We had beautiful weather this past weekend and I spent a lot of my time in the garden, at intervals even managing to forget the circumstances currently facing everyone everywhere to one degree or another. When it came time to pick flowers for "In a Vase on Monday," I targeted two tall stems of peach foxglove that had finally opened after keeping me waiting impatiently for weeks. With a glance at the one snapdragon still left in my cutting garden, my fruit sherbet color scheme was set.
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| The relatively short stems of Antirrhinum majus 'Peachy Dragon' pulled all these colors together and gave me an excuse for recycling two stems of Leucospermum 'Spider' I'd cut last week and cutting a third to fill out the vase |
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| In retrospect, I can't say why I didn't put the 2 foxglove stems together rather than separating them like this. Maybe I was unconsciously thinking of Easter bunnies? |
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| This was the best I could do in way of an overhead shot |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Arbutus 'Marina', Digitalis 'Dalmatian Peach', Leucospermum 'Spider', Narcissus 'Geranium', noID Ixia, pink Ranunculus and, in the middle, Antirrhinum majus 'Peachy Dragon' |
Remembering that a purple bearded
Iris at the bottom of my back slope has been blooming off and on, I trooped down there to see if my timing was right to get a flowering stem for a vase, and I was gratified to find that it was. It determined the color scheme for my second vase.
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| The blue Anemones stole the show from the noID Iris. I did some sleuthing online and determined that the dwarf Iris might be 'Darth Vader'. |
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| Once again, I got carried away, stuffing the vase with a lot of other plant material, including a few bedraggled stems of the unusual noID purple Abelia growing on my back slope. Purchased several years ago labeled simply Abelia species I've been unable to find a proper name for it and I've never seen it anywhere else. |
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| Top view |
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Top row: Abelia sp., Agrostemma 'Ocean Pearls', Anemone 'Mistral Azzurro', and Babiana rubrocyanea
Middle row: Coloenema album, Freesia, noID Iris germanica, and Lavandula multifida
Bottom row: Pelargonium 'White Lady', noID Pericallis, Salvia lyrata 'Purple Volcano', and Verbena lilacina 'De La Mina' |
We had rain overnight and more is expected today and possibly at intervals through Thursday. As our season-to-date total is still well below the average for Los Angeles and as our rainy season generally ends in early April, the storm system is welcome. And it's not as if I need to drive anywhere...
I hope you are doing well. To see more IAVOM creations,
visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2020 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Beautiful as always. Want to thank-you for your regular garden posts. They really help the time go by until Spring truly arrives here. It's a wonderful way of connecting with other like-minded people.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that you stop by to read and comment on my posts, Elaine. Comments like yours help me feel less disconnected from others in this time of social distancing.
DeleteThe first vase really is a fruity sherbert confection of a vase - what lovely colours! And what a great range of blooms you have included in this and your stunning blue vase too - but then again, you always do! You have never failed us yet and today's are both gorgeous. Thanks for sharing them Kris
ReplyDeleteMy garden just keeps on giving, Cathy, especially at this time of year!
DeleteSo pretty and beautifully colour coordinated. Lovely pictures too of all the ingredients. I'm looking forward to our foxgloves which usually flower in May. So far they have barely begun to push up in the centre. Still lots to look forward to. I hope you get a little more rain before it gives up for summer.
ReplyDeleteWe weren't expecting bucket loads of rain, although some areas to the north of us got those. We got just a quarter of an inch today but there's more in the forecast so my fingers remain crossed.
DeleteGorgeous,I love the peachy one and the blues. I've never tried irises in a vase do they last well? We are having beautiful weather at last, what a difference it makes.
ReplyDeleteThese bearded Iris don't seem to have a long vase life but the stem has a promising bud in addition to the one bloom so I'm hoping it'll open as the other fades. When I cut Dutch Iris, I try to do the same thing to get 2 blooms out of a single stem.
DeleteHi Kris, made it across the blog divide! I love the sherbet colors, despite people being weird about pink and orange - I love it. The Abelia looks like a sport of Edward Goucher to me, they are common in the South and sometimes darker than pink. Hope this gets through.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on thwarting the blog watchdogs once again, Amelia! I plan to try propagating the noID Abelia. I seem to have some extra time on my hands for work in the garden at the moment ;)
DeleteYour "Easter bunny" looks quite tasty. I love those dark colors in the second one though. Can't get enough of those anemones.
ReplyDeleteThe Anemones corms were a good buy, Lisa. They never did well in my garden borders because they need more water than those areas get but I'm more generous with water in the cutting garden. I expect to grow them again next year.
DeleteYes bunny ears. Much better than real bunnies who are doing quite a lot of damage here. Love the all-purple bouquet, such a rich color.
ReplyDelete1.5" here so far, whee!!!
1.5 inches is fantastic, HB! Sadly, we got a paltry quarter of an inch today but that's been the story with most of the rainstorms this season. Still, I'm hoping for more as the week progresses.
DeleteLovely bouquets, Kris. I love the peach foxglove. I just have the old-fashioned self-sowing types in white and purple, which occasionally cross to make a pink. It'd be nice to have a peach, which I'd have to find its own place away from the others.
ReplyDeleteThe blue vase is sigh-worthy. I will miss your anemones - they've been spectacular this year.
How's dear Pipig? Hope you all are doing well.
Pipig's currently full of vim and vigor at the moment so I'm already feeling guilty at the thought of hauling her to the vet for yet another chemo treatment later this week, Eliza. Two more treatments to go...
DeleteVivacious bouquets. The foxglove may have teased for a long time before opening but they certainly were worth the wait. Your purple iris is beautiful. I have one similar that's in bloom now too.
ReplyDeleteWhy the bearded Irises on my neglected back slope bloom more reliably than those elsewhere in my garden is a mystery to me - I've never even fertilized those plants. I think the difference may lie in variations in the soil's ability to retain moisture. A proper soil test may be in order.
DeleteI am late to your lovely garden party Kris! I have been struggling quite a bit to get online and I suspect it's because everyone else is amusing themselves on their various computers, phones, tablets etc, and there is a massive demand on the network! Anyway, here I am, enjoying your beautiful vases, full of a delightful mix of glamorous blooms and more demure little ladies! The colours are deliciously sherbetty (sp?!). All so lovely! Thank you! Keep safe and well. Best wishes A
ReplyDeleteI've noticed slower speeds with my computer and phone too, Amanda. Life has changed on oh so many levels. Best wishes to you as well!
DeleteLovely as always. I like both vases, but I think those purple anemones are real show stoppers. Glad you had some rain, even if just a little. I'm sure your flowers appreciate the sip of water as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm praying the garden will get a few more sips before the clouds move out of our area entirely, Cindy. I hope your weather is steadily becoming more spring-like.
DeleteBeautiful vases both (as always), Kris. I think my favourite is your peachey sherbet confection with that lovely leucospermum (although the blue anemones are always to die for!). Lavandula multifida is a real sweetie as well and one I'd never heard of before. Enjoy your rain - we are desperately in need here. Have a good week!
ReplyDeleteLavandula multifida, commonly known here as fernleaf lavender, has been called both California lavender and Egyptian lavender. It's parentage isn't clear, Cathy, but it's thought to be a hybrid.
DeleteI really love that first one with the angle of the foxgloves making it look quite jaunty! �� The colours are gorgeous - especially that antirrhinum. �� Enjoy the rain Kris.
ReplyDeleteI wish I'd picked up more of that 'Peachy Dragon', Cathy, but, as most snapdragons are rust magnets here, I bought a single plant on a whim just to try it. Planting snapdragons toward the tail-end of our rainy season may be a better bet than planting them early in the cool season - I'll have to test that theory next year.
DeleteSuch a great color on that foxglove --love the sherbert colors!
ReplyDeleteThanks Denise. I think Easter colors are having an unconscious influence on me right now.
DeleteI'll take the purple one please!!!
ReplyDeleteThe bearded Iris in that arrangement surprised me by not only producing a new bloom from the bud on the stem but by also revealing a new bud after being cut! And the flowers are sweetly (but not TOO sweetly) scented.
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