Garden Activities: July 7, 2026

Last week we cut off the dead tops of the chasmanthe in Lillian’s Meadow and said we’d complete the task this week at the 2nd 4 corners where there are patches on all of the 4 corners that have turned brown and will remain dormant until the late fall or early winter (i.e. when the rains come). Volunteers this week were: Krystyna Bacik, Steve Davis, Dale Harshberger, Beverly Kemmerling, Susanna Mac, Katie Shank, Daryl Stutley, Nancy Taylor Walker, Janet Wall, Anna Wiktor-Becker, Ann Wright, and me. Steve was there to hand water some of the plants outside the irrigation areas. He alerted us to a plant none of us had seen before in the Australian Garden which he suggested might be some sort of Australian verbena. We’ll look at it more closely toward the end of this report.

To be sure to catch this plant we headed up the zig zag path rather than the service road and stopped by the patch of Myoporum parvifolium on the right just after the secondary path that winds up through the Australian section. While looking for the plant, someone who shall remain nameless (because I can’t remember who it was) decided to cut off a stem of myoporum that was cascading down across the wooden path-edging a foot into the path itself. That spurred the rest of us on to cut the patch back to the path edge.

Daryl, Susanna, Krystyna, Anna, Dale, yours truly and Ann making short work of the edge trimming.

Anna, Krystyna, Daryl and me finishing up.

As we continued up the path, we saw for the first time a new bench where one that was falling apart marked Endurance B of the Nature Trail.

Krystyna sitting on the new bench “for scale.”  

This bench design is highly pleasing, suitable to the casual nature of our garden, and comfortable.

Continuing up the hill a few volunteers decided that if a tree branch touched my hat, it should be cut back.

Dale, Anna and Daryl following through on that.  

Because there was so much of the chasmanthe that needed removal there were a large number of images to choose from. In addition to the the patches on all 4 corners, there were 2 patches at the top of the hill, one on the south east side and one on the south west side.

Nancy clearing the NW corner of the 4 corners.

Krystyna and Anna clearing the SE corner (I think).

When we reached the top of the hill, we discovered a couple more small jobs in addition to the chasmanthe cleanup:

Anna and Krystyna deadheading the copper spoon kalanchoe.

Like some of its cousins, it can form plantlets on the plant itself (in this case the flower stalk) as well as seeds. Also the red hot pokers were deadheaded.

While in the Australian section we noted 2 plants in bloom.  One is the bottle tree (Brachychiton populous) below.

The common name referring to the expanded lower trunk that narrows to form a distinctive bottle form. The flowers are much more interesting when viewed up close than from a distance.

Though it wasn’t easy to see, we did find the plant that Steve told us to look out for. Mixed in with the myoporum ground cover (which has white flowers), we saw some tiny purple flowers.

It is sort of lost in the myoporum but was certainly planted there undoubtedly before the myoporum spread. We identified it as Scaevola aemula or fan flower, an Australian drought-tolerant native with a trailing habit making it a desirable ground cover or potted plant.

The Tranquility Garden never disappoints. Last week Susanna spotted the structure below which takes the cairn construction to another level. This dry-stacked structure is an engineering marvel reminding one of a rough version of a Roman aqueduct. I hope it lasts a while so people can enjoy it.

Many thanks to Beverly, Susanna, Janet and Nancy for their images.

Enjoy the garden….KMM