Today I met Marilyn, a lovely kind neighbor that came out to say how much she enjoyed the plantings. So delightful! In chatting with her, I realized that the layout I am engaged in is a design by default. All plants are donated, so as they come in, they get added. Not in the traditional way of garden design, creating a planned layout and specific look.
Anyway, today I added the plants I received from Susan in Pacifica. This picture of the truck bed seems to hide the multitude of plants I installed. The agave in front is one from Marsha up North from months ago. I have not yet ID'd it either. Not the americana as this one is a much lighter blue, has tiny teeth on the edges and stays at a rather manageable size- 5' tall before flowering.
The Phormium tenax (might be pink stripe or rainbow queen) were installed as it turns out in the perfect spot- directly in front of Marilyn's house so she can look out at her new plants. It means a lot to me that she took the time to come down and say
Hello and not just wave.
-Don't say it I know, I need rocks!!!
In the lower right corner, you can see an Athanasia pinnata- CA native. It will look different once it sets in. There are also some green Aeoniums set in between the Phormiums. The Salvia sonomensis (2 pics above and the 1 pic below) are so cool to me, and I planted several clumps. I am very excited about the Salvia sonomensis. Susan told me it is a vigorous grower, so let's see how it does come the hot weather following the rains. The third image showing the Salvia also features an agave from Marsha, yet to be ID'd. It seems like it would be the A. americana variegata, but it is not. The leaves are different in shape and rigidity.
I removed a Beschorneria yuccodies from my yard. It flowered this past summer. I took it out to the median (image to the left) as it is sprouting all sorts of offsets, and I want the room for other things. If it sustains all these pups, it will be quite the sight when they decide to flower. This will be quite a while...
The picture to the right shows a great example of Euphorbia wulfenii. In my experience, it is not the easiest to transplant at this size, but I am counting on the rains coming later today. These are used widely across the city in the median strips as they look amazing and can take a beating.
I received many great plants from Susan including the Libertia peregrinas (not shown).
One of these interesting plants is the California Iris (Iris douglasiana). They are shown in the picture to the left. I have not grown these, so we will see if I can keep them happy out on that median. Luckily, they have the cool weather ahead to set themselves in. Had I thought ahead, I would have made a picture of the roots/tubers. The are an amazing red/fushia color.
I sure hope it rains as predicted, but it is almost 5pm as I am writing this and no rain....
Last but certainly not least the Banana tosser is fast at work. THe aim was excellent on this toss, impaling the peel on the spine just so..... what else can I say? Marilyn and I joked about the peels at least being organic and perhaps a beneficial mulch yet undiscovered by man. Eh, what to do- I have considered a sign, but really, what would it say?
Please do not toss your Banana peels at the plants
Please green waste instead of throwing out your car window
Interested in becoming a volunteer to spread mulch, please contact me at: oshaughnessygreen@gmail.com
Please don't feed the Agave
See, none are right. Besides, what would those who don't know about the Banana tosser think- they will be too distracted and cause an accident. No, I just need to keep joking and think positive!
Today I finally took a moment on the way home to snap a picture or two of the Agave vilmoriniana. There are literally hundreds of bulbils growing, as it does, on the inflorescences. This means there will be a plethora of plants to share at some point come spring. They will be tiny little plant-lets, but they do grow easily in the right environment- and they can grow fast all things considered and aligned. 
Finally, I received a few long, long awaited rocks. This gave me the opportunity to plant more aeoniums, an agave from Odette, Graptoveria "Fred Ives', some Calandrinias I have been rooting from Annie and some other odds and ends. After installing the rocks and plants, I realized I really would like to find more rocks. But as noted in the previous posting, things come in at the pace people decide they don't want them anymore, and donate them. Maybe I shouldn't be so casual about the odds and ends. I installed a Ceanothus Dark Star and two low growing C. hearstiorums (Hearst's ceanothus). Do I dare admit that these plants were a purchase? Well, the CVS pharmacy in Oakland with the amazing reputation (that was accurate by the way) of carrying a really good succulents, did not go out of business after all. I had to stop in and see. It sure isn't like it was. Too bad.
These Graptoveria "Fred Ives' (pictured to the right) are really going to look good once they get a chance to grow. They are remainders for way back in April. But look at the image below. This bromeliad is so very cool looking. It is in the process of flowering and it is quite colorful, considering the dominant color when in flower is pink. I will try to get some progress images to show the process. Perhaps now that I can show what the flower looks like and I may be able to ID it. The plant came from Santa Clara, but I have got no other details than that.
At what point does an annex become... well, what does it become? Today I added the two lovely Agave attenuata's from Barbara, whom I couldn't thank enough! These are such nice plants and I have been craving some for the expansion. I moved the bromeliad, and a couple of the agave from last installation to thin out what I had started. I am going to fill in the open areas as far as I can go on Bosworth. Here is the list of the plants I added today.
The picture to the right here shows the location for the Beschorneria yuccodies. Here on the left, it seems to be frozen in its' bound up position I put it in for removal.
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