One of the projects I committed myself to tackle this month was/is to reduce the mass of Centaurea 'Silver Feather' planted in front of my mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin). With a heatwave in the near-term forecast, I decided to get started late Monday afternoon. It was tougher than I'd thought as the base of the plants were hard to uncover under all the shrubs' heavy branches.
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| After removing a mass of asparagus fern, I planted seven Centaurea here in January 2019 to hide the mimosa's scarred trunk after half the tree was cut down in an effort to rid it of disease caused by shot hole borers. While I can say I was misled by the plant's tag, seven plants was still overkill and, within a year, they'd formed a mass that blocked the path through this area. |
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| This photo was taken after I'd removed four of the shrubs |
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| The path is clear but I still wasn't happy with it |
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| I took out a fifth shrub this morning but I'm think the one on the right has to go too. It blocked view of the Agapanthus in bloom earlier this summer and the Centaurea still feels like it's overwhelming the area. |
I've paused the project as my green bins are almost full and I need the gardeners to trim that Xylosma hedge behind the tree, which is completely out of control.
Another small project I had on my plate was to replant the Epiphyllum in my lath house, which had grown too large for that space. I'd planned to move it into a hanging basket but when I checked the lath house yesterday, I found this:
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| We put up the shade screens in the lath house a couple of weeks ago as one branch of Epiphyllum 'Monastery Garden' was heading for the roof. I understand that the plant normally wants its roots crowded before it blooms and it appears the conditions are right now. |
So I've paused that project too, at least until the plant blooms.
Viewing the moderate slope outside my lath house, it occurred to me that I need to do something about a very visible bare spot.
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| I've got a series of Agave desmettiana 'Variegata' planted along the slope, pups of one of the two plants that bloomed in 2019 |
So that's another project that's almost there...And speaking of that, I noticed that my blogger stats show that I'm just shy of one million views this morning. As I started the blog at the end of December 2012, I expect a million views isn't all that remarkable but it was/is an informal target I'd set when considering whether or not to continue this blog. It feels weird to be so close to that target this morning. I've no immediate plans to shut the blog down but it's probably time to give its future some thought. I've been posting on Instagram (at krispeterson591) for a couple of years now but I haven't yet entirely embraced that forum as a blog substitute. Deliberations will continue...
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