Flowering Yucca

Unlike agaves, yuccas do not die when they flower. They have a much more beautiful compound blossom and they flower every year. We sat outside last night for dinner and noticed that the table needed a good wash and the roses needed deadheading. 

One of the cactus plants on the hill behind the roses is made of metal. The other one began life up there as just one paddle stuck into the ground without ceremony because somebody gave it to us and we didn't know what else to do with it. It is a spineless cactus, developed by Luther Burbank for cattle fodder, and has quadrupled its size in four years.

I began the day scrambling around at the top of the wall trying to tame the rosemary, and deadhead the roses, but it isn't an easy task as the hill goes steeply up from just behind the rosemary. I filled several buckets with the clippings, but it is barely noticeable and between the steep terrain and the thorny roses I couldn't reach some critical bits.

However, the weather was just about perfect and I was able to sit on the little wall behind the roses to do some of them. Probably shorts and a tee shirt was not the best choice in clothing when pruning  roses as I looked quite gory by the time I climbed down. As if poking myself with rose thorns wasn't enough, I even managed to stab myself with the pruning shears. 

After sitting on two sets of bleachers on consecutive weeks for one graduation and one baccalaureate, some very posh seats in the Disney Concert Hall, and hours in the car going back and forth, I was charged with energy to be actively on my feet today, so I also scrubbed the table and put a sealant on it. It's a concrete table and very porous, so the sealant just sinks in and disappears, but at lest it is cleaner. 

We have been discussing the fact that one reason we moved here was to be able to eat outside and we hardly ever do. We are trying to remedy that, and we will be eating out there again tonight. We have had a reset by going away and having a change several changes of scene, and now it's nice to be home  again.