In a Vase on Monday: Flowers are in short supply

My flower supply is greatly diminished but I resisted falling back on my Grevilleas this week.  The Camellias are still plentiful but they shatter easily, especially when the air is as dry as it's been of late.  As I wandered my garden, I focused on foliage plants and looked for the odd flowers that might serve as accents.  One arrangement turned out better than I'd expected but the second was so disappointing I was tempted to throw the whole thing in the trash.

The first arrangement started with Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset', which has colorful bracts that look almost like flowers.

Although the Leucadendron stems were my starting point, I think the single orchid stem placed in front did a lot to pull the whole arrangement together.  That Phalaenopsis has been blooming in my lath (shade) house for about 2 months now.

Back view: The coleus (now classified as Plectranthus scutellarioides) also pulled colors together

Top view:  The chartreuse color of the coleus led to the selection of the flowering bloom spikes produced by Mangave 'Bloodspot'

Clockwise from the upper left: Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset', Mangave 'Bloodspot' bloom spikes, Phalaenopsis 'Balden's Kaleidoscope', Plectranthus scutellarioides 'Pineapple', and Prunus caroliniana

While I like each of the individual components of the second arrangement, they just didn't come together well.

Clockwise from the upper left are flowers of Bauhinia x blakeana (aka Hong Kong orchid tree), Pelargonium peltatum 'Dark Burgundy', Cyclamen 'Djix', and Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy', shown with foliage of Centaurea 'Silver Feather'

Front view: The Centaurea foliage I've been in the process of cutting back was the starting point but I think it's better paired with larger flowers.  Even after I'd thinned the foliage and cut it down in size, it overwhelmed these flowers.

Back view: I should have picked longer stems of the Bauhinia and scrapped the short-stemmed Pelargonium and Cyclamen flowers

Sometimes the overhead view looks better than the other views of my arrangements but this wasn't one of those times

The Anemones in my cutting garden have sprouted foliage and the Ranunculus are just beginning to follow suit.  I planted plugs of foxgloves and snapdragons a month ago too.  However, nothing is anywhere near bloom stage yet.   In the void, succulents may make an appearance in my December IAVOM posts - or perhaps my arrangements will shrink to tiny dimensions for a time.  We'll see.

For a look at what other IAVOM contributors have come up with this week, visit our host, Cathy in Rambling in the Garden.

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

Small garden projects

I've stayed close to home for the past week, taking advantage of comfortable temperatures to tackle several small garden projects.  The project with the biggest impact involved harvesting a large agave "pup" from one section of my garden to fill a vacancy in another.  It remains very dry here and the prospects for rain in Southern California aren't especially favorable.  Although one expert says he remains "optimistic" that it won't be quite as dry as last year, it's not likely we'll see normal* rainfall either.  Given that scenario, it seems reasonable to introduce more succulents.

The mid-section of my backyard border is still fairly bare since I removed several dead and dying shrubs.  I planted a Grevillea 'Pink Midget' I purchased at a Santa Barbara garden center in early October in one spot, only to watch it die in record time.  The spot in question is particularly dry so I decided an agave might be a better choice.  I didn't want a puny specimen that would take years to make a statement and, as good-sized plants generally come with hefty price tags, I decided to shop my own garden.  Agave 'Blue Flame' is a prolific pupper and needs regular pruning to remain manageable so it was an obvious choice.

This "before" shot taken in late September shows the area from which I took the 'Blue Flame' cutting

Here's the transplanted "pup" in the back garden border.  It's approximately 21 inches tall and 2 feet wide at present.  Once it takes hold, it'll start producing its own pups.

Here's the south side area after the "pup" was removed.  I'm not sure most people would know anything had changed.

This is a closer look at the spot formerly occupied by the Agave 'Blue Flame" I removed.  I planted cuttings of Crassula pubescens ssp. radicans, which in time should spread to fill the space.

In addition to taking out one large (and very heavy) 'Blue Flame' pup, I removed a clump of Euphorbia tirucalli 'Sticks on Fire' that was encroaching on the largest Agave 'Blue Glow' plus a small Aloe dorotheae 'Sunset' that had been half-buried under the 'Blue Flame'.

The Aloe pulled apart into 3 distinct pieces, all of which I replanted closer to the bed's edge to give them a better chance to grow and shine

I also replanted a small area next to the dining room window.

The sad photo on the left is the only "before" shot I could find.  Plectranthus ciliatus 'Zulu Wonder', brought here as a cutting from my former garden, once dominated the far end of the bed, producing lovely lavender flowers in early fall.  It'd been declining for years and had been swamped by Campanula portenschlagiana.  I took cuttings of the Plectranthus, thinned the Campanula, and removed a couple of straggly ivy geraniums.  I planted a small Agave attenuata 'Ray of Light' and a large Tradescantia spathacea 'Sitara's Gold'.

The Salvia discolor I picked up a couple of weeks ago also found a home.

I popped the Salvia in a spot formerly occupied by a couple of sad dwarf Verbena bonariensis.  The Salvia is already showing a a few of its signature dark purple blooms.

When I noticed that I'd let the Mexican feathergrass (Nassella tenuissima) get out of control in the border fronting the back hedge, I tackled that too.

There are a dozen clumps of this grass dotted along the back of the border.  I don't have a "before" shot so you'll have to take my word they were a thick matted mess.

In between these various tasks, I planted two flats of creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum 'Elfin') to fill in along the flagstone path that bisects the back garden and collected leaves from the deciduous persimmon, ornamental pear, Japanese maple, and Ginkgo trees, running them through my old Black & Decker Leaf Hog to shred them before dumping them in the compost bin.

This was a time-consuming but otherwise satisfying task

This morning, our tree service will arrive to trim ten trees and one cherry laurel hedge.  They're always careful but there's inevitably some collateral damage so cleaning that up will be my focus this weekend before I shift my attention to the holidays.  Can you believe it's almost December?  I can't!

*"Normal" (average) annual rainfall for Los Angeles County is 16 inches, most if not all of which falls during the fall and winter months.  Rain in our location of SoCal totaled only 4.12 inches in the October 1, 2020-September 30, 2021 "water year." 

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

Wednesday Vignette: Time to feed the birds

Early this year, when word of a salmonella outbreak among song birds spread, I stopped filling my bird feeders.  After the risk dropped, I held off on filling the feeders as I hosted periodic gatherings with friends in my back garden  - fewer birds in the vicinity reduced the frequency with which I had to scrub my outdoor furniture.  Even as my friends and I got vaccinated against COVID-19 and returned to a semi-normal schedule of meeting at local restaurants, I held off refilling the feeders.  But I've felt guilty every time I looked out my home office window and saw a bird land on the empty feeders.  As Thanksgiving loomed, I decided there was no better time to scrub the feeders and get back to feeding the birds.  It only took a day before they were back.

Most of the avian visitors thus far have been lesser gold finches

Scrub jays show up periodically, scattering the smaller birds, but the weight of the larger birds causes the seed portals to close and the jays haven't figured out how to get around that

Of course the finches and jays the weren't the only creatures to return.

Full feeders or not, the birds have remained in the garden but the squirrels largely disappeared when the feeders were empty.  This fellow showed up at the feeders almost as soon as the birds did.

It took him numerous tries to figure out how to get up the pole but he's yet to master the fine art of feeding from these "squirrel buster" feeders without his weight closing the seed portals

He keeps working at it, though, and I'm sure he'll figure out how to feed upside down one day soon, just like his predecessors

I have three feeders in the front garden too but they've barely been touched thus far. 

These feeders contain a different seed mix but I suspect their closeness to neighborhood street traffic is what's put off both birds and squirrels

Meanwhile, as I pondered when I should cut back the Senna bicapsularis on the north side of the garden, I spotted caterpillars of the cloudless sulphur butterflies (Phoebe sennae) munching away for the first time this year.  Pruning will be delayed for at least a couple of months. 

These caterpillars can be either yellow or green depending on whether they're consuming the flowers or the foliage of the host plant.  The ones I found were feeding on the few flowers remaining on the Senna.  Heat and dry winds have already eliminated most of the flowers on the shrub. 

These three were easy to spot because they were yellow and feeding at eye level.  The Senna grows several feet above my head (where no flowers remain) so I imagine there are probably more I can't see.  According to one source, these caterpillars molt 4 times before forming a leaf-like chrysalis.  Once they form a chrysalis, it takes several weeks for them to transform into butterflies.

Hopefully, offering the birds plenty of seed will discourage them from eating caterpillars!

For more Wednesday Vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.

Best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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

In a Vase On Monday: Warm & Cool

The title of this post could reflect our weather, which continues to flip-flop between warm and cool temperatures, but instead it refers to the colors of the two arrangements I have to offer this week. The warm arrangement befits the upcoming US Thanksgiving holiday.

The coral flowers of my ever-blooming Grevillea 'Superb' provided the jumping off point for this arrangement

Orange Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' and berries of a self-planted Cotoneaster fill out the back of the vase.  Unfamiliar with Cotoneaster and uncertain which species this one is, I'd no idea how big this plant would get and I've developed some apprehension about letting it take off.

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', noID Cotoneaster, Cuphea 'Vermillionaire, Gaillardia 'Spintop Copper Sun', Grevillea 'Superb', Tagetes lemonnii, and Xerochrysum bracteatum

The bush violets are still going strong so cool blues are making an appearance once again this week.  The arrangement could have used more white flowers but those are sparse at the moment and I couldn't bring myself to cut all I had.

The purple-leafed foliage is Vitex trifolia (aka Arabian lilac).  The upper surfaces of the leaves are olive green but the plant is prone drooping, especially after being cut, revealing its purple undersides.

Back view: The bush violets will drop flowers during the course of the week but buds continue to open, often resulting in a bushier arrangement than the one I started out with

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Angelonia 'Archangel White', Hebe 'Purple Shamrock', noID Ceanothus, Argyranthemum frutescens 'Pure White Butterfly', Barleria obtusa (bush violet), Penstemon heterophyllus 'Blue Springs', and Vitex trifolia 'Purpurea'

For more IAVOM creations, visit our host, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  Best wishes to all of you in the US celebrating Thanksgiving this week.  Enjoy the day!  

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

Fall Foliage - Southern California Style

Temperatures have gone up and down this fall but, despite periodic blasts of summer-like heat, we have some touches of fall foliage color.  It's nothing like what the northeastern part of the country has to offer but we appreciate what we get nonetheless.  Evergreen plants are more common in my climate than deciduous ones but we also don't get cold enough to allow the deciduous plants we do have to color up.  Freezes are a freak occurrence here - I haven't experienced one in the 10+ years we've been in our current home.  Just for fun, I ran an online search to see if I could find evidence of any freezes in my general area in the recent past.  I found an article (complete with photos) pointing to snowfall in 1949, which you can find here. 

Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku' reliably delivers fall color.  In contrast, my dwarf Japanese maple 'Mikawa Yatsubusa' (not shown) goes from green to a gray brown.  I was shocked when I saw a photo of the red color it delivers in other situations.

Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple' colored up rather well this year, although I need to do a better job of pruning it to encourage it to develop a bushier shape

This persimmon tree, Diospyros kaki 'Fuyu', also puts on a good display

However, the 'Hachiya' persimmon, just feet away, develops very little color before all the leaves drop

This is the first year in the garden for Ginkgo biloba 'Autumn Gold'.  It didn't develop the warm yellow foliage the cultivar is known for, which may be at least partly my fault.  It started dropping leaves mid-summer.  I increased the water and the leaf drop stopped but perhaps that early stress affected its ability to handle peak summer heat.  It's now dropping toasted brown leaves.

The leaves of the ornamental pear, Pyrus calleryana, develop vivid color before they fall but this happens so gradually the tree itself never looks as stunning as it does in colder climates.  Many of the leaves hang on and remain green until spring when the tree begins to flower and new leaves develop.

Oddly, some but not all of the star jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides, develop red foliage

This potted blueberry, Vaccinium x 'Sunshine Blue', turns redder than the 'Bountiful Blue' varieties sitting alongside it

The neighbors across the street get more color than we do but their trees are off to a late start this year.

Most of these are maples of some kind but there are a couple of Ginkgos in the mix, one of which is still mostly green

I may have little in the way of the golden yellows, oranges and reds that signal fall for most people but many of the drought tolerant plants in my garden glow in a different way.  I'll close by offering a few examples.

Agave 'Blue Glow' surrounded by Aeonium 'Sunburst', Euphorbia rigida, and Dasylirion longissimum

My oldest Agave ovatifolia, planted in 2012

Celadon green Agave ovatifolia 'Vanzie', planted in 2015 (shown from two angles)

My favorite Echium, E. webbii, with its silvery leaves

Enjoy a colorful weekend!

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

Wednesday Vignette: Enveloped in fog

After nearly a week of summer-like temperatures, our marine layer returned on Tuesday morning, enveloping the garden in fog.  As is usually the case with fog, it seemed as though sounds were muted, which an online search reassured me isn't a figment of my imagination.  The harbor below us usually produces a steady hum, punctuated with periodic booms.  We've become so used to that hum we're hardly aware of it consciously - until it stops.  It may be that activity in the harbor stops or slows in response to dense fog but it may also be that my attention, visual and auditory, shifts to the space immediately surrounding me, no longer tracking activity I can't visually pinpoint.

Here's a spin around my garden in the fog with the sound (and narration) turned off.

Enjoy a peaceful day, with any annoying chatter turned off.

For more Wednesday Vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.

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