My two favorite blog memes, "In a Vase on Monday" and "Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day," collide once again this month. I considered separate posts on the same or different days but decided once again to merge the two, even though that makes for a long post. I'll lead off this time with what I've got in a vase this Monday.
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| My first vase was inspired by the blooms on Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' |
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| The central photo is an overhead view of the vase. Clockwise from the top left, the vase includes: Allium sphaerocephalon, seedhead of Salvia 'Pozo Blue', Ammi majus 'Dara', Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', Leucanthemum x superbum, Pelargonium peltatum 'Dark Burgundy', and Origanum 'Monterey Bay' . |
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| This vase made use of the last of my cool season larkspurs (Consolida ajacis) and Orlaya grandiflora |
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| The central photo again shows the vase photographed from above. Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: blue and white Agapanthus, lavender Consolida ajacis, Orlaya grandiflora, Eustoma grandiflorum (aka lisianthus), and dark blue Consolida ajacis. |
As there was in May, I have a lot in bloom this month despite the fact that we've already had a few heatwaves in coastal Southern California, as well as regular bouts with drying wind conditions. In a departure from my usual Bloom Day posts, I've organized much of what I have to share by garden area, although I'll start off with my usual June headliner,
Agapanthus, which aren't consigned to one specific area but rather are spread throughout my garden.
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| The blue and white Agapanthus came with the garden, although I've divided and moved some since we moved in 9+ years ago. There are clumps to be found in almost every area of my garden. |
Next we'll take a look at the back garden, one of the one of the most floriferous areas at present.
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| This is the view looking north from the back patio |
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| The splashiest element at the moment is Lobelia laxiflora |
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| Other plants in flower in this area include, clockwise from the upper left: a noID Anigozanthos (aka Kangaroo paws), Arbutus 'Marina', Argyranthemum frutescens 'Everest', Grevillea 'Ned Kelly', Hemerocallis 'For Pete's Sake', Lantana camara 'Irene', and variegated Lantana 'Samantha' |
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| This is the other side of the back garden, looking south |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, plants currently in bloom include: Achillea 'Moonshine'. Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', Arctotis 'Pink Sugar', Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun' (with Euphorbia 'Dean's Hybrid), Hemerocallis 'Elizabeth Salter', and Lotus berthelotii 'Amazon Sunset' |
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| Leonotis leonurus (aka lion's tail) has just started blooming here too |
Continuing on, we move into the garden on the south side of the house.
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| The plants on this end of the garden include many succulents but I've mixed in other drought tolerant plants as well |
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| With its soft yellow flowers on red stems, Crassula pubescens ssp radicans plays a starring role at this time each year, picking up the yellow and red edges of the 'Blue Glow' Agaves |
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| Salvia clevelandii 'Winnifred Gilman' also makes a statement |
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| Wahlenbergia 'Blue Cloud' has a more subtle presence here but the plant is good at weaving itself through the succulents |
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| Other plants in bloom here include, clockwise from the upper left: Cistus 'Sunset' (shown in the first 2 photos), a variety of self-seeded Gazanias, Lagurus ovatus (aka bunny tail grass), Hesperaloe parviflora, and Hymenolepsis parviflora (aka Coulter bush) |
Rounding the corner, let's look at what's blooming in the front garden.
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| This is a view of the front garden looking north |
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| Clockwise from the upper right, we have: Centaurea 'Silver Feather', Plectranthus neochilus, Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' Cotyledon orbiculata, Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun', Grevillea 'Superb', and Magnolia grandiflora |
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| The shaggy Leucanthemum x superbum (Shasta daisies) given me by a friend years ago are blooming here too |
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| At the far end of this section of the garden, we find Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', along with a few stray blooms of Leucospermum 'Spider' and Lantana 'Lucky White' |
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| This is a section of the front garden bordering the path to our front door |
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| There are more Agapanthus here, along with Cuphea 'Starfire Pink', Gazania 'White Flame', and 'Pink Meidiland' roses |
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| Just last week, the 2 large shrubs of Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' on either side of the front walkway started sporting sprays of white flowers |
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| The flashiest of my daylilies, Hemerocallis 'Spanish Harlem', is just finishing up its bloom cycle, although it sometimes produces a second flush of flowers in late fall |
The last area I'll cover is the cutting garden on the northwest side of the house.
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| The arbor covered with flowering Pandorea jasminoides and Trachelospermum jasminoides (aka star jasmine) leads into my cutting garden |
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The last of the cool season flowers are dying out, making way for warm season blooms
Top row: Clarkia amoena (aka farewell to spring) and Orlaya grandiflora (aka Minoan lace)
Middle row: Consolida ajacis 'Summer Skies' (aka larkspur)
Bottom row: orange and yellow Lantana and Penstemon mexicali |
I skipped the dry garden on the northeast side and the back slope but here's one shot from the area next to the shade house, which has one particularly splashy plant that deserves attention.
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| This is succulent Oscularia deltoides |
With that, I'll end this post with a set of collages featuring the best of the rest.
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Top row: Erigeron glaucus 'Wayne Roderick', Limonium perezii, Pelargonium peltatum, and Polygala fruticosa
Middle row: Eustoma grandiflorum, Rotheca myricoides, and Triteleia laxa 'Queen Fabiola'
Bottom row: Melaleuca thymifolia, Symphyotrichum chilense, Trachelium caerulea, and Trichostemma 'Midnight Magic' |
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Top row: Acanthus mollis, Ammi majus 'Dara', and Allium sphaerocephalon
Second row: Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy', G. pulchella 'Truffula Pink', and Melinus nerviglumis
Third row: Hemerocallis 'Apollodorus', noID, and 'Plum Perfect'
Bottom row: Monarda 'Peter's Purple' Pelargonium cucculatum, P. pelatatum, and noID rose |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Alstroemeria 'Claire', Ammi majus, Arthropodium cirratum (on its last legs for the season), Globularia x indubia, and Romneya coulteri |
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Top row: Eriogonum 'Ella Nelson's Yellow' and Festuca glaucus
Middle row: self-seeded orange and yellow Gazanias and Hemerocallis 'Joan Senior'
Bottom row: Hemerocallis 'Sammy Russell, Phlomis fruticosa, and Sideritis cypria |
That's it! I hope you're enjoying IAVOM and/or Bloom Day, both of which add a bit of cheer to start the week. For more Bloom Day posts,
see Carol at May Dreams Gardens.
All material © 2012-2020 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Wow, just stunning. Is that a magnolia in your front garden? I just planted that lobelia and I'm excited to see what it will do here. I always plant the leonitis when I can find it. I love it.
ReplyDeleteThe Magnolia is indeed in the front garden. Unfortunately, most of the flowers are positioned so high in the tree, I can only get distance shots of any of them. The Lobelia is almost too happy here - I have to hack it back annually to keep it from taking over.
DeleteSo many beautiful flowers and plants, I barely know where to begin! Your garden is so full of colour and texture. You are a master plantswoman Kris! In your vase I LOVE the ammi majus 'Dara'. My ammi seedlings are about half an inch high and have been that way for about three weeks now. I've given up. Your beautiful soft wine coloured flowers are dreamy, and alongside that voluptuous pelargonium, it's just all wonderful! Not a flower in sight in my vase this week!! Have a good week. Amanda https://therunningwave.blogspot.com/2020/06/clocking-time-in-vase-on-monday.html
ReplyDeleteThanks Amanda. That burgundy-flowered Pelargonium is one of my favorites. I'm fond of the burgundy-tinged 'Dara' too.
DeleteThe mauves and the blues and the corals...oh my! Where to start in raving about the beauty in your garden and your vases? Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThanks Beth.
DeleteIt's good to see these views of your garden, Kris, and where some of your blooms have come from. I especially like the look of that salvia clevelandii and must check and see if it will grow in the UK. AS always, your blue vase really stands out, perhaps because good strong blues are not as common in our gardens as the pinks and purples, and with the whites it has a real cooling effect. Thanks for everything you have shared today
ReplyDeleteThe Salvia clevelandii are robust shrubs in my climate, Cathy. You're unlikely to see few, if any, stems in any of my flower arrangements though, as the foliage is strongly scented. It's not an unpleasant scent but it's too pungent to have inside.
DeleteI love your Blooms Day posts, Kris. Such a delight to see what currently is blooming in your garden, always something to admire. I like that you included the wider views, too, the better to appreciate your design and the play between plants. The view of the back garden fairly shimmers with what I imagine is heat!
ReplyDeleteI really love your arrangements this week, too. The burgundy/pink and blue/white themes are spectacular! I wish I had your restraint for sticking with a color scheme, but somehow I get distracted by any pretty face. ;)
Yes, I thought the heat was evident in some of my photos too, Eliza. I took the photos at intervals over the course of several days and it was scorching hot for awhile.
DeleteFabulous vases as always Kris and what can I say about your June blooms other than ... wow! Off to find pen and notebook to note down a few names especially the day lilies 😄
ReplyDelete'Spanish Harlem' is one of my favorite daylilies, Anna. Another favorite, 'Persian Market' has thus far failed to make an appearance and I'm wondering if I moved it one too many times.
DeleteI love your Agapanthus and that beautiful salvia. It hardly seems fair that one person should have such a variety. I swear you must have more than the garden centers and how you keep them all straight always amazes me. You always leave me in awe.
ReplyDeleteI keep a list of most of what I plant, at least in terms of the perennials and shrubs but, since I started photographing and blogging about what I grow, I've found that I remember most of their names. I've made it a point to learn the Latin names of plants but I sometimes can't come up with their common names!
DeleteSuch amazing photos, so beautiful! I love both vases, but I think my favourite is the second as I love purples and blues.
ReplyDeleteI love the blues and purples too, Nikki. I've often said that, if a plant blooms with blue or purple flowers, I've at least tried to grow it.
DeleteWow! You have your own botanical garden! Beautiful vases. I love that burgundy Pelargonium in your first vase. The blues in the second--so lovely. The agapanthus are remarkable.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny but Agapanthus are often maligned plants here in Southern California as common or ordinary. Like palm trees, you see them planted everywhere because they're tough plants ideal for this climate. They deserve more respect.
DeleteYou garden is looking beautiful Kris! Am I crazy to recall from childhood/teenhood that heat waves in coastal Socal were always in September and those poor souls who lived in the valley had to tolerate hot summers. We have already had several days in the 90's here .
ReplyDeleteI think SoCal's just gotten steadily hotter over the past 4 decades, Kathy. I was one of those poor souls that grew up in an inland SoCal Valley. Summers were always hot there but they grew noticeably worse over the course of my high school years. By the time my husband and I graduated from college (he grew up in the same valley city), we avoided going back there during the summer (although, in my husband's case, he might have also wanted to avoid my family). We've lived in locations hugging the coast since college. They've gotten steadily warmer too but I'd say that Santa Monica is still cooler than the east side of the peninsula where I now live.
DeleteYour post is as usual filled with enormous varieties of blooms .I discovered this new plant lion's tail which is a beauty to the eyes. Happy blooms day.
ReplyDeleteLion's tail is a great plant, Arun. Unfortunately, I'm not sure it would like your monsoonal rainy seasons.
DeleteYou have a blooming paradise.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lisa. April through June are peak flower season here. I expect the flower supply to drop in July through September.
DeleteSo what if your post is long - I enjoyed all of it! My dream would be to sit in your living room and be able to look out the big window into the middle of the flowerbed. I like how you have planted right up in front of the windows. My husband, the wild mower who doesn't know a flower from a weed, would never let me to do that. He tries to avoid my flowers, really he does, but he isn't very successful. Often he avoids blooming weeds thinking he is saving a flower. It is the real reason all my flowers are behind rocks.
ReplyDeleteJeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
We pulled all our lawn out (it doesn't do well under the dry conditions here) so I've no fear of anyone with a mower, Jeannie, but the gardeners that maintain our hedges sometimes get "confused" about what's a hedge and what's an ornamental shrub. There are always snafus when you have a garden...
DeleteI can't imagine how long this post took you to put together, so many flowers! Your anigozanthos look so good! Since I haven't been out hitting the nurseries this spring I haven't been able to pick up any and they're very missed.
ReplyDeleteBTW...wondering if you've noticed the orange rectangle on the lower left hand side of your Blogger dashboard that says "try the new blogger!"? Sometime in July there won't be an option to try it, but rather it will completely replace what we've all been using. I've been trying to come to terms with this change, there are so many great options for publishing, especially when it comes to photos, that are just disappearing. In short, the new blogger sucks.
I took a look at the "new blogger" and wasn't thrilled either but with so many people relying on mobile phones and similar devices, I'm not really surprised by the decision to go that route. However, the notice on my dashboard includes a statement that the "legacy interface will still be optionally available." It remains to be seen what that means in practice.
DeleteI read the "blogger blog" to make sure I don't miss anything important and they've announced that by late July, creators will no longer be able to revert to the legacy Blogger interface... "We’ll be moving everyone to the new interface over the coming months. Starting in late June, many Blogger creators will see the new interface become their default, though they can revert to the old interface by clicking “Revert to legacy Blogger” in the left-hand navigation. By late July, creators will no longer be able to revert to the legacy Blogger interface. We recommend getting ahead of the transition by opting into the experience today."
DeleteSo, sadly, it looks like there's a good chance we'll be losing it for good.
I have been using the new editor - after a couple of hiccups - I am not missing, much. Most of what I use is still there, I just had to find it again.
DeleteHmm. I guess there's no way to pitch a fit about a tool provided free of charge. I'm still wavering on the subject of how long I'll continue blogging. We shall see how the change impacts that decision.
DeleteI've admired your garden from afar, and it has been lovely. You have a wonderful collection and they are beautifully arranged around your home. I would have been visiting botanical gardens at this time of year, but sitting here, and being able to cross reference with google has been a wonderful compensation. Many thanks, Noelle
ReplyDeleteThanks Noelle. As summer sets in here and the soil gets drier with every passing day, it gets harder for me to see what's good about the garden versus what's not so good so I appreciate the a little perspective!
DeleteBeautifully put together vases, I love the color combinations. Ammi majus 'Dara' is lovely but I don't believe it grows in my zone. How vigorous is it?
ReplyDeleteSo many bloom, such a huge garden, all the work to put this post together... I appreciate it.
Variegated Lantana is a first for me and I just love it. Lion's tail has the most beautiful vivid orange color. Grevillea 'Superb' is, in fact, superb. Lotus berthelotii "Amazon Sunset" is a stunner.
I grew Ammi majus 'Dara' for the first time last year so my experience with it is limited but it seems to handle the summer heat here reasonably well. It's an annual and supposed to self-seed but I didn't see any sign of that action out of last year's plants. I have a nasty habit of "tidying up" faster than I should, though, which could be a factor there. I cut back the variegated Lantana hard in late winter and was pleased - and a little surprised - that all the plants came back.
DeleteThat's it?? That's all you got? (Just kidding!) Oh, the abundance.... it must have taken you hours to put that post together. I love it all, but especially the long shots. Your garden is spectacular, Kris!
ReplyDeleteThanks Anna. This one did take awhile to put together and, since it combines what would normally be two posts, I've been giving myself a little break from blogging this week.
DeleteI seemed to have missed this post, Kris. Your garden is fabulous and I do admire you for growing such a variety of flowers in such a warm and dry climate. �� The Agapanthus are especially lovely. I have never managed to grow them even for a summer!
ReplyDeleteI think Agapanthus like our Mediterranean climate, Cathy. You may get too much rain for them!
Delete