Let the games begin...

About 25% of the stuff is on the ground here...

In a race against the clock, the weather and my almost exhausted patience, this Monday we finally saw the launch of the planting drive at Arrancopelito.

Sunday evening I freaked when Barbi said "Good news! Monday it will rain but the rest of the week will be fine." Well, not good news if we didn't get the topsoil in time, for example... Well, we did get the truckload of topsoil first thing in the morning, arriving minutes before the truck with the first load of trees and shrubs, and an "advance" team from the landscaper guy who was going to be doing the planting.

Our baby araucarias...

There was a bit of disappointment there, the guy, William, seemed to be shuttling back and forth all day between some other site and my place, the guys he left behind almost all day confessed they hated plants, they only liked lawns and they were actually in charge of tending to a private golf course. In short, they said they knew nothing about planting, but would make holes wherever we indicated and would place the plants in their planting location.

Since there are about 200 specimens to place (we ordered some more yesterday), my Mom decided to stay all day directing the proceedings, or I should say, helping me do the landscape design.

Then, at about 2pm, the pro team arrived, and proceeded to set a large number of plants in the ground before departing at 4 pm. A couple hours later all hell broke loose, but not before William showed up for the last time, and working in the dark, covered (as I had asked repeatedly) the topsoil mound and brought in the palm trees that the dogs were already chewing on because they were lying on the ground, still unplanted.

As seen from the road

Today it was a bit painful to watch all the baby trees and shrubs being pounded by the evil southern winds.