Fire Management

For a few weeks now, I've been wondering what the heck I should do with the bountiful Euphorbia tirucalli 'Sticks on Fire' I have growing in a strawberry pot in my cutting garden.  Yesterday, I woke up with a plan: haul a pile of cuttings up to the succulent garden that sits at the entry to our neighborhood.

This large succulent bed on a slope sits at the entrance to our neighborhood just off the main road.  That big white structure on the other side of the main road may look like a government building of some kind but it's just someone's (very big) home.

I've no idea how that succulent garden came into being.  It was in place well before we moved in almost 8 years ago.  If I were to venture a guess, I'd say that no one designed it and that it came together as a collection of cast-off plants donated by neighbors.  No one takes any overall responsibility for it, although the homeowner's association now employs a garden service to tend it and my husband and a neighbor have repaired the irrigation system (several times).  Contributing cuttings from my garden struck me as a perfect use for my excess 'Sticks on Fire'.

After taking cuttings of the Euphorbia, I decided to throw in cuttings of Senecio vitalis and Aeonium arboreum from my garden as well

I enlisted my husband's assistance in getting the job done.

We planted half a dozen large cuttings of the Euphorbia and all the Senecio and Aeonium I'd cut but these contributions were swallowed up by the space, having relatively little impact

As you can see from this view atop the slope, the new additions aren't readily identifiable but hopefully they'll have more impact as they bulk up.  I can easily donate more cuttings later.

I didn't use all the 'Sticks in Fire' cuttings I'd taken from my plant as that seemed like overkill.  The excess is currently sitting along the street for anyone to take what they wish.



My 'Sticks on Fire' mother plant is a little shorter and not quite as wide but it seems only moderately diminished despite my removal of about 2 dozen large stems.

This plant appears to thrive in response to pruning.  I've used plenty of it throughout my own garden already.

After we finished planting, my husband took our tools back to the house while, camera in hand, I took a spin around the neighborhood.  I don't walk it as regularly as I used to but it doesn't change much from month to month or even season to season; however, a few things drew my notice.

One neighbor has replanted her driveway with Pittosporum tenuifolium, all of which is doing well (in marked contrast to the shrubs planted by a neighbor on our south side).  There's also a huge new house going up on the main road right behind this home.

The Bougainvillea along this slope lost all their colorful bracts following July's horrific heatwave when our temperature reached 110F but the plants have recovered and the whole slope, replanted last year, looks great despite our dry year

I'm in love with the colorful Cordyline planted along this slope

The ground cover in front of this property has been replaced with synthetic lawn.  It looks like getting fake grass to lie flat on a slope is difficult.

This home has recently gone on the market after a large-scale refurbishment.  A hedge of oleander and other plants formerly hid it from view but now the bones of the Spanish-style structure can be seen.  It's a large house on more than an acre.

The price made my eyes pop.  It'll be interesting to see if it sells for what the owners are asking.

My favorite neighborhood garden is looking well manicured but less colorful than usual.  That flat-topped tree in the upper center position in the photo caught my eye too as I don't remember a tree with that shape.

But then I noticed that all 3 of the Arbutus 'Marina' on the other side of the street also had flat-tops.  So maybe that's now a thing.

The most colorful front garden in the neighborhood right now is one I pass every time I leave the house.

The Bougainvillea framing this street-side succulent bed looks great

but so does the mass of Tagetes lemmonii and the noID ornamental grasses

Unlike many areas of the country that have already received a visit from Jack Frost, it still feels much like summer here.  The nights are reliably cooler but the Santa Ana winds have kept our daytime temperatures on the high side.  And it remains very dry.  There's been no rain since the half inch we got in early October and there's nothing in the current forecast until late November.  The long-term forecasts for December and January aren't promising either, yet I remain hopeful that the weak El Niño predicted by NOAA will come through eventually.  Another year with rainfall less than 4 inches in total is just too awful to contemplate.

Best wishes for a wonderful weekend!


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party