Planting pressure

Yesterday DW & P finished laying the green roof materials, and recruited me to tie plastic around all the open pipe ends of the fencing, which has been delivered in sections over the past few days. The plastic will keep out the rain expected this weekend. Also yesterday, CG left for what sounds like an awesome Italian vacation, leaving us to mind the planting. This morning I realized that I’ve been avoiding thinking about planting for fear that it will become not only real but completely over my head.

Nonetheless, today is Thursday, and we're on schedule! The roof is a hive of activity, with 4 different crews working simultaneously: the roofers completing the copper, R & a Polish co-worker installing the door, the original Latino crew building the stairs, and a new cast of characters: CDV & ASMK the planting people. As DW observed, their laborers and the ones building the shed seem to be novelists, artists and poets who don't want desk jobs.

Planting won’t come a moment too soon for the old plants; they are starting to take a beating on the top roof. The last two days were terribly windy and temperatures have dropped to the low 40s F. The wind kept knocking over the taller plants as quickly as we righted them, and it dried out all the plants. The bougainvillea had begun to bloom beautifully but now is quite shriveled. I cut a bouquet of mums before they were fully open, lest they got even more beat up. The hardy gladiolas have come up wonderfully. But the irises are browning.