Landscaping

The trucks were here before 8am.

Mountain laurel and texas ebony and fringe flower and ocotillo.

It hurt when the ocotillo and the texas ebony became entwined.  There were many tools and few fingers involved in separating them from one another.

The big boss came out to help me place the plants.  that's him wheeling the dolly.

It wasn't long til we called the bigger boss.

She came out and told us all what to do.

I liked having her around.

Some specimens come in black plastic buckets.

The bigger ones arrive in wooden containers. 

 The metal bands are handy for toting and turning.

This mountain laurel will keep people from staring into the library as I type to you.

At least, that's the plan.

It still has some growing to do.

There were power tools.

There were hand tools.

First they cleared the area of debris and ground cover and stones.

Neatness counts.

Then the power shovel comes out 

and the hole is dug.

The tools and irrigation supplies were kept clean on a tarp.

The soil was replaced, with just a touch of compost.  Although the Master Gardeners would disagree, Rillito Nursery swears by this mild amendment.  Their theory is that the tree has been growing in beautiful amended soil for all of its life.  If you don't give the roots something to reach for they'll never leave the root ball.

They have 2 vitex planted next to one another, one in gently amended and the other in back fill soils.  The amended one looks better, though both are alive.

As Dominique Browning says in Slow Love, you're better off with a So What attitude when it comes to the garden.

Sometimes the hole required a more in-depth approach.

And sometimes it didn't.

Finding the irrigation was a challenge.

By the afternoon, it started to take shape.

The trees were properly staked, like this willow acacia.

They worked til 3 and were rewarded with cash and a Hershey bar.
I'm sitting here smiling at my new treasures.
I don't even feel bad that I couldn't help.

It was nice to watch others do the work for a change.