Ricky, 2004 - 2015, a part of my heart has died

Rest in peace old boy, you will be sorely missed.

A very fine friend indeed

Had to move purple bougainvillea away from wall adjacent to neighbors with the 2 poodles. The dogs eat the fallen bracts and throw up, blah blah blah.

After un-potting the root ball of this bougie, I trimmed down main branches. Like plumeria, bougainvillea trunk (1.5 - 2" dia. x 8") can be stuck 2" or deep into some good soil, kept evenly moist-- if the gods are with you, after several weeks it will sprout. The first 2 cuttings I simply didn't want to through them out, and poked them in two planters with no root tone. It's been about 3 weeks and tiny leaflets have begun to form. I've used both plain water and "vitamin" water (miracle gro spiked with some kelp concentrate- good for the roots as per orchid growers). Further cutting down of main branches yielded several more planting sticks which I "root-toned" and planted in each of the seagrape pots. What a fabulous picture-- big seagrape with bougainvillea clambering over it. Planted root ball of the original plant into a 15"x15"x15" square planter. There are 2 main branches coming out of ball, should be good. I love purple. I have a cold. More later.

Tropical agogity

I caved and bought large 24" underliners for 5 of the large containers. Definitely not the most elegant look, but I feel much more comfortable giving them long draughts of water. Summertime has arrived in zone 10b and not a whole lot of rain so far, but a few storms are beginning to roll in. I'm out of town right now ( in the bosom of the Blue Ridge Mountains-- the clarity of the cool air and bright green of the trees is medicinal), I can only hope that everyone can hold tight for 4 more days.
The first real storm of the summer season brought with it the hot, humid tropical air. The sea grapes were agog -- the MiracleGro probably helped. Puce colored leaves which quickly become the size of bread plates are beginning to cover trunks / branches.

I purchased a drip irrigation kit from Gardner's Supply, the 25' 1/4" main feed tube looked like a green garden hose, blah blah blah. I sent it back unopened, they have a very friendly return policy, I would feel very comfortable ordering from them again. However, I want to try to piece together a custom kit, that will allow complete discretion in its placement (is this correct English?).