Garden State At The Start Of October

 

Rose 'The Endeavour' stares intently at Cuphea 'Vermillionaire'

I'm still working on reducing the height of shrubs shading the veggie-cutting area.  Progress has been made, but slowly.

I still need to chop off everything approximately above that white line:

I had to clip the Pittosporums flat back to the fence line first so I could reach.  And there have been plenty of distractions and other things to do.  Seed growing and seedling care, for one.  Snapdragon seeds planted, just for fun:

The Calendulas and Foxgloves are almost big enough to be planted out:

Many phone calls, emails, and texts to find a guy to clear a blockage in that downspout.  Too high up for me!

Turns out there was a tennis ball stuck in there.  Long story.  

Sammy care, of course, comes first:

I hired the guy who cleans out the back culvert to remove some of the Fescue and Oxalis infested Dymondia out front.  Looks like a lot:

But it really wasn't enough. It's just a start.  Shaking all the soil out of the above pile too and putting the soil back where it had been, minus the plant material, took me a couple of hours.  More removal still to do. 
 

Time spent deciding where to re-plant these two Aloe buhrii which spent the summer in the shade, now fully recovered from being Very Unhappy on the front slope:

They were unhappy where the two white stars are:

I'm thinking I'll try them where the two blue stars are. 

Speaking of the street side area of the garden. It's always mostly ignored all summer because in summer its just too hot to go out there and look at it.  Time to look again.  Big Marmorata is starting to flower:

Not to worry:  she's got an offset to take her place.  She did well in that spot.  I'll replace her with her offset. 

Overall the front slope somehow looks better.  No doubt  another effect of the lavish 22-23 rainfall season.

The Yucca 'Bright Stars' are blooming.  Brief, but showy:

Aloe flowers before long.  It's October, after all:

Aloe reitzii's flowers lasting much longer than Yucca flowers do.  Reitzii signals the end of summer and anticipates the main Aloe bloom season: 

Only one Drimia stem so far, but the others often bloom later for reasons only they know:

Other distractions from Pitto chopping--I now remember buying a white Dahlia this past winter, but don't remember the name, and can't find it in any blog post.  Oh, well. 

Dahlias will be done soon.  Not a stellar year--but they are still stellar flowers.  

 'Cafe Au Lait' looking pinky:

And cafe-y:

The beach umbrella shading the bed I re-habbed this spring is now removed.  Everything survived the summer. 

Lavender color added to the area opposite the oak tree, to be further refined next year.  The washed-out red of Leucodendron 'Harlequin' looks right with lavender--which is sort of a washed-out purple, in a way.

The lavender of the Pentas and of Salvia 'Flower Power' look identical, while the flower and foliage shapes contrast.  Low growing Saliva 'Blue Hill' needs to be moved as the arrow indicates, to edge the path:

I chopped that Cuphea to the ground back in...June, I think--and it's like I never did it.  The Tagetes erecta flowers are a disappointment in size--I thought the flowers would be much bigger--but the touches of yellow color look good with the Cuphea and yellow rose:

More beautiful roses as October begins.  Impulse buy in June, 'Silas Marner' looks like it might be a good one:

Another round of flowers from the wonderful 'Bishops Castle:

New foliage sprouting on Podocarpus 'Icee Blue':

Ooh, there's a nice way of looking at one of the 'Blue Flame' Agaves:

And a bee enjoying Coleus flowers. 

So much to get distracted with.  No wonder the Pitto chop is taking so long.