I am back to my routine after devoting several days to professional conferences and maintenance of the yard in Oakland. All the plants in that yard have taken off. The beginning of May is always the blooming time for the shrub rose that now overtops the garage. I don’t want the house to look neglected.
Lilies are coming up in the narrow tip of the Triangle Garden. I do not know when they were planted between they return each spring faithfully. The purple alyssum in that corner is self-sowing and expanding.
The new monkey flower has pail yellow, almost white blooms. The plant leaf and blooms are familiar, but I am used to the traditional yellow flower in the Oakland front garden. In any event, it is on its way to becoming established.
I spent the morning on the warning track just on the other side of the retaining wall behind the back porch. The grass, thistle and other weeds are still giving up without much resistance, even despite no rain for several weeks. I poured out the vinegar mixture along the track. At least the grass is 12 to 18 inches away from the wall.
I spent a few hours laying Preen with standard mulch in the St. Francis Memorial Garden and the Back Corner Garden. The yarrows have significant dead growth underneath, and will try pulling it off to direct energy into the new growth. The helichrysum in that corner seems to be taking hold. Clearing the weeds out of the bed and laying down mulch looks so much better from the window in the master bath.
Berkeley Hort is scheduled to re-open on May 12.
A Year at the Snake 