I've got to get my freesias back in. Dug them up to flood and trap a gopher. I did get the smart little &*#)($!
I need to move some irises.
I have sprayed roundup on 2 beds I am completely redoing. Waiting for everything to get good and dead for easier removal.
Putting in dwarf bottlebrush in one and ceanothus in another in late Oct.
I've lost a favorite rockrose so continue to check nurseries to replace it. Just took out a ceanothus yankee point since it suddenly died in 3 days after 6 years.

I never heard of Pat Welsh, but I found out who she is, and am on her garden site. Just can't find that planting calendar. Do you have a link for it?

Suzi

I must wait for it to cool down before doing anything major. Just clean up a lot of fried and scorched plants from our recent nasty heat wave.

Desertdance, she published a book and I got the info from her book. You can get used copied pretty cheap- I find it extremely useful, since there is a checklist at the end of every chapter on what to do that month.

Mikey and I tore out the Oro Blanco grapefruit tree today and cut down the overgrown brugmansia in the flower bed. I planted irises and moved coneflowers to another spot. I'm also edging my lawn in bricks that I salvaged from a demo at the house next door. I hope we don't get triple digits again for a little while.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pat Welsh's book

Thanks for that link! I'll get the book! There is another site online... you can pay for membership, but I don't. If you put your zip code in, it tells you what to do week by week. Linked below!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sprout Robot

I heard that all the local O.C. farmers are starting to plant cool season crops now that the heat wave has passed. Who knows if there will be another on the way. I hope not. I have cool season weeds starting to sprout already. I am planning to divide my mums and repot them with sturdy bamboo stakes to try and grow some really big blooms this year.

Ya know I have been dutifully dividing my iris every couple years,then this last year we left some in a pot,as we had dug them all out because of those darn gophers and skunks tearing up our yard.

The one pot of them is still blooming and has been blooming it's crazy head off for over a month now and there still are some blooms on it.

The others that are in the ground did there blooming earlier this yearand have stopped,so I told dh,they say that iris's don't like to be crowded,but looking at these I beg to differ.

Here are a few pictures from this past week.

{{gwi:553120}}

{{gwi:553121}}

{{gwi:553122}}

Kathi

You probably have a reblooming iris there Kathi, and it loved getting that fresh soil in the pot. That's a really pretty one- a dramatic color. I had two rebloomers that did nothing this spring but are blooming now.

Many irises do not like being divided and take a year to look good again. I have one small border bearded iris that takes several years to recover from division.

I hope next week the temps will stay cool and I can get our cool season veggies started.

My sweet peas are easy, they are popping up all over-everywhere I don't want them.

I picked up a few fruit trees that I need to put in and then the final load of wood chips for the year.

I love my Pat Welch books and the older LA Times 52 weeks in the California Garden (out of print but cheap on Amazon)

Renee, just curious, why did you remove your Oro blanco tree?

It's a sad thing, elvie. Oro Blancos are the one of the most delicious fruits I have ever tasted, but no one in the family can eat grapefruit any longer because we are all old and on medications, and the neighbors were not enthusiastic about grapefruit for some strange reason. I ignored the "no grapefruit" warning for a few years, but then I googled it and scared the holy heck out of myself. The tree took a lot of water and fertilizer, and it got slimed by leaf miners every fall and looked terrible, and it made me want to eat grapefruit whenever I looked at it, so it had to go.

Well, on the bright side Renee, at least it opens up a new planting opportunity.

I got a little over zealous and put one in amoungst many fruit trees when I moved in, It finally has a few fruit so sooner or later I will see if they do ok here in a Bay Area climate.

I hope they do- they are so very sweet and have the essence of grapefruit with no bitterness.

I've gotten so tired of the iris, but Kathi has inspired me to stick a couple in a pot! I'll do that!

I'm weary of summer gardening and have no interest in planting bulbs. Like the weather, I'm winding down. I do remember a terrible heat wave last year in October. Our A/C broke then!

Veggies, I stuck some sugar snap peas seeds in the ground. Early this month I planted a zucchini, and it's looking good. Maybe I'll get a few squash before the season is over. I'll leave the peppers in the ground for quite a while longer, as long as they produce.

Harvested the pumpkins in July--pretty early--but they look ok. I'll put them out for the fall/Halloween decoration in front.

The roses got a shot of alfalfa last month. They get SuPoMag in October.

The camellias have buds, but I'm surprised the "Christmas cactus" does not yet. Chrysanthemum has buds. Their smell just reminds me of fall the way marigolds and tomatoes' smells remind me of summer.

I hope to split the daylilies in the next week or so unless we get a heat wave.

This must be so boring to everyone, but it forced me to think about what's going on in the yard.

Thanks, Renee. Good list.

Where is a good place to buy Iris? My dad overwatered mine in the front bed while I was gone for 4 weeks in July. When I came home, the rhizomes were all rotten with the leaves laying on the soil. The roses in that bed loved the water and looked great. They were all from the local Iris club and were reblooming well a year earlier. I want some pale blues or pale purples. A raspberry color or a paler pink would be nice. I have plenty of brighter/ deeper colors in back and plenty of whites, yellows and peaches.

I think I'll fill the spot with ranunculus again until I see the colors of the iris in bloom. They have to look good with my Pink Rosette roses.