Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Bloom Day - October 2019

My summer flowers are slowly fading but my traditional autumn bloomers have been slow to make an appearance.

The newest arrivals are these:

The Anemone hupensis japonica came with the garden and aren't prolific bloomers in my climate but I love them just the same

Cuttings of this Plectranthus ciliatus 'Zulu Wonder' came with me from my former garden.  It's one of my favorite plants but needs a good bit of shade - and it doesn't much like being trod on by construction workers.

This is a Salvia leucantha 'Santa Barbara' I thought had died.  If you look carefully at the stem in the middle, you'll see a lurking crab spider.  They're suddenly everywhere in my garden.

Senna bicapsularis finally produced its first blooms this past weekend.  Despite a hard pruning earlier in the year, the stems are very tall, making the flowers hard to photograph.

The flowers of Vitex trifolia aren't especially impressive but the shrub itself, bearing leaves with purple undersides, is attractive


My cutting garden is still the source of the majority of my flowers.  If the following photos look familiar, that's probably because you saw very similar ones last month.

The dahlias are the flashiest denizens of the cutting garden
Top row: Dahlias 'Bluetiful', 'Enchantress' and 'Hollyhill Karen Lee'
Middle row: 'Citron du Cap', 'Labyrinth' and 'Terracotta'
Bottom row: 'Otto's Thrill' and 'Punkin Spice' (Only 'Diva' is a no-show right now)

I can't put names to most of the Zinnia elegans currently in bloom so I'll let them all go incognito

Other cutting garden blooms include: noID Cosmos bipinnatus (top), Amaranthis caudatus (bottom left) and Rudbeckia 'Denver Daisy' (bottom right)


Elsewhere in the garden, a few of the plants that bloomed earlier in the year are responding to our cooler nights with another flush of flowers.

From left to right: Bauhinia x blakeana, Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl' and Leonotis leonurus


Meanwhile a variety of stalwarts continue to put on a good show.

Abelia grandiflora 'Hopley's Variegated' is having a very good year

This bed, dominated to Pennisetum 'Rubrum', Lantana 'Lucky White' and Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', has stood up really well against the construction mess associated with our ongoing remodeling project 

Although closer to the action, this bed containing Grevillea 'Superb' and Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' has also done remarkably well

Some of my Leucadendrons, 'Devil's Blush' (left) and 'Winter Red' (right), are continuing to put on good imitations of flowers

Pennisetum 'Rubrum' is such a star it deserves a second look


I'll wrap up as usual with the flowers keeping a lower profile this month.

Top row: Delphinium elatum, Eustoma grandiflorum, and noID Lantana
Middle row: Lavandula multifida, Plumbago auriculata 'Imperial Blue' and Polygala fruticosa
Bottom row: Salvia 'Mystic Spires', Trichostemma 'Midnight Magic' and Wahlenbergia 'Blue Cloud'

Top row: Aloe 'Rooikappie', Alstromeria 'Indian Summer' and Lantana camara 'Irene'
Middle row: Euryops chrysanthemum 'Sonnenschein', Correa 'Ivory Bells' and Clematis paniculata
Bottom row: Pandorea jasminoides, Phylica pubescens and Zephyranthes candida

Top row: Correa 'Wyn's Wonder', Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' and Pentas lanceolata 'Graffiti Pink'
Middle row: Hemerocallis 'Plum Perfect' (another bloom spike!) and Penstemon mexicali 'Mini-Bells Red'
Bottom row: Rosa 'Pink Meidiland' and Salvia canariensis


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


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

33 comments:

  1. Reblooming daylilies! 'Plum Perfect' is a very pretty one, I really like that color. Mine have all died back.

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    1. I'm so thrilled with 'Plum Perfect' that I ordered 2 more plants from the grower before the company closed down operation for the year. In prior years, 'Persian Market' has also rebloomed but I'm not expecting that this year given the abuse the plants have taken recently.

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  2. So many lovely blooms still. From your wider photos you would never know there is major house work going on. Good indicator of resilient plants.

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    1. Some areas have fared better during this remodel than others, Elaine. The Grevilleas and their companions in those wide shots are in the front garden, which has suffered less abuse than the back area.

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  3. That's an amazing collection of blossoms and wonderful photography. Happy Bloom Day!

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  4. You really do seem to be able to grow a little of everything! Those dahlias are beautiful. They're something I've never tried, maybe I should.

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    1. I didn't start growing dahlias until 3 years ago, Lisa, but now I can't imagine summer or fall here without them.

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  5. What I find astonishing is that most of these are thriving with little to no irrigation. So many things to love!

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    1. The cutting garden gets hand-watered 2x a week at its height, which is why it's so flowerful by comparison to the rest of the garden. Most of the rest is irrigated but much more lightly.

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  6. Oh my goodness, your Anemones are stunning! And all those Dahlias and Zinnias--wowza! At every time of year you have so many amazing plants thriving and blooming. Part of me wants to move to S. Calif. :)

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    1. SoCal has its positives but also its negatives, like wildfires, earthquakes, horrendous freeway traffic, drought...

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  7. Beautiful dreamy blooms.I always envy your capability to grow enormous blooms for every month of the year.My eyes are totally stuck on Grevilleas and leucadendron in your post.Dahlias blooms remind me to get cuttings for our upcoming season.Happy blogger blooms day.

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    1. Grevilleas and Leucadendrons love our dry Mediterranean climate, Arun. I expect they wouldn't know how to handle your monsoons!

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  8. That salvia is very pretty. I haven't seen that one around here. I do have a Black and Blue salvia that keeps coming back in one spot in my garden. I have tried to move pieces of it here and there but those never come back. It is blooming a little right now too. You have a plethora of blooms right now. So nice to see. Happy GBBD.

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    1. Salvia leucantha is native to Mexico and likes things on the drier side, which is why it usually does well here. I have a harder time growing the South American Salvias that originated in wetter areas.

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  9. As always, so many flowers! I do love the exotic blooms of Bauhinia x blakeana.

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    1. The Bauhinia was hard to photograph this month. It flowers are higher in the tree's canopy than they've been in the past.

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  10. Oh, the abundance.... so many beautiful flowers! As you know, I always drool over those Leucadendrons, and I absolutely love that silvery marvel flanking the Pennisetum. It looks fantastic!

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    1. That "silvery marvel" is Centaurea 'Silver Feather'. It didn't bloom much this year but it's foliage is fantastic.

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  12. I'm a little gobsmacked! Wow. Love that Pennisetum 'Rubrum' bed. I hadn't realized how much the combo with whites set them off!

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    1. I wrote a comment earlier, but realized later that you DON'T live in the So Cal area I thought you did...as I am going to be traveling there. Was going to look you up!

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    2. I'm 2.5 hours north of San Diego, Alyse (and that's assuming acceptable freeway speeds). You'd be welcome whenever your travel brings you my way, although at the moment, littered with construction debris, it's not looking its best by any means.

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  13. So beautiful! I just love those dahlias :)

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    1. I love them too, Nikki-ann. It's sad to see that their season is rapidly coming to an end.

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  14. Oh my goodness Kris! Your gardens and collages are beautiful! I love it all,especially your Dahlias and Plectranthus ciliatus 'Zulu Wonder'! Happy Bloom Day!

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  15. Oh such beautiful and prolific October blooms Kris. I wonder if there are any plants that welcome being trod on by construction workers? 😄

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    1. Probably not, Anna! Some are more resilient though. That Plectranthus is a bit fragile.

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  16. These flowers present such a lovely, serene face, I could almost forget that you are living through construction chaos. I especially love your "close to the action" bed and the combination of Pennisetum 'Rubrum' with the silver-foliaged plants.

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    1. There's been a fair amount of collateral damage to the garden, Jean, especially related to the recent debacle with the corroded gas line. I think I'm going to be doing a lot of planting during this cool season. Fingers are crossed we get at least "normal" rain to settle everything in place.

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