Looking at the weekend weather, it looks like rain is possibly maybe coming. At this point, I'm in see-it-to-believe-it mode. Climate change has destroyed all expectations that anything is reliable anymore. Anyway, assuming rain will happen, that means there are tasks that need to get done quick.
1. Plant as much as possible. No good digging in soggy soils, and best to give new plants a chance to benefit from rain water. Depending on how I count, and I never count correctly or consistently, I have about 55 pots that need to get into the ground. That's a lot of digging. Not sure I'm up to the task, but I'll make the effort.
2. Pruning the buckwheat. I have an Eriogonum cinereum that needs to be cut back. My green bin was full last weekend, so I wasn't able to finish that up. Now's my chance and it should get done. I usually cut that back to one or two leaves below the inflorescence. And then I'll cut back those parts of the plant that are getting out of bounds. Its growing over a low rock wall and I typically cut it back to the wall so that when it starts growing out again, it will drape over but not cover the wall.
3. Sweep and sweep and sweep. If the rains don't hit, I'll sweep the walks and street. Its a standing thing. Sometimes I can rely on a heavy rain to wash it all away. Hmmmm.......
4. Put stuff away. I'm terrible about putting things away...pruners, gloves, you name it. Terrible way to treat tools, even worse when it rains. That all has to get into the shed before the first drops fall.
5. Watch and evaluate. Watching the rain fall and flow through the garden is instructive. I'll watch to see if there's any serious erosion of paths or deep puddling that could be problematic. Mostly, rain is so weird these days that I just like standing in it.
That's probably enough for a weekend. I'm again putting off fence construction and fixing the screen across the HVAC behemoth.
California native plants are interesting, from all sorts of perspectives. Science, horticulture, design, art, politics, culture....California's rich botanical resources find their way into all these areas, and more. This is an opportunity to share information, stories, images, news, and anything else related to this exceptional flora.
