Our Little Cordyline

We have a tree well outside our building.  When we first moved in, there was a sizable stump in it.  One day, our downstairs neighbors removed that stump.  Ever since then, the tree well has been filled with a variety of weeds and grasses, along with some potatoes that our other downstairs neighbor planted there.  [I would never, ever eat anything that grew in a tree well on a city sidewalk.  I don't really care to have my fruit and veggies nourished with cat and dog urine, you know?]

[The offending tree well.  I told you it was unattractive.]

Anyway, on Sunday we finally made good on our plan to revamp that tree well.  We went to my favorite garden center in the entire world, Flora Grubb, and found a nice looking cordyline (in the sale section, no less!).  We chose this plant because it actually grows quite large and doesn't require much water.  Also, it meshes with the Spanish look of our building.  It would have been cool to get a full-size tree, but we were operating under the constraints of what the Volvo could hold.

Before we got started, we had lunch on our front steps in the sun.  We mused that yard work is much more tolerable when it's not 100+ degrees outside.

After assembling our tools, we got to work clearing out the weeds and grass.  Along the way we found several shards of glass, some coins, different sized potatoes that our neighbor didn't dig up, some trash, and lots of worms and bugs.

We added quite a bit of nice, healthy soil, plopped the cordyline in the hole, and covered the whole area with shredded redwood bark.  

We plan to put in something around the edge to finish it off.  Also, once the cordyline gets larger, it'd be cool to start a succulent garden around the base.