Demolition derby

Yesterday Matt and I went t the garden and found Emily and Ryan there, with their pup Bentley! Emily was trimming the Dahlias, and planting sweet pea seeds for the sale, and Ryan was disparaging the weeds.

Matt set to work rearranging the storage area, throwing out lots of trash and tidying the plant pots for the sale. Then he demolished the cardoon (Cynara cardunculus)!  You can see the before and after pics at left.

This perennial was done flowering and looking really ratty. It'll come back, but in the meantime, he took it down tot he ground and chopped all the parts to go int he compost bin. There's a massive hole in the bed now - eeek!

Meanwhile I set up the horses to water the beds that needed it, deadheaded some roses, weeded the pathways, removed some baby Maxican feather grass that were growing in the paths to pot up for the sale, and deadheaded some Scabiosas and Coreopsis.

I also went down the storm drain with pruners in hand and removed all the spend Aloe nobilis flowers. Much neater now (see before and after pics at left)! The entire cactus was is extremely dry, having had practically no water in about 8 months now from any source. One Agave is even looking... shriveled! I plan to water them today.

Also go to get those redwood boards into position down on the Mariposa Center Garden - they are cluttering up the pathway! I'll need some help with that.