A Matter of Degree

Another 90 degree day was promised, so Dana arrived before eight this morning to herd plants. They were still in the back of the car, which seemed the coolest place to leave them overnight.

We all trooped down to the street, OilMan with a wheelbarrows full of plants, and Dana with her "map" and some trowels. They decided how to place fifty plants, put little flags into the ground to mark where each plant will go and hauled the plants back up the driveway. They will have to live somewhere cool where the deer won't eat them, and they can be watered, until they are planted.

They dug the holes for the three "Cinco de Mayo" roses, but I think Pedro and his crew will be planting the rest.

While OilMan and Dana worked on layout, I busied myself cutting dead spears out of the huge Formium plants--a once a year job according to Jani, the Emerisa Gardens lady. Apparently, the task has fallen to me, and it isn't easy. The plants are almost as tall as I am, and fought valiantly, stabbing me in the face, and slicing my arms each time I dived into it to cut out a dead frond leaf spear bract.

I wrote awhile back about the fact that we live at some remove from the street and have little occasion to be out in front, so that although we know some neighbors, there are a lot we never see. Working right on the street, we met most of them today as they walked by with their dogs, or drove to work. They all commented on how spectacular the ice plant was, and how disappointed they were that we weren't replanting it.

Most understood when we pointed out that it was only spectacular when it was alive, and even then, only for three weeks a year.

The heat (literally) is on to produce something acceptable to them.

I finished the two biggest plants before succumbing to the heat and retreating inside, to make myself a cold drink with yogurt in it and share the empty glass with Ozzie.