Some walkway love

A few days ago I showed you the front walkway, pointing out how difficult it was becoming to navigate, primarily because of the red whisker clammyweed (Polanisia dodecandra) that is getting leggy and leaning out, taking more space than it should.

Uncharacteristically for the middle of summer, I actually did something about this already. Cool summers give me energy! (Although much of that is spent watering...)

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I had already decided that I need to pull some plants out, and that means I'd need some replacement plants to fill in the soon-to-be-empty spots.

Luckily I have plenty to choose from.

Even before pulling anything out it was clear that a few smaller plants were needed...

But first, more proof that some of the clammyweed needed to come out:

Blocking the path, shading other plants...

They're starting to drop lots of seeds too, and since I have such a hard time removing volunteers each spring, it's best for me to prevent seed drop when I can.

So I pulled all of the ones that were in the way, and pruned a few of the others back a bit. Rather than leaving me with no clammyweed (as I was worried about), you can see there's plenty left:

You can also really see the bare soil spot now, so I promptly filled that in...

...with Talinum paniculatum, "Jewels of Opar". I dug several volunteers up earlier and had been growing them in small pots, waiting for space to open up.

Success! I also added a couple of Plectranthus 'Cerveza 'n' Lime':

I always have several of these growing in pots as their succulent stems are fairly brittle, and when a piece breaks off I stick it in a pot or into the ground. They always root.

Those are both annuals (I'm not sure about the Talinum -- they reseed but I think only the ones that I overwintered in pots in the garage came back), so I also added one of my favorite perennials: Agastache rupestris:

It's small now and is getting lost, but I'm planting this one for next year not for the present. It will be the main plant in this area next year!

Whenever I prune flowering plants that are still in bloom, I leave the cut stems in a bucket for a day or two:

This not only lets the pollinators that had been visiting continue to do so until the blooms run out of nectar, but it keeps all of the seed from spilling so I can collect it for sharing (or seed bombing).

I also did a little weeding of the walkway and cut back the Hibiscus where it was in the way. I left the verbena in the middle of the path though, so visitors still need to make a decision on where to step. 

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