Although I look forward to the flowers that bloom during our cool season, the transition is always difficult. The color quotient in my garden drops dramatically as seeds, bulbs, and plug plants take their time to develop roots, shoots, and buds.
I welcome the relatively few plants that flower during the fall months, one of which is Barleria obtusa, also known as bush violet. I'm surprised that I've never seen these plants in local garden centers. I picked up my original plant at the botanic garden located roughly five miles from my home years ago during one of their fall plant sales - when they had such sales, as well as an in-house propagation unit staffed by volunteers. Perhaps my biggest disappointment with that botanic garden, where I was once a volunteer, is that both the plant sales and the propagation unit have been abandoned.
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| I selected a single stem of lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) to flatter the bush violets. Planted as plugs early this year, I was surprised that the lisianthus produced new flowers as temperatures cooled, especially as the plants took a hit during September's heatwave. |
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| Back view |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Barleria obtusa, Centaurea 'Silver Feather', Correa 'Ivory Bells', Eustoma grandiflorum, Lavandula multifida, and Vitex trifolia |
I collected a grab-bag of other flowers to fill a second vase focused on the few pink flowers currently found in my garden.
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| Two bulb flowers, an Amarine and a Lycoris, provided the starting point |
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| Back view, fleshed out with stems of Leucadendron and Plectranthus scutellarioides (aka coleus) |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Amarine belladiva 'Emanuelle', Lycoris springeri, Plectranthus scutellarioides 'Florida Sun Rose', Leucadendron salignum 'Chief', Pelargonium hortorum 'Dynamo Hot Pink', Persicaria capitata, and Eriocapitella hupehensis (aka Japanese anemone) |
It remains very dry here. Last week's rain didn't materialize and there's nothing auspicious in the ten-day forecast either. It's windy too, which makes the garden even drier and the marine layer isn't expected to pay us a return visit until at least Wednesday. However, in the meantime the garden soldiers on with the assistance of our irrigation system and spotty hand-watering. According to my records, November 5th marks six months since our last real rain in early May, which measured only 0.17/inch. I'm not expecting the bounty of rain we got during the last two "water years" (measured from October 1st through September 30th of the following calendar year) but something along the lines of "normal" rain would be much appreciated.
For more IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Your title is so correct! I love the colors and the forms of both arrangements. Just beautiful...as always. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Beth!
DeleteIt must be a bit sad for you to say goodbye to Dahlias, but I for one enjoy the change in this Monday morning vases: both so cheery and lovely, not to mention the huge variety for my eyes to feast on!
ReplyDeleteCentaurea 'Silver Feather' looks so good in the blue vase.
The Coleus in the pink (feels-like-Spring) vase is stunning.
Chavli
I miss the dahlias and the zinnias in part because they made it so easy to put arrangements together, Chavli ;) The Centaurea were stingy with their flowers this year but thankfully their foliage makes up for the slight. I love that coleus which has been hard to find in seed or plugs but I was lucky to propagate the one I happened upon last year and overwinter the plants too.
DeleteThis deep blue lisianthus was always my favourite of the varieties you grow - it's gorgeous. I did try from seed one year, but had zero germination... It's lovely to see a largely blue vase at this time of year - and what pretty foliage the centaurea has. The amarine and coleus in the second vase are gorgeous too!
ReplyDeleteI found some pelleted lisianthus seed earlier this year but ended up buying plugs because it was easier, Cathy - I think those plants are more readily grown in a greenhouse, which I don't have. Although the flower I cut for today's first vase was supplied by a previously established plant, I was delighted to discover that my local garden center was offering healthy lisianthus in 4-inch pots last week during what I consider an off-season for them. I grabbed up 5 plants on my first visit and picked up 3 more later the same week. And I'm kicking myself for not buying the 4 or 5 that remained!
DeleteVery nice, Kris. I love the combinations. I have seen Barleria here, but never for sale. Our local bot gardens have plant sales and propagation, I always end up with something when I visit.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a botanic garden that didn't have seasonal plant sales on a regular basis - or an onsite propagation unit for that matter. To be fair, the South Coast Botanic Garden has a kiosk with some plants but all of them appear to have been sourced elsewhere and the stock is spare and ordinary at best.
DeleteWith the seemingly endless loss of many small, specialty nurseries it seems like it should be a botanical garden's duty to propagate their stock and make sure it is spread far and wide. If they aren't going to do it themselves, to bad a local nursery couldn't contract with them to propagate. I imagine there must be enough gardeners in the area who would buy most if not all of the more unusual plants if they were available?
ReplyDeleteI agree, Jerry - it is part of their responsibility as a public botanic garden. The plant sales were always very well attended in the past. I understood the cancellation of the sales during the height of the pandemic, as well as the furloughing of the propagation team, but I don't understand why both haven't been reactivated. They had one sale 18 months ago but 95% of the plants were donated by large nurseries and there were none of the garden's own propagated shrubs and perennials.
DeleteThe Vitex trifolia stole the show for me, what an interesting color and texture to include.
ReplyDeleteI do like the bush violet Kris - the Lisianthus brightens it up a little, but the overall effect is very contemplative, even moody. Moody blues! The Persicaria in your second vase caught my attention. I really must try and grow some from seed one year. Lovely to see you have anemones too.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, as always. Oh, those blues! We giveth to the garden, and the garden giveth back more. And when we giveth plants away, good Karma! Soon I hope your Barleria seedling will be flowering here, and seedlings from it will be passed on to others.
ReplyDeleteBetween the 2 of us, maybe we can build a demand for Barleria, HB. Who doesn't like to see a little blue in the garden at this time of year?!
DeleteOh but you still have much to pick Kris. The blues, purple and silver pull at my heartstrings. I've not heard of barleria before so must look it up. I'm sorry to hear that the forecast rain didn't materialise.
ReplyDeleteWe were spoiled by the last 2 years of rain, Anna. It probably wouldn't have impressed you but it was a major boon for us. At the moment, it feels as though we're leaning toward the other extreme this year, but then it's still early in our rainy season so my expectations may be out of whack.
DeleteEven with what you consider to be a dearth of material, you've managed to create two beautiful vases, Kris. I love the pop of pink in #2, brightly eye-catching!
ReplyDeleteI hope rain heads you way in the next few weeks, fingers crossed! 🤞 Eliza
At the moment, the 10-day forecast looks bleak with respect to rain, Eliza, although one TV forecaster suggested there could be a bit of drizzle early next week...
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