Garden Activities: June 17, 2025

Today we inaugurated our summer schedule by starting at 8am rather than 9am.  Lucky, for today was the warmest day in the ten-day forecast. On hand today were Bill Dobner, Wesley Hare, Dale Harshberger, Julie Moffat, Katie Shank, Daryl Stutley, Ann Wright and myself. You’d be forgiven for not recognizing Wesley’s name, as he is a new volunteer, as of today, hopefully for the summer during his break from college.

This will be another week in a row without a people-picture except for one which should have gone in last week. Below is a picture of Ann checking out a sapling she planted some weeks ago — a purple hopseed bush (Dodonaea viscosa ‘Purpurea’.)  

This illustrates the concept of volunteer “ownership” of the plants they plant as a way of better assuring their success once in the ground during their period of acclimation from being in pot in a protected setting (greenhouse or shade house e.g.) to being “established” in the environment and able to thrive without too much hands-on care.  This could include assuring that watering is sufficient but not too much, that leaves and other debris aren’t collecting in cages (where present,), that competing weeds are cleared from their immediate vicinity, that they’re properly mulched, etc.

While Bill was tending to the compost, the rest of the crew worked its way up the hill stopping at the South African Garden near the picnic table where we weeded mustard, thistle and annual euphorbia. The latter we tackled only where it doesn’t form a carpet (too much to remove) and where its removal makes an appreciable difference in the look of the beds. The truth is, it will all shortly turn brown and blow away (leaving an abundance of seed for next year) except in places where the irrigation is sufficient to keep it green until fall. Some of the group elected to work in the relative shade of the Rare Fruit Orchard and the rest worked in the Desert Garden removing thistle and mustard.

While in the Desert Garden, we found two standouts: the golden torch cactus (Echiinopsis spachiana) below:

One of two large clumps.

The second clump.

We were fortunate to see this show as each flower only lasts less than a day opening in the evening and wilting by the following noon-time. Other buds will open, but this was the peak. The bees were "making hay while the sun shines!”

The other plant blooming is the common crown of thorns (Euphorbia milii) below:

Crown of thorns.

We have several different euphorbias in the garden ranging in size from the annual weed to small trees — the crown of thorns being just one.

Enjoy the garden!   KMM