Garden Activities: December 13, 2026

What a beautiful day: sunny, breezy and cool. The Tuesday Crew comprised: Steve Davis, Bill Dobner, Beverly Kemmerling, Dale Harshberger, Julie Moffat, Katie Shank, Daryl Stutley, Nancy Taylor Walker, Anna Wiktor-Becker, Ann Wright and myself.  Steve was there to place thirty-some plant labels, and Bill was working the compost. The rest of us worked our way up to the top of the hill following the zig zag path up past Entrance B of the Nature Trail. There wasn’t much new debris to pick up, so we focused on removing the weeds — particularly mustard — from the edges of the path beginning just past the 1st 4-corners.

Julie, Ann, Daryl, Anna and yours truly at that task.

Along the way we deadheaded as necessary.

Anna and Julie deadheading a red-hot poker.

We also tackled the spent bloom stalk of an agave at the top of the hill.  John Allday will remember when a few of us thinned that area out. It was so over-crowded that much of the patch was dead.  

Anna, Ann, Julie, Katie and me wrangling the plant. Eventually the stalk separated from the base which will still need to be removed at some point.

Julie triumphantly brandishing the agave stalk.

Steve and I left around 10:15 to meet up with 2 representatives of the master gardener program who are planning a field trip to CVBG later this winter to observe different plant communities and the plant life found in those. This will be one of several 10-week HOPs (hands-on-projects) one of which all Master Gardener Trainees need to complete to become certified. A few years ago, the new CVBG salvia garden planning and executing was such a project. This one will focus on native plants, their ecology, cultivation, propagation, use in the garden, etc. We’ll probably focus on 2 areas: the Native sections which are purpose-planted and irrigated, and Sage Hill which is a more naturalistic habitat without irrigation and has been populated using common chaparral natives. If time permits, they’ll spend a little while at the stream to observe a riparian habitat. 

One plant I could have included last week which is still blooming now is the green gold daisy (Euryops viridis) from S. Africa. It is in full bloom which it can maintain throughout much of the year:

In addition we may also have a variety with gray-green leaves called E. pectinatus. The two are together in the KAG I believe, and may be represented in the S. African garden — the green one is at least.

Many thanks to Nancy for her images!

Enjoy the garden….KMM