FAST FORWARD TO SEPTEMBER

 We closed on the house on August 31st and while I have no wish to relate at present the difficulties of the last month I will do so at a later date with plenty of advice for those of you who might be contemplating this kind of move at such an age within the next 5 years. I have plenty I can assure you.

I dread to think what the move would have been like had it not been for the kindness of my neighbor who invited us to stay in her guest house for two weeks. As well as that she made over half of her garage for us to store some outdoor furniture and the odds and ends of the last day. And.....to move over the plants we had plans to take with us. I needed some time to work on repotting and also giving away many more of them as our small patio, as of October, will not have sufficient space for all of them. I must choose carefully those I want to take. I had already given away plenty and a slew of pots. Two visitors said it was like an early Christmas. 

Naturally I kept my favorites among which is the A. demettiana Joe Hoak.

Finally this morning I went out to start taking care of the plants, fertilizing a few that have been sorely neglected and probably overwatering some of the cactus. And my plan was to consolidate some of the small pots into larger pots. One thing about cactus is they really like sharing and often look better thus. Take for example this little grouping. I had potted these together in the late spring and they have done well. This might be the only squid agave I am taking but knowing its nature it will soon be making pups. 

This Spiral cactus, Euphorbia tortilis, had become so lanky that it was flopping over. It was clearly in need of a trim and some fresh potting medium. I also paired it with some cuttings of ghost plant and an unknown agave. 

This is the ghost plant from which I took the cuttings. It was starting to make new pups and the older ones were also lanky a result of insufficient light. Light is difficult to manage in the summer unless you have filtered shade. Always the errant grass and one of this native portulaca, Portulaca pilosa, sometimes called kiss me quick. 

Although it is a little weedy it does make a nice little mat of foliage and flowers and is at its best in the fall. 

My idea was to try to consolidate many of the smaller pots into a larger pot to make future transportation easier, 

At the same time there are a number of plants that need a good pruning. It may not quite be the right time of year to do this but it must be done. I was fortunate to have purchased a few bags of cactus mix when we were in Arizona. Such an expensive thing to buy in Austin but 1/5 of the price in Arizona. I will reserve judgement on how good it turns out to be but this is what I am using. 

 

Even though the plants are mostly situated beneath an overhead it is still so hot that a few hours in the morning are all I can manage outside, and I must decide between walking and potting. 

 

 

I started off relocating some of the plants underneath a persimmon tree. I thought they were safe there until the mow blow and go guy came and I watched as he blew the leaves and bare dirt from one area right across the plants. Grhh!!! So now I had to move them all back underneath the cover. I must now take the time to remove the leaves with forceps and try to get all the debris from the Old Man of the Andes, Oreocereus celsianus,  bearded body. He fared the worst with his beard now full of grit.

 

 

Exactly why does America have such an obsession with getting every leaf off their path and soil into some hidden place underneath bushes. Or worse still into the road.
 

 In any event the two weeks went by so quickly that I barely made a dent in all I had planned. There is no real rush to remove the plants but I am in charge of care and that involves several citrus and plumeria as well as taking care of my friend's plants while she is away, and multiple doctor visits and on line bridge. 

 

Now we have moved out, and despite her asking us to stay on we thought it best to go to the hotel, plant-less! Except this morning she texted me to say the Echinopsis oxygona, had bloomed. I'm glad she saw and got to enjoy the ephemeral bloom. I wonder how long it will take for my old man to bloom?

 

 

I will go back there every few days to water and check on everything and think about exactly how many of these plants I can take with me to the apartment.