Bloom Day & In a Vase on Monday - February Floral Explosion

Although I've complained mightily about the heat and lack of rain this month, the garden seems to be no worse for either (although I'm rapidly depleting my store of collected rainwater).  Last week's warm temperatures, which are expected to continue through at least mid-week, have prompted a floral explosion.  Everywhere I look, something new is blooming or preparing to bloom.  For this month's Bloom Day post, the meme sponsored by Carol at May Dreams Gardens, I've organized my photos by garden area.  (Warning: this is a photo-heavy post.)

In the back garden, several genera are beating the drums:

All the Argyranthemum frutescens are blooming, including the pale pink number on the right I thought I'd pulled out 2 years ago

The Gazanias love the heat! Clockwise from the top: G. 'Sunbathers Otomi', G. 'Orange Flame', G. 'Gold Flame' and G. 'New Day Yellow'

Most of the Grevillea are in bloom, including G. alpina x rosmarinifolia and G. 'Ned Kelly' shown here

The Hebes are joining in, from left to right: H. 'Grace Kelly', H. 'Patty's Purple' and H. 'Wiri Blush'

The Osteospermum have also taken off, from the left: O. 'Blue-eyed Beauty', O. '3D Berry White' and O. 'Spoon Pink'

Although the heat is once again proving that Violas are a poor investment here, they're hanging on like troupers (but I'll probably pull them in March unless we get rain as they're overly thirsty plants)

A miscellaneous collection of other flowers have joined the parade:

Top row: Crocus (a surprise from a batch planted our first year here), Ipheon, and self-seeded Cerinthe major purpurascens
Middle row: Papaver nudicuale, Solanum xanti, and Verbena lilicina
Bottom row: Felicia aethiopica, Cyclamen (another foolish impulse purchase) and noID Narcissus

In the succulent category, from the left: Aloe striata, Bryophyllum manginii, and Bulbine frutescens

The front garden also has a number of attention-seeking plants:

Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' got a later start this year but is now blooming like gangbusters 

Gazania 'White Flame' continues to provide nearly year-round bloom in the front garden (where the squirrels are less likely to eat the flowers than in the backyard)

For once, Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' (left) is flowering on Bloom Day, shown here with G. 'Superb' and G. 'Pink Midget'

Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' actually has colored bracts that just look like flowers.  I couldn't help showing it yet again as, within the space of just over a week, it underwent a significant color change.

Other flowers in bloom in the front garden include, clockwise from the left: Bauhinia x blakeana, Argyranthemum frutescens, Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold', Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy', Lavandula multifida, Pelargonium 'Vectris Glitter' and Tropaeolum major

The area next to the garage has gained a lot of new floral color since I planted it following removal of the lawn, although two plants inherited with the house are playing the starring roles right now.

Calliandra haematocephala (pink powder puff) is in full flower and the bees are happy

Pyrus calleryana (ornamental pear tree) has produced a gentle snowfall of white petals since last week.  Planted below are (clockwise from the upper right): Arctotis 'Opera Pink', 2 hybrid cultivars of Pericallis, Rhodanthemum hosmariense (Moroccan daisy), and more Viola.

Surviving on very low water diets, even the dry garden on the northeast side of the house and the slope below have flowers to offer.

The current star of my dray garden is this Osteospermum 'Summertime Sweet Kardinal'

Other blooms in the dry garden include, clockwise from the upper left, Grevillea lavandulacea 'Penola', Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite', Lavandula 'Goodwin's Creek Grey', Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', Leucadendron salignum 'Chief' (another plant whose bracts just look like flowers), and my neighbor's Brugmansia peeking over our fence

Down on the back slope are, clockwise from the left, Ribes viburnifolium (Catalina perfume currant), a noID dwarf bearded Iris, trailing Lantana, prostrate rosemary, and the first calla lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica) to bloom

Not wishing to be ignored, even the south side garden, the lower level running along the street and the vegetable garden have a few blooms to offer.

The garden beds on the southeast sported blooms by, from the left, Aloe 'Johnson's Hybrid', Aloe variegata (now correctly classified as Gonialoe variegata), Euphorbia ridgida and a tiny noID Muscari

In the area on the southwest side of the garden, I found blooms on Euryops chrysanthemoides 'Sonnenschein', a self-seeded Osteospermum, and Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard'

And in the vegetable garden there are flowering Aeonium, Camellia hybrid 'Taylor's Perfection' and some Schizanthus pinnatus (aka poor man's orchid) I planted from plugs

While many of these blooms, like the so-called African daisies (Arctotis, Gazania and Osteospermum),  don't make good cut flowers, I still have an embarrassment of riches to choose from in preparing this week's bouquet for "In a Vase on Monday," the meme sponsored by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  However, with Sunday being Valentine's Day and a wedding anniversary later in the week, I focused on traditional colors in selecting materials for my vase, which turned into 3 vases.

This one is made up of just 2 plants: Leptospermum 'Pink Pearl' and Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey'

I cut a stem of the noID dwarf purple Iris for this one and added Coleonema album, Coprosma 'Plum Hussey', trailing Lantana, Rhodanthemum hosmariense, Schizanthus and Solanum xanti

I copied another vase I created for "IAVOM" last year here with Grevillea 'Penola' and Jacobaea maritima (commonly known here as dusty miller)

If you made it through the entire post, congratulations!  Visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens to see what's blooming in her garden and elsewhere in the world and visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to see what she and other gardeners have used in their vases this week.


All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party