Once summer's flowers are purged from my cutting garden to make way for the bulbs, seeds, and plugs that will thrive in winter and spring, it gets a lot harder to put together floral arrangements. Luckily, there are a few plants I can usually depend upon to help me out.
My first arrangement contains several stems of Grevillea 'Superb', which blooms year-round, but Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' surprised me with a flush of peachy-pink blooms to support it. The Callistemon usually blooms during the summer months and I couldn't recall it ever blooming as late as November. I scanned my own blog to check that recollection and found evidence of one flush in November 2016, when it was still a small plant; however, coming on the heels of a heatwave in September and "extreme" Santa Ana winds last week, I think I'm still justified in describing the flowers as a surprise. As the shrub is on the list to be pruned by our tree service in just over a week, it was a given that I'd choose to make use of it this week.
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| The coleus was instrumental in pulling this arrangement together |
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| The back side looks a lot like the front except there are more dangly bits of Cuphea in the back |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid', Cuphea 'Honeybells', Grevillea 'Superb', and Plectranthus scutellarioides 'Indian Summer' (aka coleus) |
Senna bicapsularis, a tall shrub, usually blooms in October or November and it came through for me this week. I had to scrounge to find materials to accompany those flowers, though.
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| Senna bicapsularis (aka winter cassia) is a host plant for cloudless sulphur butterflies (Phoebis sennae) |
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| Back view: As I'm ready to pull Dahlia 'Break Out' from its pot on my back patio, the last of the Zinnia 'Zinfandel Peach' had to go too |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt', Tanacetum parthenium, Zinnia elegans 'Zinfandel Peach', Helianthus 'Sunfinity', and Senna bicapsularis |
Last week's Santa Ana winds sparked three fires in Southern California, all north of us. Two of the fires were smaller and have been all or mostly contained but the Mountain Fire in Ventura County has been fierce, swallowing over one hundred homes and over 20,000 acres. It was only twenty-six percent contained when I checked its status yesterday afternoon. Forecasters are projecting another, more moderate Santa Ana wind event midweek. There are hints of the possibility of drizzle in the ten-day forecast but I'm not putting any trust in them yet.
On this Veterans' Day, best wishes to all US veterans and their families, past or present. Thank you for your service and your sacrifices!
All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
It may be more challenging to pull together flowers for your vases but you've risen to the challenge: both vases are singing my song.
ReplyDeleteColeus 'Indian Summer' as backdrop to Grevillea 'Superb' is fireworks! What a stunning combination.
Chava
Thanks Chavli. There are some wonderful new coleus varieties available now. I'm already taking cuttings in the hope of carrying some into the new year.
DeleteOh what a fulsome and peachy vase that first one is Kris - the Callistemon works really well. I don't think I have seen it in anything other than red before. Your second offering still manages to look more summery than anything else!
ReplyDeleteI grew up surrounded by red-flowered Callistemons, Cathy. I could swear there was at least one of those shrubs in every neighborhood garden surrounding my childhood home. In addition to the peach-pink 'Cane's Hybrid', I have green and hot pink-flowered Callistemon shrubs but not a single red; however, those are stingier with their flowers.
DeleteOh that first arrangement is just gorgeous! I would love to clear my mantel for it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Loree. It turned out better than I'd expected.
DeleteIf this abundance of bloom is what you call 'scrounging around' Kris, you should take a look at our late autumn gardens here in the UK. Your vases are always fabulous. I love your selection of peachy/ coral blooms. I adore the callistomen.Those fires and the winds fanning them sound terrifying.
ReplyDeleteI just checked the status of the Mountain Fire. It's now 36% contained but 174 structures have been burned - Cal Fire's report didn't say how many of those are homes. There are even wildfires on the east coast in New Jersey related to widespread drought! Yet we have a president-elect who says climate change is a hoax and has threatened California with withholding assistance as "punishment," ostensibly for the state's failure to accept his recommendations for fire control.
DeleteA great result for scrounging, Kris!! Amelia
ReplyDeleteThanks Amelia!
DeleteI love the Callistemon! And the Senna and Zinnias and all the other elements are beautiful, too. Great combinations, and that first vase--the vessel--is really pretty, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks Beth. The Callistemon blooms this late in the year was a surprise!
DeleteThis week, I'm all about the warmer pinks and reds of the coleus, callistemon, and grevilleas. Hoping you don't need to deal with the smoke. Our neighbor has been burning debris, and as the acrid smoke and ashes drift north to our place where it settles, I find it difficult to stay outside.
ReplyDeleteWe got only a whiff of smoke smell early on, probably related to the initial Malibu fore, which the firefighters were able to get out fairly quickly. The sky is still dirty, though, as the Mountain Fire continues to burn.
DeleteRight, those vases are mostly empty... ;^) Beautiful as always.
ReplyDeleteThanks HB ;)
DeleteThe Coleus in your first vase really does pull everything together so well Kris, and adds to the warm glow (much needed here today!). The Grevillea's name is very apt too. And I love the use of the Acacia and Senna in your golden arrangement… a little unusual and rather attractive. Thanks for sharing some warm sunny colour!
ReplyDeleteIt feels cold here too, Cathy, although I suspect our version of "cold" is very different from yours!
DeleteOh these fires! There is no season anymore and up here they burn underground in the winter. I just can't imagine what it is like to lose everything from them. I hope they do not come close to you. Your arrangements are all just lovely, peachy in fact. I especially appreciate your overhead shots. Feverfew, Tanacetum, (Tanacet) is such a useful little flower in all seasons. My father-in-law used to eat a leaf a day to ward off migraines.
ReplyDeletehttps://zonethreegardenlife.blog/2024/11/11/in-a-vase-monday-november-11th/
I knew feverfew was supposed to help with fevers but not migraines, Jenny! I love the plant but those stems were the last of those in bloom I recently pulled out of my cutting garden. I'll miss the flowers until the remaining plant grows up.
DeleteWorrying fire situation. I hope you at least get that drizzle soon! Both vases are wonderfully full of bloom and so pretty, but I really love the coleus and cuphea working to emphasise those lush Grevillea flowers.
ReplyDeleteThanks, both the coleus and the cuphea are most definitely winners. I checked 2 different weather agencies this morning, one of which gave us a 22% chance of rain late Thursday/early Friday and the other a 19% chance so sadly the odds aren't good.
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