Here one day, gone the next

The holidays sneaked up on me this year.  There was a time when I routinely completed most of my Christmas shopping by Halloween, leaving a lot of time for decorating, baking, letter writing, and just enjoying the holidays in December.  I had to plan well in advance during my workaholic days as I'd never have managed to get everything done by Christmas otherwise.  Once I retired, I lost all sense of urgency - and I also gave up baking, began sending holiday cards electronically, and started doing the vast majority of my gift shopping online when sales peaked.  This year I suddenly realized that the holidays were just around the corner and I hadn't done anything.  So gardening activity abruptly stopped while I played catch up but, earlier this week, I decided I could surely fit in a small project.

In November's foliage post, I commented on the need to remedy some overcrowding in my garden.  One problem in particular stood out for me, which I thought I could remedy relatively quickly.

I'd underestimated the mature size of both the hybrid Aloe vanbalenii x ferox on the left and the Agave attenuata 'Raea's Gold' on the right.  As a result, they were bumping elbows to the detriment of both.  I was less enamored with the Agave in this instance and also knew it was a prolific pupper, which was going to complicate matters further.  I targeted the Agave for removal/relocation.

Is any garden project ever quick?  This one took a couple of hours and involved some destruction in the process but I got it done.

This photo shows the Aloe once the Agave had been removed (along with a lot of weeds).  I had to cut out the Agave's pups as they were still tightly attached to the mother plant.  I also discovered that I had to saw down the trunk of the mother plant in order to remove it without harming the Aloe.  The base of the Agave still needs to be dug out.

This is a wide shot of the area after the Aloe was removed.  There's now an adequate amount of room for the Aloe to spread out (I hope).

Several of the Agave pups were too small or damaged to save but 5 of them are suitable for transplanting.  I removed several broken and scarred leaves at the base of the mother plant (shown here sitting in an empty pot to keep it propped up).  Although it's still quite large I think it'll root in a pot with free-draining soil given 3-6 months.  Assuming it does, I can either give it away or transplant it somewhere else if I can find a suitable spot.

As I was working on this post, Pipig decided to offer her assistance so I thought it was a good time to provide an update on her.

The vet recommended a second week of oral antibiotics as last week's chest x-ray still wasn't completely clear.  She wouldn't rule out cancer but the oral antibiotic (Veraflox) had obviously made an impact after the original antibiotic injection had little effect.

Most importantly, her gagging behavior stopped entirely.  She also started eating more and her weight increased to 7 pounds (still low but it's a start).  She's also been more active, as jumping on my desk and interfering with my computer activity shows.

She's actively seeking attention on a regular basis again too