In a Vase on Monday: Let's get the new year started!

I've already cleared most of the spare decorations I set up to celebrate Christmas this year.  With those tucked away, I was more than ready to cut flowers to add color to the house.  It's been cold and damp for the last few days due to a persistent marine layer, which has made puttering in the garden less comfortable than usual but, as those marine layer conditions have contributed six one-hundredths of an inch of precipitation, I'm not going to complain (much).  However, there aren't many options available to fill a vase so the two arrangements I have to offer today may look a lot like retreads of earlier ones.

The first arrangement was inspired by another Protea flower.  Two more Protea buds remain but I elected to leave them on the shrub to develop, which sent me scrounging for other plants to accent the one I cut.

I balanced the Protea flower with an equally flashy stem of Medinilla myriantha (aka Malaysian orchid)

Back view: I used multiple stems of Cuphea 'Starfire Pink' to fill out the arrangement, along with the ever-useful Leptospermum stems

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Argyranthemum frutescens, Cuphea 'Starfire Pink', Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', Medinilla myriantha, Plectranthus scutellariodes 'Florida Sun Rose', and Protea neriifolia 'Claire'

For my second arrangement, I recycled the yellow Alstroemeria I included in last week's vase, as well as several other stems that were still in good shape.  I've been using a "flower food" in my vases for the last several weeks and it seems to be making a big difference in the vase life of many of my flowers.  My Lisianthus looked good for nearly two weeks and the Grevillea stems I used last week, which usually fall apart within four days, held up through yesterday.

The colors in this arrangement just made me happy, which seemed a good way to start the new year

The back view could have used dressing up but so it goes.  The back side of this vase faces the wall anyway.

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Corokia virgata 'Sunsplash', Correa 'Ivory Bells', noID Narcissus, Alstroemeria 'Inca Sundance', Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', Leucadendron salignum 'Blush', and L. s. 'Chief'

Yesterday was my twelfth blog anniversary.  Honestly, when I published my first post on a whim in late December 2012, I never expected that I'd still be at it twelve years later.  According to Blogger's statistics, I've recorded 1942 pots, accumulated 44,694 comments (roughly half of which were my own responses to commentators), and racked up 2,011,184 views.  I've appreciated the advice and feedback commentators have provided, the friends I've made over the years, and the general sense of camaraderie the medium provides.  Many people criticize social media and I'd agree that much of that is toxic but I appreciate all the garden bloggers and garden-avid readers out there every day.  Whether you take time to add a comment or just stop by, thank you!

For more of this week's IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  Best wishes for a happy new year too!

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Front Slope: A work in progress

I've been working on the moderate slope on the southwest corner of our garden off and on since late November.  Once our annual tree pruning exercise was complete, it was time to clean up and clear out many of the overgrown succulents.

This is a view of the area in question in late June.  Aeoniums of various kinds had largely taken over, eclipsing almost everything around them.

These 2 photos were taken in November immediately before I got started.  Removing the Aeoniums, Euphorbia 'Sticks on Fire', and Senecio vitalis that obscured the base of the low stacked-stone wall was my first objective as I felt they made the area look cluttered.

In addition to removing the succulents in front of the stacked-stone ledge, stage one of the project extended to removing the majority of the oversized Aeonium arboreum and the leggy Aeonium haworthii.

View of the area at the end of November

The same area from another angle.  There are 3 'Platinum Beauty' Lomandras in this photo, although the one in the foreground hides the one behind it in this and the previous photo.

Stage two involved adding some rock, removing one massive Lomandra 'Platinum Beauty', and supplementing the soil.

I added 5 good-sized rocks to the slope, including the big one shown here.  Getting it in position of my own felt like a hazardous job but I managed without falling and cracking my head.  The smaller stones (still heavy!) were easier to position.  The latter were saved when we had our living room chimney rebuilt in July.  The original, leaky chimney had been faced with native stone when the house was built in the early 1950s.

I'd barely remembered that there was a nice Mangave 'Kaleidoscope' buried under the Lomandra at the bottom of the bed

I'd originally intended to dig up that Lomandra intact but I decided it might be easier to transplant if I divided it.  I potted up 3 pieces of the plant and threw about 2/3rds of it away.  I also chopped off the top half of the repotted plants to give them a better chance of surviving.

This is the view when most of the new rocks were in and the Lomandra was out.  I'd just started replanting at this point.

Stage three focused on replanting.  I used cuttings of existing plants, pups of other plants, and some recent purchases.

I harvested pups of the Aloe striata x maculata shown on the left to add to my collection of agave pups.  I got 30 pups from this one aloe alone.  I threw 4 tiny ones away and planted 5 of the larger ones in my renovated bed.  I plan to pot up the rest as future giveaways.

This is a view of the renovated bed on December 25th looking north

This shows the east end of the same bed

Here's a closer look at the newly planted areas.

At the lowest level of the slope on the west end are 2 Agave desmettiana (originally planted as bulbils in 2020, a Mangave 'Pineapple Express' and 2 (of 4) Agave bracteosa pups pulled from another area of my garden.  On the right are several cuttings of overgrown Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' previously in this bed.

Moving along the lowest level of the slope on the left are the now visible Mangave 'Kaleidoscope' and 2 of the 3 Pelargonium peltatum I recently added.  On the right are 3 of the new Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' I obtained by mail order.

At he lowest level on the far right are the rejuvenated Kumara plicatilis (aka fan aloe) I received from a friend years ago, as well as pups harvested from the Aloe striata x maculata.

On the next level of the slope are 2 pups of Agave 'Mateo' collected earlier this year, as well as 3 Echeveria 'Princess' and 3 Echeveria 'Lotus'.  I left some of the original succulents in place at the base of the pineapple guava (upper right), including 2 small Aeoniums, 3 cuttings of Crassula falcata (aka airplane plants), and a noID Cotyledon.

A little higher up, I installed one of the 3 Lomandra divisions (shown in the top 2 photos.  I left an Agave gypsophila and 2 Aloe striata in place next to that Lomandra, inserted just a handful of Aeonium arboreum and Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi Verde', and added the Agave titanota 'White Ice' I received from a blogger friend some time ago.  The photo on the lower left shows the Agave in situ between the 2 larger 'Platinum Beauty' Lomandras.  The level above those plants includes the Aloe striata x maculata and 2 'Moonglow' Aloes that were already in place.

There's still a lot to do.

The gangly Echium handiense at the top level of the slope needs to be replaced but, as it's about to flower, I'll wait to take cuttings

The Pyracantha stump shows no sign of dying back yet so, as an interim measure, I may fill in the empty area shown here with Aeoniums

On the west end of bed, I still need to pull overgrown Aeoniums, which I'll probably replace with Aeonium cuttings until the Agave desmettianas bloom

In the long run, the entire wall of succulents (mostly Aeoniums) extending along this path to the lath house area needs renovation

At least I've made a start!  Working on a slope, even a relatively moderate one, challenged my bad knee so I'm giving myself a break and shifting my focus to pruning required in other, flatter areas of my garden.  There's currently no rain in the ten-day forecast and the Christmas Eve "storm" yielded only one hundredth of a inch of precipitation here so we'll be starting the calendar year off with less than a quarter of an inch of rain in total for the 2025 "water year" thus far, which is abysmal.

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: The garden's gifts

Both of last week's floral arrangements are still in good shape.  I edited them a little, gave them fresh water, and shuffled them into new positions.  I didn't expect to find much I could use this week that wouldn't be a retread of recent arrangements but, once again, my garden delivered.  I created one bouquet and used other cut stems to jazz up a store-bought wreath.

While I did use stems of my old standby, Grevillea 'Superb', I added stems of Metrosideros 'Springfire', which is suddenly covered in flowers, as well as fresh blooms of 2 Alstroemerias

Back view: Despite the lack of rain, the first Narcissus are making an appearance too!

Top view

Top row - Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', A. 'Inca Sundance', and Corokia virgata 'Sunsplash'
Middle - Correa 'Ivory Bells', Grevillea 'Superb', and Leucadendron salignum 'Blush'
Bottom - Leucadendron salignum 'Summer Red', Metrosideros collina 'Springfire', and noID Narcissus

I initially stuck the store-bought wreath on its hook and just added a bow and one small ornament, planning to leave it at that.  However, several stems of Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset' stood out when I walked into the garden on Sunday morning.  I initially thought I'd put them in my floral arrangement but the wreath was begging for embellishment.

I decided that the red-tinged stems of both Leucadendron salignum 'Safari Sunset' and Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey', originally cut for my vase, were a better fit with the red notes in the wreath

Rain on Christmas Eve is still in the forecast as a possibility.  One weather service gives our chance at thirty-five percent and another fifty-five percent, although they agree that the total precipitation isn't likely to amount to much.  I have my fingers crossed nonetheless.

For more IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  Best wishes for a happy holiday week!

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Holiday puttering

I've made stabs at tackling my still hefty list of garden chores this week but I've tended to drift from one project to another without crossing any off in their entirety.  The biggest project, a renovation of the front slope on the southwest end of my garden is far from complete, although I did manage to get additional rock in there on Wednesday, which was one of the bigger hurdles.  I'm hoping to start replanting the area after Christmas.  In the meantime, I got started on some of the smaller jobs.

With 2 years of heavier-than usual rain until early spring this year, western sword ferns (Polystichum munitum) managed to take over much of one border in my north-side "dry" garden.  The plants originally crept in under the fence we share with a neighbor.  The best "before" shot I have is the one on the upper left but the ferns had actually spread through the entire space.  The fronds pull up relatively easily (some shown piled up on the upper right) but they filled 2/3rds of one green bin and I've no illusion that I got up all of the rhizomes; however, at least now I can reach the other plants in the bed to prune them (as shown in the 2 lower photos).

I cut back the mostly bare stems of Cotinus coggygria and pruned the Cistus 'Grayswood Pink' in the foreground but the 2 larger Cistus shrubs in the background will take another couple of hours

I cut back the large Osteospermums seated in front of the Callistemon viridiflorus but I've barely made a dent in the rampant ivy and honeysuckle

Because it's been so dry, watering the raised planters in the cutting garden is at least a bi-weekly chore.  The Anemones and Ranunculus are off to a good start but, since the sweet pea seeds germinated, they haven't done much of anything.  The same thing happened last year so I'm not worried but maybe a bit of fertilizer is in order. The larkspur seedlings also appear to be in stasis.

I've potted a variety of Hippeastrum bulbs this week.  I belatedly discovered that I hadn't placed orders for any new bulbs earlier this fall as I'd intended so I scrambled to catch up.  Luckily, I was able to take advantage of some sales!  I also planted out my rooted cuttings, as well as various annual plugs to fill in empty spots.  I'd held off on both activities, waiting for rain to start, but as there's been none of that I decided I might as well go ahead.  There's currently a thirty percent chance of light rain on Christmas Eve but that's too far in the future to lay bets on yet.

I've done very little holiday decorating this year.  With an energetic and kittenish cat, I reluctantly decided to skip a Christmas tree this year, for just the second time in my life.  My husband, a Scrooge when it comes of the year-end holiday season, was just fine with that but I found myself missing the the usual holiday trappings so I threw together a few.

I bought a wreath from the local garden center and just added a bow and a tiny gnome

I pulled this gnome out of the garage, cleaned him up and gave him a dried Protea bloom to hold as he sits next to the front door

I put up this faux tree I've had for years and decorated it with a dozen little birds and a squirrel.  There's no electrical socket nearby this area in the entry way but I borrowed a tiny string of battery-powered lights from elsewhere and wove it in.

I'd purchased a faux birch tree with built in lights and tucked it in next to our grandfather clock.  Another little display sits on an end table next to the couch in the living room.

I have 4 snow globes, which I distributed to various areas of the house

I made an attempt to decorate the large Coprosma 'Plum Hussey' on the south patio outside the living room window but I couldn't pull it off.  There are too many bare branches on that plant and I didn't use enough in the way of ribbons or ornaments to make an impact.

Another round of Santa Ana winds brought temperatures into the upper 70sF (25C) this week but they're supposed to drop back into the low-to-mid 60sF (17C) this weekend.  Whatever weather conditions Mother Nature serves up for you this weekend, I hope your weekend is an enjoyable one.

View from the back garden yesterday with a blanket of clouds covering the Los Angeles harbor

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Stocking Up on Succulents

In late November, following our annual tree pruning process, I started a major cleanup of the moderate front slope in the southwest corner of my garden.  Although collateral damage in that area was limited this year, it was looking tired.  The Aeoniums were all overgrown and in need of replacement and it quickly became clear that it'd be easier to pull almost everything up and start fresh with cuttings and new plants.  I've been taking my time with the renovation and it'll be awhile yet before I'm ready to share it but I thought it was a great time to start stocking up on new succulents to use there, as well as elsewhere in my garden.

I was off and running with a succulent sale at Mountain Crest Gardens.

The Stenocactus multicostatus (aka brain cactus, shown in closeup on the lower right) was the initial impetus for placing an order.  Other plants included in my mail order included: 3 Graptoveria 'Fred Ives', 3 Graptosedum 'California Sunset', 3 Graptoveria 'Lovely Rose', and 3 Crassula 'Variegated Money Maker'.  Mountain Crest threw in a mystery succulent, one Senecio 'String of Pearls', and one Echeveria 'Perle of Nurmberg' as gifts with my purchase.

I picked up still more new succulents at my local garden center.

I picked up the following plants at my local Armstrong store: 3 Echeveria 'Lotus', one Crassula swaziensis 'Variegata', 2 Echeveria 'Violet', and 3 Echeveria 'Princess'

I used some other succulents I'd had on hand for quite some time to replant a pot in the back garden.

I'd acquired the Agave parryi var. truncata from Annie's Annuals & Perennials about 6 months before that nursery abruptly closed and was put up for sale - it was busting open its pot waiting for more space.  I added a Portulacaria afra 'Variegata', 3 Echeveria affinis 'Black Night', and the tiny Senecio 'String of Pearls' I'd received as a gift from Mountain Crest.

Mother Nature has also been working hard to add to my succulent collection.

I originally noticed 3 pups of Agave 'Jaws' surrounding the mother plant here.  When I lifted up some of its leaves and checked it from the back, I discovered that there are 8 pups.  It's overachieving in the pup department and I think it advisable to give the pups away (with suitable warnings about its proclivity).

Agave americana 'Mediopicta Alba' is also an overly enthusiastic pupper.  These 2 are coming up between flagstones in the middle of my south-side walkway.

I also have a stash of assorted succulents looking for new homes.  Some will go into the area I'm currently working on, while others are destined to fill in empty spots in the succulent bed adjacent to the garage, which I renovated earlier this year.

Clockwise from the upper left: Agave titanota 'White Ice' (a gift from Hoover Boo of Piece of Eden) and a division of Kumara plicatilis (aka fan aloe, which came from another friend years ago); another division of the same fan aloe plus an Agave 'Blue Glow' bulbil; a noID Aloe; an assortment of succulent cuttings given to me by a neighbor earlier this year; and 2 pups of Agave 'Mateo'

Meanwhile, the mutant Agave 'Blue Glow' in my south-side garden is working diligently on its bloom stalks to give me more bulbils next year.

The 2 new bloom stalks have straightened up and one is already over 3 feet tall

I suspect that I already have more succulents than I need but we'll see.  Another succulent giveaway may be in order early next year.

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party