I had a few days in Oakland working on the Tea and Fashion Show for the Scholarship Committee. This afternoon I had time to tend the Oakland garden.
I implanted fertilizer spikes to feed the tangerine tree and will water it more regularly as the fruit ripens. The tree has lots of fruit, and I pruned it to let light and air into the center. I have read that proper care is to thin out clusters of fruit and to direct the energy of the tree into one or two remaining tangerines in the cluster. I will try that approach for the first time this year.
Death and rebirth. I am pleased that the plumbago is blooming steadily in the back corner where nothing has ever grown. I will see about adding soil amendment before it goes to bed for the winter. Today I also pulled the grevillea and added it to the City of Oakland mulch pile. I remember attending a presentation on winter blooming plants at a local nursery and picking up the grevillea afterwards. It performed will up until this past year, giving lovely pink blooms in January. Over this spring and summer the leaves gradually rusted out, for reasons I do not understand. I said a prayer of thankful remembrance and pulled.
The berries on the camellia outside my window give joy to my heart. The blooming season should be from October through February. If this winter is wet, I will need to find a system to keep that pot from flooding.
Last Good Friday I planted a bulbine plant behind the dianthus. A long plant with a golden bloom at its tip. I will think about pruning this one, and planing another bulbine at the ranch.
A Year at the Snake 