Last Wednesday and Thursday Salinas Tree Service was on site for our annual focus on tree pruning and removal where necessary.  It was a busy 2 days.  One of the bigger jobs was the removal of the double-trunked pine that was leaning over the properties of the adjacent condo complex.  Below, one of Salinas’s men is in the early stages of cutting from the topmost branches.
and the same worker toward the end of the process of removing the 2nd trunk.
We also removed the dead curly willow in the KAG and the dead eucalyptus in the service area in addition to a lot of other work throughout the garden. Â Many thanks to Carl Zhu for his help over the 2 days and to Jau Lavi for directing the work that was done in the Rare Fruit Orchard.
So Tuesday the crew comprised Monica Barton, Beverly Kemmerling, Daryl Stutley, Nancy Taylor Walker and me. Â Steve Davis and Jim Cyr were also on site. Â Steve had prepared the native Western sycamore (Platenus racemosa) for planting in the spot vacated by the removed dead eucalyptus. Â Below, Nancy captured Monica, me, Steve, Jim and Beverly making sure the hole was the right size.
Below, Beverly captured Jim standing next to the finished planting around which he created a well to capture water, as this isn’t an irrigated area.
Steve had 2 additional projects in mind for the the morning. Â He and Daryl went up to the S. African garden area where some blooming mustard plants needed to be removed to avoid them going to seed. Â Below, Nancy captured Daryl with the fruits of her labor standing next to Jim.
Monica then accompanied Steve to ID plants needing labels and to place the new labels Steve had already made, below:
Finally, Daryl took this image of the blossom of a Banksia menziesii in the Australian section.  Very dramatic as is often the case with Australian plants.
Enjoy the garden! Â KMM