My recent Bloom Day posts have been overloaded with photos so rather than bore readers with another long post, I tried to whittle down my photo collection to focus only on the most floriferous selections. Still, it is spring and in coastal southern California that means a plentiful supply of flowers.
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| This photo looking across one side of my front garden makes my point - up front are Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', Echium candicans 'Star of Madeira' and Argyranthemum frutescens and in the distance you can see Jacobaea maritima, Tropaelum majus and Heuchera 'Bressingham hybrids' |
Grevilleas throughout the garden are blooming with abandon.
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| Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' |
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| Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' |
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| Grevillea 'Superb' |
But
Grevillea isn't the only genus in full production mode.
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| Alstroemerias: noID coral, noID pink, and dwarf white 'Princess Claire' |
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| Coleonemas: C. album and C. pulchellum 'Sunset Gold' |
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| Gazanias: 'White Flame' (top). 'Gold Flame' (bottom, left) and 'Sunbather Otomi' (bottom, right) |
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| Pelargoniums, clockwise from upper left: 'Oldbury Duet', 'Golf Ball', noID double P. peltatum, 'Georgia Peach', P. tomentosum, and 'White Lady' |
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| Roses, clockwise from upper left: 'Medallion', 'Butter Cream', 'Joseph's Coat', 'Mutabilis', 'Pink Meidiland', noID white, 'Ebb Tide', and no ID lavender-pink |
There's color wherever I look.
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| Achillea 'Moonshine' surrounded by Geranium 'Tiny Monster' and Lobularia maritima |
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| Anagallis 'Wildcat Mandarin' and Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' (photobombed by Ozothamnus diosmifolius) |
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| The pink Argyrantemum frutescens doesn't fit well here but it'll stay for now. Surrounding it are white Argyranthemum, Osteospermum 'Berry White', and Lavandula stoechas 'Sugarberry Ruffles' |
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| Carpenteria californica with a carpet of Euphorbia 'Dean's Hybrid' at its feet |
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| Convolvulus sabatius 'Moroccan Beauty' intermingled with Brachyscome 'Enduring Blue' |
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| Leucadendron 'Pisa' underplanted with Solanum xanti, Salvia 'Amistad' and Cotula lineariloba 'Big Yellow Moon' |
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| Lupinus propinquus swallowing Felicia aethiopica |
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| Pansies (planted when I thought El Niño was meant to bring us rain) and Prunella grandiflora 'Freelander Blue' |
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| The unusual blooms of Salvia lanceolata |
Finally, here are some blooms I couldn't bring myself to ignore entirely:
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Top row: Aquilegia 'Sring Magic', common borage, and Lobelia valida 'Delft Blue'
Middle row: Gaura lindheimeri 'Snow Fountain', Lavandula stoechas 'Silver Anouk', and Scabiosa 'Vivid Violet'
Bottom row: the first blooms of Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid', Centranthus ruber (a weed here) and Heuchera 'Bressingham Hybrids' |
For more April blooms,
visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens, our host for Garden bloggers' Bloom Day.
All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
What a feast of color!
ReplyDeleteIt's actually a bit overwhelming at the moment, Jane, but I expect the summer heat that's coming will tone the garden down all too soon.
Deleteand you said you were whittling down ;) What a wonderful array of colour. I sit here looking out the living room window - rain and sleet battering down. These sunny images really cheered me up Kris.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you for not missing out the Grevillea - they are stunning.
We couldn't used a lot more of that rain here, Angie. We're going to be parched soon if we don't get any more before spring gives in to summer.
DeleteYou remind me to add more of our salvias.
ReplyDeleteI have the burnt orange, but miss the blue, and your dusky pink is a beauty!
I bought that dusty pink Salvia out of bloom for its foliage and initially didn't know what to make of it when the first flowers appeared but I've come to love it!
DeleteYour garden really is paradise Kris, I would so love to spend an hour or two looking round and lingering over all the amazing plants you grow. I particularly love your gorgeous grevillea collection.
ReplyDeleteI'd never grown Grevilleas before moving here 5 years ago, Chloris, but I'm very happy at how well adapted they've become to this garden. I don't even have a count on how many plants - or even Grevillea species - I have at the moment. Like Leucadendrons, they've become an addiction.
DeleteOh my goodness, Kris, you must be giddy with joy. Very lovely.
ReplyDeleteMarch through early May is our peak flower season, Susie, although summer is poised to put in an early appearance this weekend. Hopefully, it'll move on next week and allow us to enjoy cooler temperatures for awhile yet.
DeleteHi Kris, there is certainly no lack of blooms in your garden! I really do like the 'Star of Madeira'.
ReplyDeleteYour white alstroemeria white 'Princess Claire' looks exactly like mine, so I think you got the right variety. I hope it will bloom as profusely in your garden as it does here.
Loved to see the roses that are flowering for you right now. That 'Medallion' is really something and I also like 'Ebb Tide' very much.
The bloom of Salvia lanceolata is really fascinating. I have a brownish rose and I think those two would make an exciting duo together.
I see that you are also growing a white gaura. I planted five white ones in my garden this year for the first time, they are a different variety though, and I love them already. I somehow have fallen head over heals for the dainty butterfly like white blooms. In my opinion they are good companion plants for the roses.
Happy GBBD, Kris and thanks for showing your lovely blooms!
Christina
The Gaura 'Snow Fountain' was planted a few years back and has returned reliably since, although I do have to watch it carefully for aphids. I have a couple of different varieties, including one pink-flowering type (which has yet to bloom) elsewhere in the garden. I hope yours do well too!
DeleteWonderful, so much color everywhere. Your garden shows how hard you worked on it. It's great!
ReplyDeleteI have worked hard on the garden - my husband too (albeit more reluctantly). Unfortunately, my trees are under fire from my neighbor again so the garden seems to have a pall hanging over it at the moment.
DeleteI just love that Salvia lanceolata. What an incredible colour. And it works so well with the Stipa behind it.
ReplyDeleteThe color of that Salvia is unusual and I like it so much I picked up one with similar coloring, S. africana lutea, at my botanic garden's recent spring sale.
DeleteYour garden looks spectacular! I love all the oranges and purples. My garden looks bloomless by comparison. I have to keep reminding myself it's only mid-April, despite a second wave of days over 80 degrees forecast already.
ReplyDeleteI'd contend that our flower power peaks in April here, Evan, although the red-orange daylilies and agapanthus will make a major color splash in May/June.
DeleteWow. I look forward to your Bloom Day post every month. Not only because your garden is such a treasure trove of flowers but because every month I discover a new must-have plant. This month it's Salvia lanceolata. Gotta look for it.
ReplyDeleteI have a question about your Grevillea 'Peaches and Cream'. Do you ever have problems with some of the foliage suddenly turning brown and falling off? My 'Peaches and Cream' is covered with flowers, but a lot of leaves are browning. I wonder if it's because of the mini heat waves we've had (10°F jumps in temperature from one day to the next, up and down).
Funny you should mention that, Gerhard. I haven't seen a lot of leaf drop on the Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' in the front garden but the 2 smaller specimens I have in the back have a lot of yellow and brown leaves. The same is true of 2 of my smaller Grevillea 'Superb'. It may be related to heat, or perhaps too little water; however, I noticed the same pattern in my original 'Superb' when it was small too but that's no longer a significant issue. I'm hoping that the plants will be better able to handle stressors of all kinds once the plants grow and their roots spread.
DeleteIt is a joy to walk around your garden with you. It would be a long time as there is so much to admire and enjoy. The Salvia lanceolata caught my eye as a plant I've not seen before.
ReplyDeleteI bought that Salvia for the silver gray foliage color without any knowledge of the flower color, Christina. I wasn't sure how I felt about it at first but now I love it. I recently picked up a S. africana lutea at the local botanic garden's sale - it has flowers of a similar size and shape with more of a brick red color.
DeleteAgree with the first poster who said this is a feast of color! I always feel the need to gush over your Grevilleas, lol. They are so uniquely beautiful. I love your geraniums too, especially Oldbury Duet!
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of Grevilleas, Sweetbay, as is no doubt obvious. The 'Oldbury Duet' geranium is another favorite, although it has a much shorter bloom cycle than many of the Grevilleas.
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