This is a flower on Dermatobotrys saundersii, a plant I picked up at The Huntington Garden's fall sale in late October. I placed the plant in a large pot in a moderately shady spot in my new bromeliad garden early this month.
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| This photo, taken November 2nd, shows what the plant looked like shortly after I potted it up |
During the last heatwave, I noticed that it'd dropped a large number of its leaves. I wasn't sure if that was a response to the heat, the sharp drop in humidity, too much shade or too little, or watering errors on my part but the leaves continued to drop and I feared I'd killed the plant. Then it began to produce flowers and show the first signs of producing new leaves. Hurrah!
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| This is what the plant looks like now. It has relatively few leaves but lots of flower buds. It turns out that the plant is semi-deciduous. I learned a lot more about it through on-line references after the flowers appeared, including that it's considered at risk of extinction, that its fruits are considered edible, but also that the USDA classifies it as poisonous. |
But those weren't the only flowers that came as a surprise. There are a few more.
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| Echeveria 'Serrana' has bloomed. I was attracted to the succulent's dark maroon foliage but its bright orange flowers are attractive too. I don't always like succulent flowers but these are definitely an exception. |
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| Some of my Eustoma grandiflorum (Lisianthus) are producing new flower buds too. In late summer and early fall, the buds of many plants withered in place. I pulled many of the plants up, tossing quite a few out, including what I thought were all of the pink-flowering varieties, which performed poorly this year. Apparently, I missed at least one. |
To top things off, as I was taking photos this morning, I ran into a visitor.
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| A Monarch butterfly! She flitted all around the 2 Arbutus 'Marina' in the back garden but I never captured a good photo with her wings open. Annoyed by my presence, she moved on to flowers higher up in the trees so I left her in peace. She's my Wednesday Vignette. |
I also left a surprise for my neighbors this morning.
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| Despite giving away bags and bags of lemons to friends over the last several weeks and dropping off a couple more at my next door neighbor's door, the tree down at the bottom of our back slope remained heavily laden with fruit, straining some of the branches. I decided to lighten its load by giving some of it away and left 2 buckets of lemons at our driveway entrance early this morning. |
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| Three-quarters of it was gone in less than an hour |
For more Wednesday Vignettes, visit our host, Anna of Flutter & Hum.
All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
that terracotta flower on the succulent is a happy colour (mine came out a sickly greenish yellow ick!)
ReplyDeleteDoesn't it seem that most succulents produce yellow flowers? This one was a nice change.
DeleteThose were all nice surprises, but especially the one assuring you that you hadn't killed that wonderful plant. And the monarch, of course! I wish I could take you up on those lemons - what bounty! Wonderful indeed!
ReplyDeleteThe lemon bounty was all the sweeter in that I went a year with no lemons at all after we were struck with a horrible first-day-of-summer heatwave in 2015. A large percentage of the fruit dropped immediately when our temperatures suddenly went from pleasant to 106F, and the remaining fruit shriveled in place. I thought I might lose the tree for a time. It took more than a year to recover.
DeleteCool surprises! Lemons, yummmy.
ReplyDeleteThe lemon tree made a major recovery this year after the travesty afflicted on it by the horrific heatwave of 2015, or as you call it "the big broil."
DeleteI'm definitely learning a new plant from you: the Dermatobotrytis looks fabulous! How big is it expected to grow?
ReplyDeleteI'd never seen nor heard of this plant before I tripped over it at the Huntington's plant sale, Amy. It's supposed to grow 2-3 feet tall and wide. Apparently, it can also be treated as an epiphyte grown in a tree but is equally at home in soil.
DeleteCongrats on the blooms, you keep your plants (and neighbors) happy!
ReplyDeleteI was surprised at how quickly those lemons disappeared! When I leave plants out for adoption, the interest isn't nearly as keen.
DeleteSome really nice surprises in your garden both for you and your lucky neighbors!
ReplyDeleteIt's been a good week in the garden, Peter.
DeleteWhat a wonderfully generous neighbor you are! I wish I lived close enough to take you up on your bounty. Nice shot of the monarch butterfly. I was out gardening yesterday and a big bee buzzed me around my Arbutus unedo. I guess pollinators like Arbutus flowers.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about Arbutus flowers, Alison. The same morning I caught the photo of the monarch, the tree was also abuzz with bees and 2 dueling hummingbirds.
DeleteThose lemons!!! I have two small, scraggly, pathetic Meyer lemons: they live inside from now until April, then back outside. yes, they give me a few lemons but oh, the plants are the worst most bedraggled things! I am jealous. Very jealous!
ReplyDeleteAs to monarchs: we have so few these last years it's awful. I've planted a lot of Asclepias but they don't do too well for me, for some reason. Will keep trying!
Well, Florida might argue about who's on top in the citrus department, Libby, but Southern California provides a good growing environment for citrus of all kinds. I inherited the lemon tree with the garden, along with lime, naval orange and mandarin orange trees.
DeleteHello Kris, long time since I have been here now. Lovely with surprises in the garden - at least nice surprises - I also patrol my garden every day, looking for what damage the squirrel and foxes have done (no raccoons in my garden than goodness).
ReplyDeleteDoes your Echeverias die after flowering? Mine seem to put up a lovely display just to zonk out afterwards...
I hope I will have a surplus of lemons like you, I am still waiting for my first harvest, hopefully next year.
Most of my Echeverias don't die after flowering, Helene, but some do. 'Serrana' is relatively new to my garden so I'm not sure how it'll do after flowering yet but, as I have quite a few of them, I hope it'll take the event in stride!
DeleteHuh! you are in LA, and that's why such beauties in your garden still when the rest of us here in the USA now hunkering down for the freezing winter :-). Gosh! so many lemons. Are they from just 1 tree? How big is the tree?
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting KL! No freezes here. In fact, we had summer-like temperatures last week for Thanksgiving but we're hoping that was a fluke as 90+F in late November isn't a good thing. All the lemons came from 1 tree on my poorly tended back slope. The tree's probably 8 or 9 feet tall and a bit wider. I inherited it with the garden and, with the exception of a one-year period following a truly horrific heatwave during the height of our drought in 2015, it bears fruit year-round.
DeleteIt is wonderful to walk through the garden looking for surprises, very happy-making exercise, I find ...
ReplyDeleteIf only all such walks provided happy surprises, Sue!
DeleteI can't imagine having so many lemons. I use all the ones my very small trees in pots produce for various things including preserved lemons which I love; lemon marmalade and lemon curd; how do you use yours?
ReplyDeleteMy husband (the family cook) use lemons in cooking but I use them mainly to flavor beverages like tea. I have friends who ask for deliveries on a regular basis too but the volume of fruit used or requested never keeps up with the supply. (I've done these neighborhood giveaways before.) The only time this tree was ever bare of fruit in the 7 years we've lived here was during the 1-year aftermath of the horrible 2015 heatwave that struck on the first day of summer.
DeleteWe can pay up to $1.50 a piece for organic lemons - too bad you don't live closer! :)
ReplyDelete$1.50 - really! With the exception of the year following the 2015 heat apocalypse, we've always had lemons at the ready for the 7 years we've lived here so I've never paid any attention to prices for the fruit.
Delete