Today was the last day this season that the Tuesday Crew will meet at 8am. Starting next week, we’ll meet at 9am.
We had a skeleton crew comprising Dale Harshberger, Irene Rowland, Nancy Taylor Walker, and myself. Starting in the native section, there wasn’t much that needed doing so we collected some of the matilija poppy cuttings left by Ed Merlo. From there we started up the switchback from the first 4-corners and cut out dead branches from a lemonade berry just up hill from Entrance B of the Nature Trail.
Dale and Nancy doing a chain gang routine as the slope there is very steep.
From there we made or way to the top of the Australian section where we parked the cart and surveyed the plants and trees. The one thing that caught our attention was the stump sprouts coming from an oak that was cut down a year or so ago, the canopy of which was dead.
Me, Dale and Irene - before:
Me, Dale and Irene - after:
Sadly, Jim Cyr let me know later that he is trying to allow some of those sprouts to continue growing to produce a multi-trunk small tree or shrub for bird habitat. In the future we’ll let that stump re-sprout.
From there, we found that the small live oak at the top of the S. African section was impinging on the service road and adjacent paths, and some of the limbs had small branches reaching the ground. So we did some careful pruning of those branches.
Irene and Dale - before:
Dale vamping for the after picture:
While in the Native section, we remarked on an interesting plant: coast silk tassel or Garrya elliptical ‘James Roof.’
Calscape states flowers appear in winter, but the catkins (see above) remain on the plant for many more months. These are the bracts that are left when flowering is done. Given their color, and slightly creepy appearance, they make an appropriate plant to feature on Halloween! The plant is evergreen and only grows into a large shrub so is considered a good ornamental or hedge shrub.
Many thanks to Nancy for her images.
Enjoy the garden! KMM
Comments