My Garden Diary

In the current wind storm, some large branches fell out of the liquidambar tree (L. styraciflua). I cut some up and place them all around my valley white oak (Quercus lobata). Then I place leaves around the oak under the branches. The oak really does better with a leaf mulch around it, but the winds scour the leaves away. I hope the branches will hold them.

The wind also keeps knocking over my new trellis (16 Sep). I think I might have to rebuild it with heavier L-strips and flat strips.

Tried shopping for roses. I want to replace the 'Color Magic', climbing 'Peace', and climbing 'Chrysler Imperial' that fell victim to regrading My Hill. So far, I've been quite unsuccessful. These three seem to have dropped out of the growers' catalogues.

Planted a star jasmine next to the trellis (16 Sep), tying the long shoots to the mesh. This is the prime season for planting in southern California. The days are mild or cool, the nights are definitely cool, but the soil is still warm from summer. These conditions slow the growth of foliage while encouraging the growth of roots. When the weather warms in the spring, foliage will be ready to grow without overtaxing the roots.

Trimmed the ivy (Hedera helix 'Hahn's') around the mailbox in the parkway, exposing the bricks that frame the base. Now my landscape contractor will see where to plant cinquefoil (Potentilla neumanniana) in the parkway.

Discussed two potential change orders with the landscape contractor. One is for a drip irrigation system for the roses in front; there already is a conduit under the driveway for a water line. The other is for lighting along the brick walkway, which the contractor is going to remove and reset to eliminate the unevenness caused by tree roots.

A few days ago, I bought a 1 gallon star jasmine to plant against the new trellis (16 Sep). However, the soil in that area is so full of large roots from the Brazilian pepper trees that were removed several years ago that I can't dig a planting hole. I'll ask the landscape contractor who is restoring my garden to dig the hole for me.

The engineer for repairing My Hill inspected the work and gave a final approval. The landscape contractor will now have to cover it with jute netting before I can call the County for its inspection. The jute should be down by Wednesday.

Planted lavender (Lavandula 'Goodwin Creek Grey') in front, in the brick panel to the west of the driveway. This is a hybrid, thought to be a cross between French lavender (L. dentata) and wooly lavender (L. lanata). At the nearby Gardens of the World, this variety grows quite vigorously and has a long flowering period. It replaces the French lavender that died when the grading contractor for My Hill buried it under a mound of gravel (26 Aug).

Before I could plant the lavender, I had to clean the area of left-over gravel and other debris. This involved wire-brushing the brick to remove caked-on mud. After planting, I put steel rebar at each corner of the planting hole to protect the plant from being stepped upon or mashed by the trash bins that are set nearby on Thursday evenings for Friday collection. The rebar is sheathed with white PVC pipe to make it more noticeable and to reduce the likelihood of someone impaling themselves on the rebar.

Trimmed the star jasmine and dwarf myrtle (Myrtus communis 'Compacta') that were beginning to crowd the tangelo in the west bed in back. Also did some corrective pruning on a myrtle that was repeatedly hit by the grading contractor's equipment.

Everything in the teardrop bed is doing well. It was completely out of the way of the grading contractor. Trimmed the Australian tea tree (Leptospermum laevigatum), which was growing out over what is left of the walkway that surrounds the bed.

Another survivor of the repair of My Hill is the 'Batik' bearded iris in the west bed of the back yard. I saw a shoot of it this afternoon. This too was repeatedly run over by the grading equipment.

While trying to level the dirt on which it stands, I found some roots from the Brazilian pepper trees that were removed several years ago. They were still alive! That explains why I'm still fighting suckers from those trees.

My landscape contractor was here this morning with his crew. He was too early by at least a week. According to the geotechnical (soils) engineer, a few minor deficiencies need to be corrected. The landscape contractor took some measurements. I told him to repair the landscape of my up-hill neighbors before starting work on my property, but first the grading contractor must restore the fences at the top of My Hill.

I finished the walls on Cleopatra's house (3 Sep), laid the paver bricks for her floor, and pounded some rebar in the channels of the concrete blocks. I need to get some more pea gravel to fill the spaces between the pavers. Then, all I have to do is put the roof back in place.

I did some corrective pruning of the star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides) in back, where the grading contractor repeatedly ran over it with a bobcat. I measured for planning a new trellis; I think I'll put an outrigger at the top to have the vine grow all the way over to the house. I also think I'll have to plant another star jasmine closer to where the trellis will stand. There was one in that location, but it's now gone. But the remaining vines all have vigorous new growth.

Started to rebuild the tortoise house. The three rows of concrete blocks for our Cleopatra (an ancient beauty) had to be removed to allow passage of construction equipment to repair My Hill (15 Jun through 26 Aug). After laying down the first row of blocks, I decided it was too hot to finish.

It was a good decision to delay replanting My Hill and gardens until the end of this month. With this heat, many plants would die before getting established even with generous irrigation. In any case, I would worry about the landscape contractor's crew suffering heat exhaustion or worse.