Garden Activities: June 30, 2026

Tuesday was another cleanup day mostly clearing out a section of the service area that is now able to be used for parking, other weeding and dead heading, and some special tasks. Volunteering were Krystyna Bacik, Dale Harshberger, Beverly Kemmerling, Susanna Mac, Katie Shank, Daryl Stutley, Nancy Taylor Walker, Anna Wiktor-Becker, Ann Wright, and myself.

Part of the cleanup involved removing the brown dried up tops of the summer dormant chasmanthe in Lillian’s Meadow. The larger patches at the 2nd 4-corners will be ready for tidying up next week.

The before picture.

The after picture with Daryl, Krystyna, Dale, Susanna, Nancy and Anna.

From there, we went to the Native Gardens where we accomplished 3 objectives: some minor weeding, Katie took some photos for an upcoming newsletter, and I took some notes on tree work that needs to be done next visit of the tree service. Note to volunteers: please let me know of any tree-related issues you’re aware of that should be addressed.

Katie taking an image with a young visitor passing behind her.

Back at the service area another 2 tasks were accomplished: first - clearing the remaining weeds in the area up hill from the dumpster — mainly alyssum.

Krystyna and Susanna making headway with the alyssum removal.

I joined in for the home stretch. When we finished, the area appeared suitable for parking

Meanwhile the 2nd task was deadheading the alstroemerias.  

Anna and Dale at work.  

The proper way to deadhead this plant is not to cut off the spent flower stalks but to pull them out of the ground. If done briskly and sometimes with a slight twist, you’ll feel a satisfying snap as the stalk is released. The transient flower stalks arise from perennial underground tuberous roots from which new flower stems will grow when they sense that "a space has been freed up." 

When Beverly discovered the 10-foot prickly lettuce weed last week, apparently there were more in the area. Katie, Daryl and Ann carrying the results to the green waste bin below:

Toward the end of the morning, some of us made our way the the top of the hill to see if there was any significant tree work needed there. We didn’t see any significant issues, but did observe some noteworthy plants including the ones below:

The tubular flowers of the silver torch cactus.

The flowers of the crown of thorns.

The Hesperaloe parviflora or red-flowered yucca.  

The naming of this plant is an interesting case in that it is neither an aloe nor a yucca.  It is closer to the yucca than to the aloe being in the same family (Asparagaceae); aloe is in an entirely different family.

Elephant’s ear kalanchoe or Kalanchoe beharensis.

It has been a battle with the critters to have a specimen this size. Earlier efforts ended in plants being consumed. This is the sole survivor of a group of 3 or 4 large kalanchoes, and fingers crossed it will continue to thrive.

Finally much fun was had with the curiosity picked up by Ann on her way down the hill:

It was heavy, about 3/4 of an inch thick, and had flat sides with what appeared to be chiseled edges. It attracted the magnet part of the name tag so contained iron. AI surmised it was part of a meteor. If anyone has an idea as to what it is or what it was part of, feel free to let us know.  

It struck me today that I have been severely remiss in not recognizing the contribution of Jeanne Bonanno. She is the one who translates these weekly reports into a blog format, and, corrects any errors she finds. She then posts them on the website where they are available for anyone to read. Thank you Jeanne for doing this work extremely well and so diligently.

And many thanks to Beverly and Nancy for their images this week.

Enjoy the garden.  KMM