AUGUST 2015
Tasks Accomplished
Mystery solved…with help from a woman on one
of Gayle’s garden tours…we finally ID’d the little
tree next to the white hibiscus in the Perennial
garden. It is Hamelia patens or Firebush…native to
American Tropics and Sub Tropics…butterflies and
hummingbirds are attracted to the flowers and
insects and other birds feed on the fruit. The
coloration of the leaves and flowers of this plant are
quite striking and harmonize beautifully with the
adjacent Fountain Bush. I am so happy to finally
learn its name.
Rafael continues to make sprinkler repairs and
adjustments. He and Jose also rake pathways,
remove fallen branches and keep our street edge
clean. Several weeks ago while repairing a broken
head in Lower garden, they uncovered some long
buried concrete rip rap steps and a pathway leading
down towards the property line. It’s all cleaned up
now and the path was planted by Rafael with native
agaves.
Whil is repairing a couple of spots along the pond
edge where the sides have eroded and water leaks
out. He also plugged up a hole in the wall in the
Atrium and organized the tool closet in the Potting
Shed. Now our long handled tools hang neatly
against the wall…and most have an outline marked
so volunteers can easily see where to return it when
work is finished. I also had Whil help me and
Sherry install a safety rail along the lower path in
the Perennial garden…he put in the metal posts and
we fastened the bamboo to the poles. Plans are to
replace the rotting handrail on the other side of the
path with a similar treatment.
Volunteer Activity
This past month Barbara planted bright orange and
hot pink Kalanchoes in the Atrium garden bringing
a welcome burst of color to the space. She also
pruned wild ivy vines and cut back Barlaria in the
Perennial garden.
Sherry and Mark dug out more invasive bamboo
runners from the Zoysia grass in the Gazebo garden
and pruned dead wood from the Palo Verde tree.
They also removed huge clumps of aristia in the
Perennial garden and in the process uncovered a
Honeysuckle vine…hence bamboo stakes now
holding it up. At the same time we also discovered a
new Daylily that I’m hoping with multiply now that
it has more room to grow. Earlier in the month they
helped me plant several Bush Morning Glory,
Convolvulus cneorum in the beds we’ve been
working on in the Lower garden.
Sherry planted aloe pups around and behind our
recently completed Ginny Worthington Bench; and
then she lightly pruned some of the native shrubs in
the area. She’s also planted clumps of Crocosima
bulbs along the road edge in the cul-de-sac and
cuttings of succulent groundcovers in the Lower
garden. Last week she rearranged some of the plants
under the Cherry tree and pulled out some
aggressive groundcover around the trunk of the
Belle of Portugal Rose. Then she spruced up the
Bromeliad garden and cut back Tickseed and
Barlaria in Mid garden.
A few weeks ago Barbara, Sherry and I spent a
morning working on our Staghorn ferns…we
rewired a large one to put back in the Atrium and
mounted
small
fern
pups…provided
by
Marsha…onto boards assembled by Sherry. The
smaller ones are being cared for in the Kitchen
garden and will be for sale when they take off.
Bonnie faithfully waters and fertilizes the potted
plants, cleans the pond, sweeps walks and putters in
the Potting Shed. A few weeks ago she brought her
visiting grandson, Scott, to help her.
Needed Repairs:
Sherry and I made a list of repairs for Whil to do as
he has time. Two items are the handrail I mentioned
above and repair mortar on the flagstone steps
coming down from the cul-de-sac entry. The
bamboo fence I mentioned last month is on the list
as well but we felt that we need to complete repairs
related to visitor and volunteer safety first.