Beach Bungalow Time

So I got this palm tree a few months ago and it’s just been sitting in its pot ever since. I finally got around to planting it in the ground in its final resting place.

Here is was before:

Here is is now:

And some more shots from other vantage points.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

I created a spot specifically for our little grill to kind of hide behind there…

And I fixed the dirt and gravel to make it look more pretty and finished than before…

Not a huge change, but I’m just glad to get that done. The roots were getting all squished in the pot, and now the palm tree can officially start growing since it has room for its roots to spread out underground.

The other thing I needed to figure out for my yard was what to do with these seemingly dead bougainvillea:

I was thinking of removing them, but after doing some research, it seems I may just be over-watering them. Bougainvillea barely need any water and when they do get watered, they need to dry out completely before watering again. I’ve been keeping the soil moist, so that’s probably what made them “die”.

I even saw someone from Imperial Beach (where we live) on a forum talking about how when they first bought their house in Imperial Beach they watered their bougainvillea too much and it “died”, so they went to a nursery to ask what the problem was and they said that she was over-watering and to just water it lightly once a month. I think me watering my plant every other day has been WAAAAAY too much. So I’m just gonna skip watering it for the next month and see what happens.

Some of my research also suggests that bougainvillea kind of lose some of their leaves and colorful blooms in the fall and winter too. But it’s been warm here still, so my problem is probably just over-watering. It also says in numerous places online to trim back the dead branches and leaves because pruning stimulated growth. So I will try that and see if it starts growing again without me watering it so much.

My first real experience with plants was when Kyle and I bought our home 20 miles inland where it gets very hot and it’s very dry all year round. So plants typically need a lot more water out there. Here by the beach I probably don’t need to water as much. There is more humidity and moisture in the air, which seems to help the soil stay moist between watering. So I should probably stop my habit of watering so much now that we live in a more humid environment.

Don’t get me wrong though, the beach in southern california is still dryer than other parts of the United States, but it’s still much more humid than inland southern california. I think this last heat wave confirmed that for me because on Saturday the weather was dreadfully hot and dry about 10 miles inland, and when Kyle and I came back to our house it was lovely weather, and not so dry…

Anyway, I hope I helped teach someone something with all that babbling.

Now I’m off to add some stepping stones to the back of the patio so that back chair doesn’t fall off the edge when someone sits on it… I’ll reveal that tomorrow