Garden Activities: June 9, 2026

Tuesday was characterized by the phrase “many hands make light work.” This applies to many Tuesdays these days when there are many more than 1 or 2 volunteers working together. At the garden were: Julia Appelrouth, Steve Davis, Beverly Kemmerling, Susanna Mac, Carlos Rodriguez, Katie Shank, Nancy Taylor Walker, Marna Wensil, Anna Wiktor-Becker, Ann Wright, and myself. The first order of the day was to welcome new volunteer Krystyna Bacik to the group.

Anna greeting Krystyna.

By a happy accident, Anna overheard Krystyna tell someone else she was from Poland. Turns out she too is Polish and they were able to compared notes in their native tongue.

Steve made the suggestion to clear the root sprouts from under the 2 flowering plum trees in the Trail of Trees, so that is where we spent the bulk of our time. On the way there we noted a healthy stand of mustard adjacent to Tuff 2 by and on the path. Several of us decided not to pass those by and worked to pull, dig and cut them out.

Susanna, Julia, Beverly, Katie and yours truly.

The “after” picture.

The root sprouts under the plum trees looked like they had been fertilized!

Anna, Marna and Carlos in a sea of sprouts both cut and to-be-cut.

Krystyna, Anna and Nancy standing in front of the 2 plum trees.

Susanna (somewhat washed out), Julia and Katie doing their best to look serious ala “American Gothic.”

Finally the sea of plum root sprouts was gone with time to spare to do the same with the adjacent Chinese pistache trees.

Krystyna, Marna and Carlos in the “after” picture.

While in the Trail of Trees we noticed the mimosa tree in full bloom.

Mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) native to southwestern to eastern Asia from Iran through India and China to Korea and Japan.

There were a number of plants blooming in the Butterfly Garden including several sages of which the grape scented sage (Salvia milissodora) is pictured below:

This image doesn't do it justice as it has vibrant blue blossoms that have the distinct odor of sweet grapes.

Blanketflower (Gaillardia aristata) is native to western and central North America.

Many thanks to Nancy, Ann and Beverly for their images.

Enjoy the garden…KMM