like a sentence without punctuation.

  I hope the Echeveria likes that spot, and survives.  Back when it was in a pot, it was a miserable little thing, though it managed to survive my poor care.  Gorgeous now after a year or more in the ground. 

 20. There you go:

A real survivor, Clematis 'Comtesse de Bouchaud' has just flowered in its new location at the base of the 'Climbing Iceberg' rose.  I moved it there last year.  It had been in two previous locations where it did not get enough water.  Try #3.

21. Happy it's happy!

22.  Happy too with the Seaside Buckwheat, Eriogonum latifolium, native to California but not this far south.  Planted a few months back, I thought to try it anyway with late afternoon shade.  It has so far survived.  Plenty of puffy flower heads for pollinators.  

 23.

Really, it is time to stop moving heat-sensitive plants until cooler weather returns in October.  Instead, I'll try placing reminders where they will do the most good. 
 24.  Right next to the plant: 

"This" is a suffering Geranium 'Rozanne'.  The blankety-blank rabbits have eaten it to the ground several times, and it has grown back several times, only to be eaten again. 
I put a hardware cloth hoop around it after taking the photo. 

 25. 

26.  Adjacent, I accidentally moved a tiny piece of Japanese Anemone into this same area last year, when I raised a low spot with some soil taken from another bed. The Anemone is now thriving in two spots.  Oopsie.  So 'Rozanne' definitely needs a new spot. 

 27.  I impulse-bought a dark foliaged Dahlia last year in a 4" pot, and a few weeks ago, it came back!  Those little potted ones don't always. 

 28.  Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' with Glaucium flavum aurantiacum.  The Glaucium is supposedly a biennial but mine has survived for several years, probably because it for unknown reasons, it won't bloom.  Which is fine--I bought it for its curly-fuzzy silver foliage. 

 29.  A flower stem from one of the Brodiaea bulbs purchased this spring.  In our climate best planted in fall, but the bulb companies sell them for spring.  Anyway, they grew enough to hopefully survive and grow next winter, with more vigor. 

 One more fill of Aloes in the bins.  More room in the bins next Wednesday, for the piles of dried up spring growth laying here and there, waiting. 
30.  Still no room in the bins!

 Lastly, Pacific Slope Flycatcher update:  Lady F. has been steadily on the nest for the past two weeks, and it appears the eggs may be hatching.  Today she's back and forth, back and forth, poking around in the nest, possibly feeding the first chicks to emerge.  I will try to get chick-pics in a few days, but of course the priority is safety for the birds. 

31.  Can you spot her tail and beak?  

Let's all be wise, and survive.