Plenty attractive Protea 'Sylvia' A few days of cooler weather prompted activity in the garden after a week too hot for it.
Unattractive:
Continued chopping at the bloomed-out Agave marmorata. The
leaves, many as long as five feet, each weighing about 20 pounds, require much effort to saw off and trash.
The flower stem will be an additional level of difficulty:
Chopped down the dead Pittosporum. The stump awaits.
There is some urgency to remove the stump. I want to replant something ASAP to privacy-screen out the neighbor's bathroom window. Leucadendron 'Chief' purchased and waiting for the spot, but more Callistemon 'Slim's may be a better choice.
The Leucadendron could instead get the place currently occupied by a small (3'/1 meter wide) offset of the monstrous Agave marmorata.
The offset is coming out. Too much effort is involved removing a full-grown bloomed-out A. marmorata. A previous offset is nearing full size on the west slope, where it will eventually bloom. Two monster removals are sufficient. Actually, one is plenty. Most attractive, though...
Trimming back Lavender 'Provence' into a tidy bun was easy, and deliciously fragrant work. Its bald spot filled in nicely. I left trimmings scattered around to step on, releasing sweet scent again and again.
Less pleasantly, the Puya removal awaits...our confrontation looms. Procrastination sounds better. Let's think about pretty garden scenes instead. At home...
...and on a recent re-visit to Plant Depot in San Juan Capistrano:
Hefty passionflowers in bloom:
My guess is this is a hybrid called 'Purple Tiger' due to the fact that the ends of the filaments become wavy as they mature (not mature enough in this photo to wave):
A quick arrangement in silver and lavenders:
New to me Grevillea 'Little Honey' has coppery flowers:
Cyperus of some sort against marine-layered sky:
At Roger's Gardens in Corona del Mar, a scene in blues, green, and greiges. Aqua ceramic towers by Dustin Gimbel mixed with a wicker chair, Dianella, Curio (Senecio), dusty grey Aloe 'California', and shaggy/shiny grass-green Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt':
I was there for a garden club meeting and plant talk. Tired of sitting, I slipped away to see the decorative Octopus recently blogged about by Late To The Garden Party:
I was gobsmacked to discover what it appeared to be crafted of: a single piece of wood! Either the stump of a tree carved and polished into an octopus shape, or the area where the trunk of a tree splits or forks into branches. There were growth rings visible on the underside of the "octopus".
What a cool thing it was. Imagine some decorative object today not made out of plastic. Yours for (yikes) $995.99. You must admit a lot of work went into it:
It was fun to be surprised. Perhaps the Puya and the towering Agave flower stem waiting for me at home will be easy to get out after all.
Wow, you've been busy! The scenes at Rogers' Gardens are particularly interesting. I've always loved passionflowers and I'm experimenting with the hardy P. incarnata. So the results (some indoors; some outdoors for the winter) will be interesting. Wish I could grow the warmer-zone ones that you can grow.
ReplyDeleteI've never grown a Passiflora myself. Some are aggressive re-seeders here that can be a problem. I was thinking to try one--need to choose one that doesn't set seed.
DeleteStraight Passiflora incarnata also spreads rampantly by its roots (in the right conditions -- one being more moisture than your soil gets). New shoots can pop up at quite a distance from an established vine. I'm sure that's not as big a problem for hybrids, but the genetic propensity is still in there somewhere.
DeleteThanks for the caution, Nell, though of course probably less of an issue here because--drought. Still....I'm leery of the genus.
DeleteHa! Thanks for answering my open questions about that octopus. When I saw it, my first thought was that it was made of wood but, when I viewed my photo, I second-guessed myself, assuming that something that large must be made of plastic. I also noticed the price tag in my photo and wondered what it cost - now (gulp) I know. So much for the idea of installing it atop my lath house! (That would have been cool though.) Your Agave marmorata pup is indeed handsome but I can't imagine growing it either given the effort involved in removing its carcass when the inevitable occurs. Leucadendron 'Chief' gets big but it should make a good screen. I cut mine back by a third this spring and it's already rebounded.
ReplyDeleteI assumed it was plastic and was absolutely floored to see the wood grain. The price was not a surprise--Roger's, y'know?) Now I wonder if I can carve and polish a cypress or pittosporum stump into something attractive. Just dreaming.
DeleteIn an out-of-the-way spot the Agave could be left to dry out to nothingness, but not where they are. Also the green waste issue--I'm hoping to cut way way back on that.
Maybe I'll try 'Chief' in that spot anyway. How wide is your 'Chief'? I'm more concerned with longevity than anything else. There's a C. viminalis in the neighborhood at least 50 years old and still thriving. Hoping to get a long-lived solution to the privacy issue. No one wants to look into someone's bathroom window--or see someone looking in!
That Agave marmorata bloomstalk looks like danger to me, and not the fun kind. Please be careful!
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, and thanks--am thinking I should get a tree guy. It's got to be at least 25' tall.
DeleteThe back lit Protea 'Sylvia' is gorgeous. The spent flower stem of A. marmorata makes quite a statement. Is there any danger it will topple over if left standing?
ReplyDeleteYou can't go wrong with Senecio blue and Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt' combination: two plants that I wish I could grow.
The flower stem will topple eventually when it dries out completely, which takes quite a while--a year or more. I'll get it cut down soon because the neighbor tends to park his car within the stem's "fall zone".
DeleteThe Curio aka Senecio/'Itt' combo looks great. I never would have thought of it (not surprisingly).
Much as I lament Agave not being hardy outside, I am glad that my plants don't fight back in quite the same way as the agave's do. Your Home Depots are way more interesting than ours are. We are lucky if there is at least one live tree in a sea of concrete. Can see that octopus peering over the edge of a gazebo or roof. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteAgaves are not as bad as cactus. Or Puyas, lol. Or maybe the octopus on the back of a sofa. That would make visitors look twice.
DeleteI'd pay a grand for that octopus - how cool that it's out of a single piece of wood! That's amazing... I hear you about your plant removal woes - especially the painful ones. That, and moving larger plants has GOT to be my least favorite garden chore. It's such backbreaking work! Please be careful and take many breaks.
ReplyDeleteYeah, digging out/moving big plants--it's brutal, both for me and for the plant.
DeleteI take too many breaks actually. Next few days it will be close to 90F, so nothing will get done in the garden except refilling the bird-bath urn and spot watering any stressed plants.
I'm inclined to admire the larger agaves in botanical gardens now, where they have staff to handle the bloomed-out carcasses ;). I've been avoiding Rogers now that they are in their holiday theme mode until the new year -- I like Plant Depot for plants though it is further south. And I hope that is 'Purple Tiger' -- I planted one a couple months ago! If only we could yoke B & N to a wagon to help pull out that agave...
ReplyDeleteWell, I have a 'Mr. Ripple', another marmorata of grand proportions, and the supposedly Salmiana 'Medio-Picta', so, a few more monumentals to deal with over the next few years. I'll learn my lesson eventually. Bees and birds will be fed in the meantime.
Deletevilmoriniana 'Stained Glass', also monumental, shrinks to nothing during bloom, so I'm not worried about the two of those--much.
From what I can tell the Passiflora is 'Purple Tiger'. I was thinking of planting one myself, but I hesitate still. Vines can be so...rampant.
B would happily anoint the agave. N would leave white hair all over it and then bark at it. The only thing they really will pull is me.