Time to plant

Trees, that is. When the city came though and removed all the growth that surrounded our back yard, they promised us replacement trees. For every tree removed larger than 2" diameter, they provide a replacement tree. We had 5 that size (and 10 more they claimed that were smaller; really?) so we were entailed to 5 but "since we didn't have that much room in the back yard" we ended up with 3. Well, we ended up with 3 after I called the City and inquired about our trees. These trees are euphemistically referred to as the "5-gallon" size because they are "more adaptable." That's City talk for small and cheap.

However, they still require 3 large holes in the ground, which is somewhat of a problem, so Barbara called our friend Ben, who does landscaping and such. Technically, Ben has guys who he finds work for - I'm not sure Ben actually gets a cut, even though these guys use his truck and his tools and he takes care of all the customers. So Ben came, and as long as they are here could his guys clean out the front flower beds and clean up some overgrown vines, etc.?

The plan on the front beds was to take out some dead plants and dig up and divide the monkeygrass, redistributing it in a more orderly manner. Well, Ben's helper got the dig up part right; he dug it all up, bagged it and departed with it - supposedly to the City Dump. I'm not sure when we get to the divide part. I left Ben a message, but he hasn't mentioned the missing monkeygrass yet.

And yesterday I looked up and Ben and his helper were planting the 3 trees. Well, the helper was planting and Ben was sitting in the chair on the patio, supervising. I guess Ben wanted to make sure the trees didn't end up in the same place as the monkeygrass. Supervising means Ben tells the guy in a never-ending stream of Spanglish exactly what to do. Good plan. If you are Ben. They got the 2 Redbuds planted; I guess they'll come back for the Anacacho Orchid. And the monkeygrass part. And the cleaning up the vines, etc.

Maybe when the guy comes back I can supervise. I can even speak Spanglish. Like "That limb over there, por favor."