Making a start

I had all sorts of plans for work in my garden before I left to join the Puget Sound Garden Fling.  However, shortly after I returned, I was downed by a bout of COVID.  Once that was behind me, late summer's intense heat blossomed into a full-blown heatwave, sidelining my plans still further.  I managed to get in a few chores, like spreading mulch, but I've only made an impact in cleaning up two areas, neither of which was on my original list.  Still, it feels like progress in the right direction.

Before the heat soared, I took an initial stab at cleaning up my street-side succulent bed.

This is what the street-side succulent bed looked like in early July.  The mass of pink in the middle of the bed are flowers of Oscularia deltoides, a low-growing succulent with gray leaves and dark pink stems.

Sadly, by mid-August the plant was a mass of dead brown flowers.  When I examined it closely, there was more dead material than fresh foliage so I ended up pulling it all up, collecting a relatively small number of cuttings.

After the Oscularia and a couple of clumps of burned up Aeoniums were removed, work was suspended due to the extended heatwave.  I took this photo on September 11th, showing new sun and heat damage to the agaves.

Both the 'Blue Flame' Agaves on the right and the mass of Agave attenuata on the left had more damage than I was prepared to live with

Wide shot of the bed taken yesterday after I'd cleaned up the agaves

Closer look at the 'Blue Flame' Agaves.  The rosette hanging over the rock wall should probably go later this year before it falls into the street but I left it in place for now.

View from the back of the bed.  Removing 4 pups of the Agave attenuata gave the Yucca rostrata and the Aloe lukeana more room to spread out.

The largest Agave attenuata pup (left) is sitting in an empty pot to allow it to develop some roots before I give it away.  The smaller pups were damaged and I tossed them.  I potted the Agave 'Mateo' pups on the right after I rescued them from the pot containing their parent, which had been nearly buried under the Oscularia.

I'll plant cuttings of the Oscularia deltoides soon but it'll be a few years before the plant makes a statement like it did earlier this year.  I plant to remove and replace all or most of the remaining heat-scarred Aeoniums with fresher rosettes once I can be reasonably certain that the heatwaves are behind us.  Fall can't be counted on to arrive on September 22nd in our part of the Northern Hemisphere.

The other area I tackled was a bed in the northeast corner of the back garden.

This photo was taken in late June for my July wide shots post.  The area directly surrounding the smaller of the 2 strawberry trees (Arbutus 'Marina') was the focus of my efforts this month.

This is a view of the same area from the opposite direction, also taken in late June.  It may be difficult to see but there are 2 very large shrubs growing underneath the strawberry tree, both of which into its upper canopy.

Sonchus palmensis (aka giant dandelion tree, left) should've been cut back in late June when the flowers were spent but I never got around to it and I hate to think how many seedlings it may produce next year.  Melianthus major (right) develops tall branches and even taller flower spikes.  The photo shows its seed pods.

"After" closeup of the area in question

Shot of the same area from the back patio

The small Agave attenuata 'Ray of Light' in a sunny bed in the back garden (left) looks like it'd prefer to be moved to a shadier location.  The leaves of the large Coprosma 'Plum Hussey' planted alongside our south patio (right) was burned on one side but I expect I can prune out the damage.

 

Phormium 'Apricot Queen' received a bad sunburn but should recover

I've got a lot of self-seeded Polygala myrtifolia (sweet pea shrubs) so this one won't be missed.  I've already dug it up.

Large patches of the creeping thyme planted between the flagstones burned so I'll be looking for flats of thyme to replant the affected areas this fall

I didn't even notice that this Yucca gloriosa had a bloom stalk until 2 days ago.  Many of its buds are singed and it remains to be seen whether it'll look presentable when they open

In other cases of severe heatwaves, the lemon tree at the bottom of our back slope has dropped all its fruit, setting its production back a year or more.  I was surprised that there was so much fruit left on the tree this time.  I've yet to test the fruit's quality, though.

While many agaves showed sunburn damage, the 3 'Blue Glow' Agaves shown above had their own sunscreen in the form of a Chondropetalum tectorum, aka a small cape rush.  The rush itself is flowering abundantly too.

And I'd swear that this Vitex trifolia shot up another foot in height during the heatwave

Meeko and I caught sight of the 3 from inside the house at about the same time.  By way of explaining the poor quality of this shot, I caught them in action through the window with my phone's camera.  All 3 appear to be juvenile peafowl but I can't be certain of their genders as their tail feathers haven't developed.  At least one appeared to be a female.

When I went out to chase them down, I captured Meeko watching them from inside the house, looking interested if possibly also a little peeved