As temperatures begin to drop and it's finally feeling more like fall here in coastal Southern California, the bulk of the flowers are still those in my cutting garden but I'll start with the ones that can be found in other areas of my garden.
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| All 4 Arbutus 'Marina' (strawberry trees) are suddenly laden with flowers. The hummingbirds are going crazy, as is my cat, who's watching them from behind the windows as they careen about. |
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| Two of the 3 of the Australian fuchsias, Correa 'Ivory Bells' and C. 'Wyn's Wonder', have come into flower |
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| The Cupheas - 'Honeybells', 'Starfire', and 'Vermillionare' - are putting on a good show too |
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| I cut back most of the Lantana 4-6 weeks ago and they came roaring back. Clockwise from the upper left are: Lantana camara 'Irene', noID orange variety, L. 'Little Lucky Lavender', and L. 'Lucky Yellow'. |
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| Although they're not true flowers but rather colorful bracts, Leucadendrons 'Blush' and 'Summer Red' are in fine form |
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| Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum' and P. 'Sky Rocket' got a slow start |
The dahlias and zinnias in the cutting garden aren't ready to throw in the towel. As it's already past time to get my cool season garden started, which requires clearing the raised planters they occupy, I may have to evict them before they're ready to go this year.
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| Two dahlias have only recently deigned to grace my garden with flowers. Dahlia 'Belle of Barmera' (left) is just a day or 2 shy of opening its first blooms of the season while D. 'Hometown Hero' (right) produced its first flowers only last week. |
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| Dahlia 'Excentric' didn't really get started until last month but it's peaking this month |
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| All the orange and peach-colored dahlias are continuing to produce flowers. Clockwise from the upper left are: Dahlias 'Brown Sugar', 'Creme de Cognac', 'Fairway Spur', 'Labyrinth', 'Lady Darlene', and 'Summer's End'. |
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| The other dahlias that keep on flowering include, clockwise from the upper left: Dahlias 'Catching Fire', 'Iceberg', 'La Luna', and 'Mikayla Miranda'. The only dahlia that seems done for the season so far is 'Break Out'. |
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| The seed-sown zinnias also continue to do well, although the same can't be said of those I planted as plugs to fill in empty spots. Clockwise from the upper left are: Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Giant Coral', 'Benary's Giant Wine', 'Golden Hour', 'Raspberry Limeade', 'Zinderella Lilac', and 'Zinderella Peach'. |
As usual, I came across a few surprises this October.
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| Certain bulb blooms surprise me whenever they appear. Clockwise from the upper left are: Amarine belladiva 'Emanuelle', Hymenocallis festalis (aka Peruvian daffodil), and Lycoris sprengeri. |
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| I believe this is the first time Aloe labworana has bloomed |
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I thought Eriocapitella hupehensis (left, aka Japanese anemones) were fried during last month's severe heatwave but flowers have arrived anyway. Eustoma grandiflorum 'Light Apricot' (middle, aka lisianthus) flowered after I'd given up on it. Sollya heterophylla (right, syn Billardiera heterophylla, aka bluebell creeper) has produced purple berries to follow its blue flowers.
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| Hebe x speciosa 'Grace Kelly' keeps trying to shake loose its variegation but it blooms now and then |
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| I have Protea flowers at last! Protea neriifolia 'Claire' (left) and P. n. 'Pink Ice' (right) look nearly identical to me |
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| Some salvias are springing back after being pruned. Salvia canariensis candidissima (left) and Salvia discolor (right) are flowering again. |
I also added a couple of flowering plants to the garden within the past month, both of which I planted in barrel containers.
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| This is Helianthus 'Sunfinity' |
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| I grew Rotheca myricoides (formerly known as Clerodendron ugandense) successfully years ago in Santa Monica. I tried a small plant here and it failed but I couldn't pass up this larger specimen when I saw it at my local garden center a couple of weeks ago. It's in a barrel in partial shade with its own drip irrigator, underplanted with violas and Lobelia. My fingers are crossed. |
Everything else I photographed during the past few days was tucked into color-themed collages, as is my standard practice.
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Digitalis purpurea, Echinacea purpurea, Polygala myrtifolia, Pelargonium peltatum 'Lavender Blizzard', Felicia aethiopica, Leucophyllum laevigatum, Salvia rosmarinus (aka rosemary), and Tulbaghia violacea |
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| Left to right: Abelia grandiflora 'Kaleidoscope', Fuchsia 'Windchimes White', and Osteospermum 'Violet Ice' |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Hemerocallis 'Persian Market', Pelargonium hortorum 'Dynamo Hot Pink', Stachys 'Lilac Falls', Pelargonium 'Little Pink Splash', Gazania 'Otomi', P. sidoides, Rudbeckia hirta 'Sahara', and Pentas lanceolata |
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| Clockwise from upper left: Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', G. 'Superb', Salvia 'Skyscaper Orange', and a mix of Gazanias |
All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Even after following your blog for quite sometimes, this abundance of October flowers in your coastal S. California garden is always a bit shocking to my PNW eyes.
ReplyDeleteI'm always saddened when Dahlias need to be evicted before they are done blooming. So much effort goes into arriving to this stage, both by you and the Dahlias... I wish they'd perform just as well in the garden proper. 'Lady Darlene' never fails to knock my socks off!
The closeup shot of Rotheca is spectacular! What an amazing intricate bloom.
Chavli
More and more dahlias are performing daily nose dives, Chavli - their blooms are just too heavy for stems too slender to support them. It's a LOT of work to dig up the dahlia tubers up and prepare them for storage and still more work to prepare the raised planters prior to sowing seeds and planting bulbs there. I can't say I'm looking forward to the task at the moment.
DeleteAs to the Rotheca, I love that plant and I hope it'll handle the spot I've selected for it this time.
I am in awe every time I visit your beautiful garden with an abundance of blooms and your assortment of Dahlias is amazing. I see we share Coneflowers and Abelia Kaleidoscope with its lovely blooms this time of year, which are an extra plus along with its foliage. I always enjoy seeing your succulents too!
ReplyDeleteIt's been a very good dahlia year, Lee, even though the plants got off to a relatively slow start. However, the heavy blooms have started to take regular nose dives, snapping the slender stems that aren't able to support them. That in itself may signal the end of their season in the short term.
DeleteI love all of your Dahlia, Kris! Such a wonderful color wheel. I prefer the peach-colored dahlias especially as they go so well with the duller, blue foliage of autumn. And I see from your notes that the Anemones have changed their name to Eriocapitella—there is no keeping up with the changes these days! Goodness. But it keeps us on our toes and learning I guess, so that is good. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, it's very hard to keep up with the classification changes. The one that's surprised me most was throwing rosemary into the Salvia genus. With so many reclassifications and so much intergeneric breeding among succulents, I've almost given up on keeping up there!
DeleteI can't believe all the dahlias you have. They are beautiful, each and every one, and I should thank you for allowing me to see the beauty without the work. We (husband and I) both can no longer do the work of digging and replanting each spring, and the poor performance we had this year of our one dahlia made us realize it was time to let go. The other plant I really enjoyed was your strawberry tree. Just the thought of a hummingbird magnet makes me want to grow it. We grow cuphea for just that reason and have two of the three varieties you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteWell, dahlias are native to Mexico so I'm a lot closer to that environment than you are, Alana ;) They can be left in the ground during their dormant season here; however, if the tubers get too much water from irrigation systems or rain, they're likely to rot. I plant them in the raised planters of my cutting garden because I can more easily give them the extra water they need during the growing season, which I don't lavish on my borders. So I dig the tubers up every year to replant the cutting garden with cool season flowering plants. At some point, I'll have to streamline (or eliminate) that effort as it is burdensome!
DeleteGrand abundance. Would love to wander in person through your garden one day. My lantana was a bust the past two years. I've never even considered I needed to cut it back but will try that. It's previously just been covered in flowers (and pollinators) most of summer and into fall.
ReplyDeleteI didn't cut back Lantana often either but I found it does make a BIG difference, Susie. You just have to put up with the plants looking bare for a time.
DeleteThe Rotheca is especially lovely. Did you get that from Annie's?
ReplyDelete'Claire' opens more here than 'Pink Ice'. I left what Dahlias I moved into pots of cactus mix sitting out all winter, they seem to do fine even though it was pretty rainy. The ones who live in the ground all year in sunny spots have done best.
Is there room in your cutting area for another raised bed where you could leave the dahlias all winter? Moving and storing is a lot of tedious effort!
Some of the Japanese Anemones came back no matter how carefully I'd dug out the rampant masses of them. There's a gorgeous flower here and there, to annoy, too. Arrgggh! More digging to get them out again this winter.
The Rotheca I bought a couple of years ago came from Annie's but it didn't thrive, possibly because it was too easy to ignore and therefore didn't get watered as much as it should have. The new plant came in a 3-gallon container from Armstrong's and I've got it planted in a barrel on drip irrigation in an area I walk past multiple times a day so the prognosis should be better.
DeleteUnfortunately, there's no space for another raised planter. There are some dahlia tubers I won't keep, which'll lessen the work involved in changing out the beds for the season. Eventually, I just need to winnow down how many I try to grow in a season. I had 23 plants this year.
Oddly, the Japanese anemones have never spread here - and front yard clumps that came with the garden actually died out entirely. My soil may just be too dry.
So many lovely flowers! The dahlias and zinnias are wonderful, so colorful. I love the daylily you have still blooming.
ReplyDeleteJust one bloom at a time on that daylily, Lisa! But I admit I was pleased to discover it's still flowering ;)
DeleteYour dahlias just won't stop! I absolutely love that Rotheca myricoides blooms, I don't think I've seen it before. Your hebe blooms are lovely, reminding me to check on mine to see if they are coming out of the torching they got!
ReplyDeleteThe Rotheca is native to Uganda and I see it only sporadically in garden centers, Tracy. While it grew well at our rental place in Santa Monica years ago, the Annie's specimen I got as a 4-inch plant a couple of years ago was NOT happy in my current garden; however, my watering habits in that case were erratic. The current plant was purchased from a local garden center in a 3-gallon container and I've got it in a barrel on an automated drip so I'm hoping for a better result this time!
DeleteSuch a lush floral display! My eyes were drawn to the small flowers of Correa 'Ivory Bells' and to the Salvia discolor, both blooms I love and have grown but that aren't hardy here in my garden.
ReplyDeleteCorrea 'Ivory Bells' is flowering especially well this year. I'd forgotten that I also have a green-flowered Correa - I need to check to see if that one's going to do anything this year.
DeleteSo much good stuff!! Question about your cupheas: How compact are Honeybells and Starfire? I took out a Vermillionaire because it was too big.
ReplyDeleteI love your Aloe labworana. Mine has yet to flower.
'Honeybells' is a low-growing/trailing plant in contrast to 'Starfire' and 'Vermillionaire'. In my experience 'Starfire' gets significantly taller and wider than 'Vermillionaire'. All respond well to hard pruning, though.
DeleteI'll look for a Honeybells then. I'd love to have a low-growing cuphea for the hummers.
DeleteI hope they do well for you, Gerhard!
DeleteAmazing, beautiful, wonderful! I love seeing your Bloom Day posts, Kris. It's like a monthly visit to a botanical garden. 👏🏼 💕 Eliza
ReplyDelete