Another Fig Tree Air Layer. Petite Negri. 9 Aug 24.

 This tree is my favorite for flavor, but has erratic, often too-late production.  I don't recommend it here as an "only" tree.  But, the flavor is one of the very best.  So I grow it among the others. The name is "Petite negri" but I've seen it given other names, "Negronne", "Aubique petite" and others.  I never know what to call it.

Eventually I want to remove the fig trees, south of the house, to extend the wildfire mitigation zone.  The tree is too big for me to transplant.   Also, I moved it here from Vancouver in 2017.  It was hard work, and it took a few years to recover.  So I thought, if I can get a good air layer to work, then pamper the new tree, maybe it will establish faster than a moved tree anyway.

The air layer method was the same as for Lattarula, done at the same time.  Link here.   I did two for this tree.  I removed the smaller one, higher on the tree, about two few weeks ago.  It had minimal roots.  I don't think enough to establish a tree.  This one was an off-shoot at the bade of the tree.

So here's the "Burrito" air layer, with string removed.

It felt firm and hard, so I thought either the hot weather dried it out, or the air layer grew roots that dried it out.  Checking under the foil, the soil was packed with roots.  So I cut it off.

I worked fairly quickly.  I don't want it to dry out.  I cut off most of the plastic bag, being careful not to traumatize roots.

Just look at those roots!  Amazing!

I didn't attempt to remove plastic that was tightly bound in the root ball.

Now it's in a bucket of water for a few hours to rehydrate the soil and roots, before planting in potting soil to establish and recover.

Edit:  I didn't want it to soak too long, so I potted up my young new tree.  With a small root mass, it can fall over / uproot too easily, so I provided lots of support.

I cut of the top newest growth, about three inches.  This is where I like for them to start branching.  I didn't want it to wilt due to growing more than the roots can bring up water, until the roots are better established,

The soaking helped a lot to remove the remainder of the plastic bag.  I cut overhanging pieces, then gently eased out the pieces that were stuck in the middle.

Herb Cuttings In Water. 8 Aug 24.

 Somehow I got a wild hair to un-re-wild the rest of the privacy border.  My original vision was to keep the row of fig trees, which is about 10 feet from the access road on the easement, and fill in between them with forsythias.   Facing the yard, I wanted low growing perennials that don't need watering, or not much.  They need to resist rabbits and especially deer. 

I had let this area go for the past couple of years, due to being leas able.  Plus, I had decommissioned a large neighboring garden bed that I last used for potatoes and as a source of raised bed soil, and it has been too rough to mow.  So it was overgrown with a thistle and weed forest, and that also took over the border.

This week, I cleared the thistles.  I've filled in about 2/3 of the trenches, although the hard baked soil now makes it difficult to do.  With the weeds removed, I found that the forsythias look great.  No need for watering those, and deer don't touch them.

There were lavender plants there.  Those were too much of a mess to reform, so I cut them off at the soil.  Most of the sage bushes succumbed to the deep shade of the fig trees, and competition by thistles.   One remained.  So I used shoots from that plant to set up new cuttings to start.

I read they start better in soil than water, because roots need darkness.  I have no idea if that's true.  I put them into a mug to reduce light in the water.

I also want to start some rosemary plants, using the same method.

Apparently lavender cuttings can't be started in water, so I'm not trying.

Meanwhile, one of the three geranium cuttings in water, developed a little root.

So I potted it.  Not very impressive, but it might grow.

These will remain in the south facing window for a while.

I transferred the other two geranium cuttings to a mug of water too.  They might not be viable.  I don't know.

David Austin Roses In Containers. 3 Aug 24

 The patio David Austin Roses are doing very nice, in their first year.  I need to dead-head pretty often.  From top to bottom, Bring Me Sunshine (with a honeybee), Boscobel, and Darcy Bussell.   They are making another splash of new buds now, too.

Two are in the vegetable / fruit garden, less ideal due to being shaded by the peach tree, and I don't pamper them as much.  Below, Vanessa Bell.

Not including Silas Marner here, only a couple of flowers.  

This winter, I might remove these two from these containers and pot up same as the previous three, in potting soil and on wheels, for the patio.  Especially Vanessa Bell, which has the best (myrrh) fragrance.  That's a lot of container roses.  I don't know.  Plus there's a rooted cutting from a fragrant old rose, unknown ID.

So far the container roses don't have strong fragrance.  I get faint myrrh from Bring Me Sunshine and fainter old-rose from Boscobel.  Maybe it's the growing conditions?

Container Zinnias And Marigolds. 3 Aug 24.

 These came out pretty nice this year.  Plus, pollinating insects are buzzing and feeding on them all of the time,

Potting Up Some More Alpine Strawberries. 3 Aug 24.

 I had another container come available, so potted up another 8-pack batch of alpine strawberries.  They are well rooted, but not very potbound.  I didn't think it necessary to try breaking the roots up.  In this hot weather 90s F), I don't want to risk that much root trauma.  It doesn't seem necessary with such minimal root matting.  Unlike the first two batches, these were planted two seedlings per cell.  I don't know if that matters.

They have a lot more root space in this container.  I've never grown alpine strawberries before, so I don't know how much room they need.