Garden Activities: June 24, 2025

Tuesday was a great day to work in the garden. It was cool and overcast. This time we changed it up a bit. At the beginning, we took care of some specific plants. The team consisted of Steve Davis, Wesley Hare, Dale Harshberger, Kayli O’Hara Vest, Katie Shank, Daryl Stutley, Nancy Taylor Walker, Ann Wright, and myself. Steve showed Ann the part of the Native Garden on the left, on the hill as you walk through the old Garden Entrance from the park. The area at the top of the hill near the fence, is beyond the reach of the irrigation system so the plants there require periodic watering by hand. Because they are natives, they require much less water than the plants in some of the other Mediterranean climate themed gardens (e.g. Australian Garden); however, especially in the first year or two, they require more water than they will once becoming well established.

The rest of us headed to the Trail of Trees where we treated the middle of three crepe myrtles to an extra dose of water by hand, and a dose of Miracle Gro. These trees have not thrived for a long time, so we’ll see if the treated one does better, in which case we’ll treat the other two.

We stayed on the Trail of Trees for the rest of the morning and pulled browning thistle, clover and some euphorbia. As was mentioned last week, the euphorbia in this area was already brown and ready too vanish back into the leaf litter and mulch.

Kayli pulling a weed without gloves (tsk tsk)!

Ann doing the same — but with gloves.

Daryl and Kayli; Daryl focusing on weeds in the path.

Myself and Wesley (or is it my younger self???) having just filled a 15-gallon pot with weeds.

Finally because we were in the Trail of Trees I wanted to point out two of the collection that are currently in bloom. The first is the jacaranda tree that most of us in SoCal are familiar with below:

The second is the mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin).

According to Wikipedia, this tree is native to SW and Eastern Asia, and in the temperate areas of the US is considered an invasive species due to its rapid spread from the NE US across the southern states and on the west coast up to western Washington State.  However because it's beautiful, fast growing, drought and heat tolerant, and has a large horizontal canopy that produces pleasant dappled shade, it is frequently found in gardens and parks. I am particularly fond of this tree because I grew up next door to a property in central NJ that had 3 mature specimens on it. I’m sure they were growing in the northern most extent of its range. Its adaptability includes being able to survive temperatures down to -13 degrees F. 

Thanks to Nancy for her images.

Enjoy the garden!    KMM