In a Vase on Monday: Sodden flowers

An atmospheric river has been moving through Southern California since late Thursday night.  It's delivered a lot of rain, albeit not as much as I was led to believe it would at the outset.  It's come down in torrents at times and, while the showers paused Sunday afternoon, the rain is expected to pick up again Monday morning with heavier showers in the afternoon.  My flowers have suffered in the process and even my beautiful blue bush violets (Barleria obtusa) are looking sad; however, I hope they'll bounce back once the rain has passed.

I'd targeted my Camellia sasanquas to fill a vase this week.  Camellia flowers are prone to shattering and they were taking a beating on Saturday so I cut several of the longest, prettiest stems I could find that afternoon and put them aside, planning to put my vase together Sunday morning.  Unfortunately, the bulk of the flowers dropped their petals overnight.  I made another pass at cutting the flowers on Sunday between morning showers but the stems weren't as impressive as the first ones I'd cut.

The result turned into yet another of my "everything but the kitchen sink" arrangements

Back view: The Amarine wasn't bothered by the rain at all and neither were the Australian fuchsias (Correa)

Overhead view

Clockwise from the upper left: Coleus 'Florida Sun Rose', noID Dianthus, Correa pulchella 'Pink Eyre', Amarine 'Belladiva Emanuelle', 2 Camellia sasanqua (possibly 'Early Wonder' and 'October Magic Rose', and white Eustoma grandiflorum

I wasn't going to bother with a second vase but I'd cut some snapdragons and a late-blooming zinnia mid-week for my kitchen island.  That arrangement needed a refresh so I pulled a couple of the faded flowers and filled in with blooms of Grevillea 'Superb', a plant that is utterly unfazed by rain.

The arrangement of an orange Antirrhinum majus, Grevillea 'Superb', Zinnia 'Benary's Giant Coral', and a single stem of Agonis flexuosa 'Nana' is very matchy-matchy in terms of color but at least it's a cheerful mix

I also rehabbed both of the vases I created last week and placed them elsewhere.

I cut last week's vase containing Protea 'Claire' down by half, as shown on the left.  Other than removing the spent Cosmos flowers, the Chrysanthemum arrangement on the right remains the same.

For more IAVOM creations, check in with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Bloom Day - November 2025 (Early Edition)

I got an early start on my November Bloom Day selections.  My post is in keeping with my Monday-Wednesday-Friday posting schedule but I also had my annual appointment with the tree service on the calendar for Thursday so I couldn't do any work in my garden.  On the heels of that, an atmospheric river (i.e., a monumental rainstorm) was slated to roll in late Thursday night and continue through the weekend so an early post made sense on multiple levels.  (We could get nearly four inches of rain, which is incredible by our standards!)

Coastal Southern California doesn't get as cold as many parts of the Northern Hemisphere.  Frosts are virtually unknown and we never get snow.  So, while my garden isn't at its most floriferous, I expect it still looks heavier on flowers than many others are used to at this time of year.  I'll start with this month's stars.

Blue flowers are welcome any time but especially at this time of year.  These are Barleria obtusa, commonly called bush violets.

I have several clumps of the bush violets both in the back and front garden areas.  My original plant came from a fall sale at my local botanic garden, which no longer offers the fall and spring sales of plants propagated from species grown there.  I've never seen the plants in local garden centers, which is a shame as they grow well here.

Senna bicapsularis, planted in 2011, also puts on a show at this time of year.  It's the host plant for cloudless sulphur butterflies.

I inherited 3 well-established Camellia sasanquas with the garden.  I wasn't provided with the names for either of the 2 cultivars but, after a deep dive down a botanic rabbit hole last year, I decided this one might be 'October Magic Rose'.

The 2 shorter Camellia sasanqua shrubs might be 'Early Wonder'.  Their color is similar to the taller variety but the form of the flowers is different.

On a whim, I bought a Chrysanthemum 'Fairbanks Purple Spoon' at my local garden center a few weeks ago to fill a container that needed refreshing.  It was prettier than the usual runty varieties we see here in the lead up to our Thanksgiving holiday.

Protea 'Claire' has bloomed for the second year in a row.  Her cousin, 'Pink Ice', has yet to produce a single bud.

Just one of my Yucca 'Bright Star' produced a bloom stalk this year

Some plants bloom off and on throughout the year.  Those that have recently mounted a return include the following:

Both the Argyranthemum 'Everest' and Osteospermums ('4D Silver' and 'Violet Ice', shown on the right) are short-lived perennials here

Felicia aethiopica have sprung back since a hard pruning 

Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl' prefers the garden's cooler season.  It usually produces a light flush of flowers in the fall, saving its heavier flush for spring.

In another category, there are what I refer to as my "old dependables" that bloom either all year or for a significant portion of it:

Correa 'Ivory Bells' peaked this month while Correa 'Pink Eyre' is just getting started

Cuphea 'Starfire Pink' is going strong, while orange flowered 'Vermillionaire' (not shown) is just getting around to bouncing back after a pruning

Grevilleas 'Peaches & Cream' (left) and 'Superb' (right) are 2 of my year-round bloomers, although 'Superb' is the more prolific of the 2

Lavandula multifida is in full bloom except for a short time after I chop it back twice a year

The colorful bracts of many Leucadendrons resemble flowers.  From left to right are 'Blush', 'Summer Red', and 'Safari Sunset'.

The ivy geraniums, Pelargonium peltatum, are a joy.  Clockwise from the upper left are 'Dark Burgundy', 'Lavender Blizzard', and a buoyant unnamed red variety

As usual, several plants took me by surprise:

Aloe lukeana is blooming for the second time this year

I planted 5 Amarine 'Belladiva Emanuelle' bulbs in 2021.  Only one has made a showing this year (so far).  It's a cross of a Nerine and an Amaryllis belladonna.

This Dahlia made a late appearance this month and is currently sporting 2 more buds.  The tuber was purchased as 'Caproz Pizzazz', which it is not.  My guess is it could be 'Ferncliff Illusion'. 

Hemerocallis 'For Pete's Sake' decided to offer another bloom stalk.  At least one other daylily is also sporting a fall bloom stalk (but no open flowers yet).

I cleared my cutting garden in October and prepped it for cool-season bulbs and annuals.  There isn't much to see there yet, although the Anemone coronaria corms are already producing foliage.  There are also plugs of various annuals in place.

I've planted nearly 2 dozen snapdragon plugs (Antirrhinum majus), only 3 of which are a named variety ('Double Azalea Bronze')

I also installed half a dozen stock plugs (Matthiola incana)

Photos of the best of the rest of the flowers have been assembled into color-coded collages:

Clockwise from the upper left: Duranta repens 'Sapphire Skies', Rotheca myricoides 'Ugandense', Tulbaghia violacea, Evolvulus 'Beach Bum Blue', Hebe 'Grace Kelly', Polygala myrtifolia, and Vitex trifolia

From the upper left: noID Dianthus, Dietes grandiflora, Eustoma grandiflorum, Fuchsia 'Windchimes White', and Gazania 'White Flame'

From the upper left: Cosmos bipinnatus, Hebe 'Wiri Blush', Pentas lanceolata, noID Dianthus, noID Gazania, Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Giant Coral', and Lantana 'Irene'

From the upper left: Argyranthemum 'Yellow Beauty', Chrysocephalum 'Desert Flame', Euryops 'Sonnenschein', Gaillardia 'Spintop Copper Sun', Faucaria tuberculosa, Rudbeckia 'Juliana', Tagetes lemmonii, and Lantana 'Lucky Yellow' 

For more Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day posts, check in with Carol at May Dreams Gardens on November 15th.

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

This and that

I woke up Monday morning to find a thick blanket laying over the Port of Los Angeles below us.  This happens periodically each year but it still feels queer, like a scene from the Twilight Zone.  We're used to an active scene at the Port.  Even at night, it's fully lit up, like something you'd see from the window of an airplane as you descend to land at a busy airport.  On Saturday, the marine layer blew in during the late afternoon hours and the harbor lights were literally blacked out by the fog.  That, and the relative silence that seems to accompany dense fog, was creepy.   Then Monday morning, although the marine layer was entirely gone at our elevation by 6am, the fog condensed over the Port, making it virtually invisible.

All you could see of the harbor was the top of shipping cranes and the upper section of the Vincent Thomas Bridge

A closer look

This shot showing part of my back garden emphasizes how clear it was at our elevation by comparison to the Port.  Our property sits just over 800 feet above sea level.

As temperatures ramped up, the fog cleared, revealing the Port once again.

It was clear by 10am that morning.  The view revealed 2 cruise ships in the harbor.

The thick blanket was back - and even deeper - on Tuesday morning, however.

Even the cranes and bridge were buried under the clouds yesterday morning.  The fog never lifted entirely on that occasion.

The weather forecast suggests we're in for a marked change as the week continues.  There's a solid prospect of rain on the horizon, starting as early as Thursday and possibly stretching through the weekend.  That's a good/bad thing as my annual tree trimming exercise is scheduled to start at 8am Thursday morning.  The latest forecasts now suggest that rain won't arrive until late afternoon that day so I'm hoping that the tree service's work won't be postponed.  I'd like to get that activity over and done with.

The ornamental pear tree in the front garden is dropping leaves by the bushel.  I'm sweeping them up every other day now so I'm looking forward to that particular tree's scheduled trimming.  Seventeen trees and large shrubs are on the list for trimming and 2 dead shrubs are slated for removal so it'll be a jam-packed day.

There's still relatively little fall color here but, for perhaps the first time, the 'Hachiya' persimmon (Diospyros kaki) produced some pretty leaf color, along with its fruit.  The leaves usually go from green straight to brown before they drop.  In contrast, the 'Fuyu' persimmon is only just showing some color.

As I wait for the tree trimmers, I'm trying to get more bulbs in the ground before the next rainstorm, as well as continuing my fall garden cleanup.  

I spent most of my time in the garden yesterday watering and tidying things up, getting only 20 Ranunculus corms planted.  I received the last of my fall bulb orders yesterday and would love to get them planted up before the rain arrives but that may be unrealistic.  I still have a significant number of bulbs in the refrigerator getting the equivalent of their winter chill so they won't be planted until mid-December.

Meanwhile, my husband went ahead with removal of the wood fence bisecting our north side garden despite what I thought was an agreement to bring in a contractor to handle it.  He took the fence down in manageable stages.  (The plan for the fence's removal was discussed in an earlier post here.)

This was stage 2, which involved removal of two-third's of the planks between the posts

The rest of the planks went in stage 3

Removal of the posts was the hardest part.  My husband discovered that the posts (albeit not the cedar planks) were riddled with termite damage.

View looking from the northeast side of the garden looking west once the fence was gone

View from the cutting garden looking east

Once the active termites have been dealt with, the baton passes to me to weave the formerly separated areas together.  Sadly, I think the 'Pink Pearl' Leptospermums will have to go, much as I love them.  They look ungainly without the backdrop of the fence.  I'm trying to think of a spot to put one elsewhere but I expect I'll be filling in most of the empty space shown here, originally occupied with rosemary shrubs, with succulents.

The plan for removal of the pergola attached to the front of the house remains open for further discussion.

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: From Big & Bold to Dainty & Demure

The weekly "In a Vase on Monday" meme is hosted by Cathy of Rambling in the Garden.  As this is the meme's twelfth anniversary, Cathy threw out a challenge for this week's post, asking participants to includeboth  a pun and a prop in their posts.  When I come up with a pun it's usually by accident and I found myself unable to produce one intentionally on this occasion.  I briefly considered punting the task to AI (hey, does that statement count?).  But that felt like a cheat and I'm also a bit creeped out by the extent to which our society is becoming reliant on AI.  So I gave up on a pun and went with alliteration with my post title, which is another variety of word play.  I did include a couple of props, though.

Here's my "big and bold" arrangement:

The inspiration came from the Protea 'Claire' in my front garden.  Most of the plant's flowers are still in bud so I cut only 2 of them, one of which was already in decline.  I considered cutting a bud or 2 but I surmised, and online sources confirmed, that those buds won't open fully if cut too early (i.e., before the petals open enough to reveal the sepals).

Back view

Overhead view

Clockwise from the upper left: Coprosma 'Eclipse', Cuphea 'Starfire Pink', Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset', a newly opened Protea 'Claire', and another Protea flower in decline

The second, "dainty and demure" arrangement, was inspired by a Chrysanthemum I purchased on the fly a couple of weeks ago.  Chrysanthemums are commonly flash-in-a-pan offers at local garden centers here, sold as sad little potted plants in the lead up to the late-November US Thanksgiving holiday.  I've never seen any of the really fancy Chrysanthemums sold here but this year I discovered some prettier-than-usual selections in larger pots, one of which I brought home to fill an outdoor container.

I had a bit of trouble finding suitable companions for the purple Chrysanthemum 'Fairbank Purple Spoon' but I found a few short stems, all of which worked in this small cut crystal vase

Back view

Overhead view

Clockwise from the upper left: Chrysanthemum 'Fairbank Purple Spoon', Cosmos bipinnatus in pink and magenta, Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', and scented Matthiola incana (aka stock)

I had to dig around for props too.  Working on the "big" and "dainty" references, I initially considered polished black stones in various sizes before selecting two sizes of cat figurines (mainly because I have some on hand).

The 2 arrangements in place with their props on hand

The props are different in both size and quality.  Meeko jumped on the dining room table to check out the china piece (and no, she's not supposed to do that).

For more IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  My my personal thanks to Cathy for pulling together this friendly meme, maintaining its currency for twelve years (!!!), and offering ongoing support to her many contributors. 

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party