Friday, January 13, 2023

Bloom Day - January 2023 (Early Edition)

After seven rain storms in close succession (and with two more on the way), my garden has had its deepest soak in years but flowers are still on the light side this month.  I took this month's photos between rainstorms and I'm posting them two days early because this weekend is expected to be another wet one.

I'll start with the plants making the biggest splash at the moment.

Hybrid Aloe vanbalenii x ferox, cozying up to Agave attenuata 'Raea's Gold'

More aloe hybrids, Aloe vanbalenii x striata and Aloe 'Safari Rose'

Camellia williamsii 'Taylor's Perfection' lost many of its developing buds during stretches of heat in early fall so flowers aren't as abundant this year but each one lives up to the cultivar's name

With periodic dead-heading, Felicia aethiopica keeps on blooming

Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy'  makes up for the tiny size of its flowers with their sheer number

The ever-blooming large-flowered Grevilleas are going strong.  Clockwise from the upper left are Grevillea 'Ned Kelly', G. 'Peaches & Cream' and 2 shots of G. 'Superb'

Among the small-flowered Grevilleas, the blooms are most abundant on Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite'

Other small-flowered Grevilleas currently in bloom include, clockwise from the upper left: Grevillea alpina x rosmarinifolia, G. 'Poorinda Leane', G. lavandulacea 'Penola', G. rosmarinifolia 'Dwarf Form', and G. sericea

The flower-like bracts of Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' are largely a no-show this month due to an unfortunate encounter with a gardener's electric pruner but other varieties are filling in.  Clockwise from the top are: Leucadendron salignum 'Chief' (2 photos), L. 'Summer Red' (which has winter "blooms" of pale yellow), and L. 'Safari Sunset'.

Osteospermum '4D Pink' isn't sporting the striking blue centers it had last year but it's still pretty

Osteospermum '4D Violet Ice' is currently the most prolific of the varieties in my garden

Prostrate rosemary, now officially classified as Salvia rosmarinus, is in full bloom in a few areas of the garden.  It blooms lightly most of the year but it's taken off in response to the rain.

Seen from afar, Teucrium fruticans 'Azureum' is most noticeable for its glowing silver foliage but the small flowers are also pretty

  

Other flowering plants are just getting started.

Aeonium arboreum has developed blooms stalks all over the garden.  It's impossible even to count them as more show up daily.

The foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea) have produced their first bloom spikes

Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl' could use a good post-summer pruning but its flowers aren't waiting around to give me time to get around to that

While I had a few Narcissus flowers last month, they're really beginning to roll this month in response to the rain.  I've noID for this one.

 

Still other plants are flowering in smaller numbers.  I've organized them as usual into color-related collages.

Clockwise from the upper left: Argyranthemum 'Pink Comet', Bauhinia x blakeana (battered but not bowed by the rain), Boronia crenulata 'Shark Bay', noID Camellia sasanqua, Medinilla myriantha, and Persicaria capitata

Clockwise from the upper left: Alstroemeria 'Inca Lucky', Argyranthemum 'Red Grandaisy', Calliandra haematocephala, noID Cyclamen, and Primula vulgaris

Clockwise from the upper left: yellow and orange Calendula, Gazania 'Gold Flame', Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum', and Primula vulgaris

Clockwise from the upper left: Hebe 'Grace Kelly', Lavandula multifida, Salvia discolor, and Salvia leucophylla x clevelandii 'Pozo Blue'


That's it for January's floral parade.  I'm hoping for a colorful spring as the garden continues to respond to the rain.  Check in with Carol of May Dreams Gardens for other floral displays when Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day official kicks off on Sunday, January 15th.


All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

18 comments:

  1. Despite the large leafed plants I can grow, nothing competes with your Aloes and Agaves. Love the photos that show the plant and the closeup of the flowers. It seems like I am able to post again on your site.

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    1. Maybe that Typepad update fiasco had a silver lining, Linda. I'm still having problems with my primary browser's loading of photos months after that glitch occurred and despite all sorts of attempted fixes. I've had to resort to using a different browser to load photos. Such are the challenges of technology!

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  2. I love the aloes that you kicked this post off with, they're just so stately!

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    1. I have far fewer aloes than Hoover Boo and Gerhard but I've been gradually adding them to my garden. Many of the larger plants have yet to bloom but it seems they need time to settle in before they reward you with flowers.

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  3. OMG, your garden does look so lush and happy--all the plants! I can't imagine having that many wonderful plants blooming in January! The Foxgloves are so lush and beautiful!

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    1. Well, even under a relative deluge of rain, our climate is much more benign than yours during the winter months, Beth. I'm looking forward to seeing more foxgloves appear over the next several weeks and well into spring, which also comes early here ;)

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  4. The relatively cool weather of the past couple months and the cloudy grey lately seems to have slowed everything down. sometimes plants can use a rest, too.

    Particularly pretty shot of the Leptospermum, and congrats on the Foxglove!
    I give up on Felicia. Just a flower or two here, while the Ageratum are still going.

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    1. It's interesting that Ageratum does so well for you and Felicia does poorly, while my experience is exactly the reverse. However, I should note that it took some time before the Felicia took hold in my garden. I planted 2 more last year, which are still runts.

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  5. Goodness, your garden if full of summer blooms in January. I find it very confusing :-D
    The Aloe vignette, second photo on the right is a stunner!
    Behind Leucadendron salignum 'Chief' on the left there's a magical dark Leucadendron? Wow.
    I envy your primrose blooms not being chomped on by rabbits.
    Chavli

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    1. Ha! Well, coastal SoCal's climate is unusual. The dark Leucadendron is 'Ebony', which is sport of 'Safari Sunset'. At present, the chief danger to the primrose seem to be snails and slugs. The slimy creatures aren't usually a big problem here (courtesy of our dry conditions and the raccoons) but they do come out when we get a lot of rain :(

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  6. Kris-I feel like I am in a botanical garden every time I visit! Your Aloe certainly is exquisite, as are all your other blooms. I hope the rain lets up for you soon. The weather has been crazy here as well, with a thunderstorm just a couple of nights ago, but not as crazy as it is there. I do have Hellebore blooms in January in the cold temperatures. They do give me joy.

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    1. We haven't had nearly as much rain as Northern California or even the valley and foothill areas here but it's still been a lot of rain within a concentrated period for us, Lee. We're downright soggy! For reasons I don't fully understand, my own hellebores generally bloom in spring rather than winter, even though our winters aren't nearly as cold as yours. Maybe that's all due to the cultivars I've selected but I find it surprising.

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  7. Lovely to see all of your current blooms, Kris. I really admire your diverse collection of grevilleas, they are whimsical and pretty at the same time! Eliza

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    1. While I love the interesting flowers of the Grevilleas, their most attractive feature is that they bloom reliably in my climate, Eliza ;)

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  8. Beautiful garden! I especially like the Felicia aethiopica, and it looks like its something I could grow! Alas, not the Osteospermum 4D Violet Ice. It's incredible. Rosemary as a salvia is hard to accept!

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    1. I'm still finding it difficult to see rosemary as a Salvia myself, Lisa. The Felicia was a nice discovery - it took awhile to get established but now, with periodic shearing/deadheading, it blooms almost non-stop.

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  9. My Bloomday post is the Late Edition. I could finally take photos yesterday . Your Leucadendrons are looking good ! I moved 'Wilsons Wonder' in fall so it looks quite crappy , but still alive.

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    1. I expect you got a LOT more rain than we did, Kathy. Even a friend in the SF Valley just 50 miles away got 6 more inches than we did.

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