Floral Forecast

One of the many challenges posed by the pandemic, especially during the current surge, is that I don't get out much.  Basically, my only trips since mid-December have involved shopping for groceries every two weeks.  I haven't visited my local botanic garden or my local garden centers.  I also haven't done much planting, even though our cool season is generally the best time for that here.  Bulbs and tiny succulents ordered by mail, and cuttings from my own garden, have been most of what I've had to work with.  That means that material for my blog posts is limited, requiring me to pay closer attention to little developments I might've ignored in the past.  This week, I focused on emerging bulb foliage, buds, and seedlings, the prelude of the burst of color that comes in late winter/early spring here.

I planted several Hippeastrum bulbs in pots this year (one of which appears to be a dud).  They were all slower than usual to develop, perhaps because our temperatures vacillated wildly.  One 'Aphrodite' (left) has produced a bud on a short stalk while 'Lemon-Lime' (right) opened its first blooms this week.  My other Hippeastrums are planted in the ground and won't bloom for months yet (if at all).

Hippeastrum's cousin, Amaryllis belladonna, has put up foliage in multiple locations,  I moved several bulbs to a very dry corner in late December (left) and even they've sprouted.  The largest group (middle) is fighting an artichoke and other plants for space this year, while another bulb (right), planted years ago, has produced foliage for the first time on the front slope I replanted in November.  The flower stalks won'd appear until mid-summer, well after the foliage has died back.

I planted lots of Anemone coronaria corms in my cutting garden in November.  The first to emerge are those of 'Lord Lieutenant'.

The well-established Freesia next to the fountain (left) are covered in buds while those I planted this fall (right) are just a little behind.  Freesia generally blooms February through at least March here.

Ipheion uniflorum and Scilla peruviana come back every year.  The first should produce its tiny star-shaped blooms in February with the Scilla producing its much larger flowers in March.

The foliage of Dutch Iris is ungainly but the flowers are so wonderful I'm able to overlook that.  These Iris usually bloom from March through April here.

Leucospermum 'Goldie' is the first of its genus to bloom in my garden each year.  I hope to see the flowers in March through April.

Narcissi foliage is popping up all over my garden and I've already had a few blooms

I sowed several varieties of seed in the cutting garden, as well as a few spots in the larger garden.  They've progressed more slowly than I'd anticipated but some, like these of Orlaya grandiflora, are looking promising.  I didn't have Orlaya flowers until summer last year.

The Sparaxis bulb foliage is up.  Last year, most of the plants in these 2 areas produced orange flowers.  I added more bulbs this year to see if I can get more variety in the color mix.

This fall, I added 4 more Drimia maritima (aka sea squill) bulbs to the one I had on the very dry back slope.  Their foliage is already developing.  All but the original bulb have wire cages over them to prevent the raccoons from pulling them up.  The foliage of the nearby calla lilies (Zantedeschia aethiopica) has been slow to emerge, probably due to our low rainfall but a few plants are getting started at last.  I sowed California poppy seeds just before the current round of rain began - they're covered by flats to provide protection against critters.  A mass of alyssum seedlings has already emerged, which I've already thinned once.

This isn't a pretty picture but it reflects a success story of sorts.  I planted a Salvia barrelieria and 3 Verbascum chaixii purchased by mail order in December, only to have the plants eaten down to nubs overnight by a rabbit.  I covered them with upturned flats afterward and they've come back, although they still look sad.  I recovered them immediately after taking this photo.

I'll end with a photo of a very small bulb flower that made an appearance at the edge of my south side garden.

I planted a handful or Muscari armeniacum at the edge of my south side garden in January 2014.  It never thrived but each year I get one or two tiny flowers there.  You can judge how small it is by comparison to the alyssum seedlings looming above it,

That's it from me this week.  I spent several hours between rainstorms yesterday working on my street-side succulent garden.  It's raining again here (yay!) so I'll get photos of that area to share next week.  In the meantime, enjoy your weekend!

All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party