I participated in a lovely Zoom meeting with a half dozen of the IAVOM contributors on Sunday morning Pacific time. It was great to see everyone, if only virtually.
It was on the cool side on Sunday, in the low-to-upper 50sF (11-14C), so I didn't dilly-dally in the garden when it came time to pick flowers, not that there were all that many options available to me this week. My first arrangement was inspired by a particularly attractive Protea bloom. As usual, the challenge was to find something to pair with it. I ended up combining plants hailing from different parts of the world, rather like our Zoom conference.
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| The flowers of Protea neriifolia 'Pink Ice' in my north-side garden have dried up but its cousin, Protea 'Claire', had the beautiful bloom, which is shown front and center here. That plant also has 3 more nice buds. |
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| I hadn't planned to use more Camellia flowers this week but the back view needed a flourish and I discovered 3 stems bearing multiple flowers |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, with species origins in parentheses: Alstroemeria 'Inca Vienna' (South America), Camellia sasanqua (South Asia), Coprosma repens 'Fireburst' (New Zealand), Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl' (New Zealand), and Protea neriifolia 'Claire' (South Africa and Australia) |
My second arrangement is smaller. It was inspired by a lavender-tinged lisianthus and provided an opportunity to use the bush violets (Barleria obtusa) that are suddenly fading away.
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| In retrospect, the lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) looks a little dingy next to the bright white of the snapdragons |
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| I think I like the back view better |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Abelia grandiflora 'Hopley's Variegated', Felicia aethiopica, Eustoma grandiflora, Antirrhinum majus 'Speedy Sonnet White', Salvia discolor, S. 'Mystic Spires', and Barleria obtusa |
The bomb cyclone and atmospheric river that hit the Pacific Northwest and Northern California hard Friday and Saturday largely petered out by the time it reached us in coastal Southern California. Blogger friends in Northern California mentioned getting from two to seven inches of rain. We got a total of eight one-hundredths of an inch, which doesn't come near to a good soaking. The storm system was over and gone by Sunday morning when I woke up. (The cat sounds her personal alarm just after 6am each day.)
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| View looking southeast toward the entrance to the Port of Los Angeles as the sun stretched above the cloud bank |
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| View looking at the northeast section of the harbor with boats and cranes still half-hidden by clouds |
For more IAVOM creations, check in with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Protea is a fascinating flower. I love how you featured it with the Leptospermum and other flowers--lovely arrangement. Sorry I wasn't able to attend the virtual get-together. Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteThanks Susie. Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
DeleteYou must have been so disappointed that the rain didn't reach you Kris - what an astonishing difference between north and south California, how many miles is that? What a beautiful vase that first one is - I especially love the leptospermum blooms and they work so well with the protea, but then again, so does the camellia and alstroemeria
ReplyDeleteIn the cases in Northern California I referenced the distance between them and and my own area in SoCal is in excess of 400 miles. California is very large - it's the third largest state in the US, after Alaska and Texas. (According to Google California is 66% larger in size than the UK.) The topography of the state also varies dramatically throughout the state, which affects both climate and the flow of weather events. NorCal usually gets more rain than SoCal, at least when it comes from storms that originate in Alaska or the Pacific Northwest. Even though I understand that, it's still annoying ;)
DeleteMy eyes were immediately drawn to the Protea bloom, glorious! The leptospermum blooms are great, too. And then the snaps, beautiful. The big cloud photo is nice, too bad it didn't drop an inch or two of rain.
ReplyDeleteI feel cheated on the rain, Tracy, even if I know Mother Nature can't be trusted to treat all parts of the state the same way...
DeleteWhat fun that must have been to have a conversation with your fellow IAVOM bloggers. I love the protea arrangement!
ReplyDeleteThanks Loree. I think Cathy has organized 3 of these meeting now, although as I recall I missed half of one due to another commitment.
DeleteFun you had a group chat with fellow IAVOMs--must have been lovely.
ReplyDeleteThe pink arrangement particularly pretty.
I've found yes that whites vary--some are icy white and some are unquestionably not--ivory or with a yellow cast visible only a the center of the flower. I like that icy white, and several of the white roses in the garden are unquestionably ivory.
We got 0.05", which was more than I expected. Hopefully the fire season is over for NorCal.
The LA Times printed a story contending that fire season should be over in NorCal, HB. Our much lower level of precipitation certainly hasn't taken us out of the danger zone in SoCal, though.
DeleteLove the Leptospermum pink and that exotic Protea. I have only ever seen Proteas in greenhouses. I so appreciated your photos from Cathy today. Your garden must be a star in the neighbourhood! Here's my effort:
ReplyDeletehttps://zonethreegardenlife.blog/2024/11/25/in-a-vase-monday-november-25/
It was great to "meet" you on the Zoom call, Jenny!
DeleteThose are lovely combos and the vases/vessels are gorgeous, too. We are definitely turning toward winter now, and some holiday prep/personal issues are keeping me away from social media and blogging for a bit. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteWell, winter had to arrive at some point! We may see it here too one day ;) Best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving, Beth!
DeleteLove that protea and you've complemented it beautifully, you match colors so well, Kris! Sorry about missing out on the rain storm and I had to smile that you thought 50s was cold, but for you, it absolutely is! It will be a while before we see 50s again as the temps steadily drop. Four season living! Have a happy Thanksgiving! Eliza
ReplyDeleteWe essentially have 2 seasons, Eliza - a cool season (that's sometimes wet) and a warm season (that's often all too hot!). As to temperatures, we all adjust to our norms over time. When I was growing up in an inland SoCal valley, we routinely got frosts during the winter months but, along the coast a frost is definitely an anomaly.
DeleteIt was lovely to see you again on Sunday Kris. And the photos Cathy sent us really do show off those three areas. I am amazed at how much your cutting garden produces, as it doesn't actually look that large on the photo. And the new succulent garden area is beautiful! What is the tree at the back of it? Great vases as always - I really like the Leptospermum in the first vase and the different shades of blue in the second one. Wish I could send you some rain!
ReplyDeleteI wish you could send some rain too, Cathy! It's getting hard not to fear that drought is going to be a problem as our "water year" (counted from October 1st) isn't off to a very promising start. Our precipitation for the year-to-date currently stands at 0.11/inch. The tree at the back of that front yard succulent bed is one of my 4 strawberry trees (Arbutus 'Marina').
DeleteThank you.
ReplyDelete