Late to the Garden Party: 2025

Friday, December 12, 2025

Bloom Day - December 2025 (Early Edition)

It's holiday season and blog posts need to be crammed in wherever I can. Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, the long-running meme established by Carol of May Dreams Gardens, officially falls on December 15th but I took photos over the past week to fit it into my schedule. My garden isn't showing off at its best this month but then that's to be expected, even in sunny Southern California. It's been especially sunny and warm this week, with temperatures reaching into the low 80sF (27C) here along the coast. Meanwhile, despite the monumental rain that's deluged the Pacific Northwest, there's been no rain here since late November and there's nothing showing in the extended forecast either.

As this month's lineup looks a lot like the one I showed in November, I'm going to start with this month's surprises.

This is Dermatobotrys saundersii (aka tree jockey). Native to coastal forests in southern Africa, I picked it up as a small plant at a sale held by Huntington Garden many years ago. I cut it back earlier this year after a poor showing in recent years and it's come back. In the past it's bloomed in or around October but this year its bloom followed our rain in November.

My daylilies didn't do well in general this year but these 2, Hemerocallis 'For Pete's Sake' (left) and 'Spanish Harlem' (right), are blooming for a second time this year. I'm getting one bloom at a time from each but I still appreciate them.

I planted Lachenalia viridiflora bulbs in a pot years ago but I'm delighted each and every year they pop up with their turquoise blooms

Other plants that surprise me whenever they choose to show up include, clockwise from the upper left: Erigeron 'Wayne Roderick', green Eustoma grandiflorum, Hypoestes aristata (aka ribbon bush), and Vesalea floribunda (aka Mexican abelia)

Next up are the flowering plants making the biggest impact at the moment.

The 3 Camellia sasanqua shrubs that came with the garden are the most floriferous plants at the moment. The shrub shown on the left and in closeup on the upper right may be 'October Magic Rose'. The other 2 shrubs, represented by the closeup on the lower right, may be 'Early Wonder'.

Hybrid Aloe vanbalenii x ferox is just getting started. There are several other species of aloes following close behind this one.

Argyranthemum frutescens springs into action during our cool season. 'Mount Everest' is on the left and 'Beauty Yellow' is on the right.

Correa pulchella 'Pink Eyre', shown on the left and in closeup on the upper right, is always the last of the Australian fuchsias to bloom. Meanwhile, C. 'Ivory Bells', shown lower right, the first to bloom, is still in full flower.

Crassula ovata (aka jade plant)

Cuphea 'Starfire Pink' and C. 'Vermillionaire'

The flowers of Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy' (aka 'Little Grape') are tiny but abundant

We recently removed one of the 2 Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl' shrubs in my north-side garden but one remains, for now at least

The Pelargonium peltatum (aka ivy geraniums) bloom off and on all year but they're happiest during the cool season

Polygala myrtifolia (aka sweet pea shrub) also blooms year-round but prefers the cooler season

I continue to be thrilled with the blooms produced by Protea 'Claire'

There are a few plants already gearing up for a big display next month too.

The Aeonium arboreum are getting a start on their annual takeover of my garden. I refer to them as my "Triffids," although unlike those fictional plants, they're not carnivorous.

The flowers of Grevillea 'Poorinda Leane' are still tightly in bud

while the first flowers of Metrosideros collina 'Springfire' have begun to open

I'll close as usual with the best of the rest, organized into color-related collages.

Clockwise from the upper left: Barleria obtusa (aka bush violet), Duranta erecta 'Sapphire Showers', Evolvulus glomeratus 'Beach Bum Blue', Felicia aethiopica, Lobelia erinus, and Salvia 'Mystic Spires'

From upper left: noID Gazania, Pelargonium x hortorum 'Bird Dancer', Pentas lanceolata, and Xerochrysum bracteatum

From upper left: Alstroemeria 'Claire', Dietes grandiflora, Narcissus papyraceus, and Fuchsia 'Windchimes White'

Top row: Chrysocephalum 'Desert Flame', Haemanthus albiflos, and Rudbeckia 'Juliana'
Middle: Aloe lukeana, Grevillea 'Superb', and Leonotis leonurus
Bottom: Gaillardia 'Spintop Copper Sun', Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset', and Zinnia 'Benary's Giant Coral'

That's a wrap for Bloom Day and for this week. Enjoy your weekend! For more GBBD posts, check in with Carol at May Dreams Gardens on Monday, December 15th.

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

Sideline projects: Mangave pups

Rather than tackling some of my larger projects, I've been puttering around taking care of small ones, while completing ignoring preparations for the upcoming holidays. I'm having a hard time getting in the mood for the latter this year.

Cleanup and division of two bloomed-out Mangaves were relatively easy tasks. It seems that some of these plants bloom all too soon and the process leaves the mother plant looking disfigured. However, all also seem to leave plenty of pups behind to replace themselves. Even though it bloomed recently, I attended to the Mangave 'Pineapple Express' first because it presented the biggest eyesore.

It bloomed back in October. The flowers weren't anything to get excited about in my view but the hummingbirds appreciated them. The clump eventually produced 3 bloom stalks as some of pups surrounding the mother plant also flowered.

The photo on the left was taken immediately before I got started. The photo of the right shows the mother plant after I'd dug it up.

I immediately replanted the largest pup shown on the left as it had plenty of attached roots. It was replanted near the other 2 'Pineapple Express' plants I'd installed 3 years ago as part of a trio.

These are the other pups I harvested in a variety of sizes

As I hadn't found suitable grasses to hide the bare branches of the Ceanothus hedge I'd pruned months ago, I decided to plant 5 of the largest Mangave 'Pineapple Express' pups in that area.

The remaining pups went into temporary pots. I'm not sure the smallest ones on the right will amount to anything but, if they develop better than expected, I'll give them away. I'm hoping to use the larger pups elsewhere in my own garden once they're well-rooted.

The second bloomed-out Mangave was a 'Silver Fox', given to me by a friend as a pup several years ago after my original 'Silver Fox' bloomed-out. It flowered back in February but was largely hidden by surrounding plants so it hadn't scream for attention. I took care of it yesterday.

These are photos of the plant in flower in February. For a relatively small plant it produces a tall stalk.

This is the empty spot left behind after I'd cut back some of the surrounding plants. I haven't decided whether or not to return one of the pups to this spot - if I do, I expect it'll just get swamped by its neighbors again.

The mother plant was a tangled mess of pups, and more difficult to divide than 'Pineapple Express'

These were the pups I held onto. Tinier ones went into the recycle bin.

I potted all of them up for now, even the largest one that had a decent root system

This week, I also pruned the twiggy 'Hachiya' persimmon (Diospyros kaki), which took a good hour or more. It's less than a perfect job as I wasn't comfortable putting a ladder up on uneven ground. It'll do for now but next year I think it'll go on my tree service list.

It's still pretty twiggy even though I filled half a green recycle bin with sticks. The branches are brittle, which complicated matters and the sloping ground didn't help.

I'm waiting for the 'Fuyu' persimmon to drop most of its remaining leaves before I tackle pruning it. It's branches are also brittle (and tall!) so I'll settle for doing the best I can to thin this one out too. You may note that one of the 2 Leptospermum 'Pink Pearl' shrubs is already gone here - my husband got it out in a flash yesterday as its roots weren't deep.

This is the remaining Leptospermum. I'll leave it for now as it still has plenty of flowers. New information suggests it won't tolerate being cut to the ground or even a few feet. Its tilt, probably the result of growing up tightly against the former fence, also bugs me.

I really do intend to get going on removal of the mass of ferns in that part of the garden sometime soon but I may attend to pruning the 'Fuyu' persimmon and the redbuds (Cercis occidentalis) first. Sometimes I wish we got snow, putting garden work on hold for a time, but maintenance is a year-round activity here and, right now, virtually every part of my garden is calling for attention.

Monday, December 8, 2025

In a Vase on Monday: Ephemeral Beauty

The choice of material suitable for cutting remains skimpy but I ended up filling two vases anyway. The first was built around Camellia sasanqua flowers, which although plentiful at the moment, are fragile and prone to shattering quickly, especially when cut. Hence the title of this post.

I lost 3 Camellia flowers just in the process of cutting and arranging them

Back view: I used my "clasped hands vase" but, as if often the case, I ended up covering the hands with the pretty manicured fingernails with the vase's contents. The curly green foliage shown here is scented Pelargonium 'Colocho'.

Overhead view

Clockwise from the upper left: noID Camellia sasanqua (possibly 'October Magic Rose'), Correa pulchella 'Pink Eyre', Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', and Pelargonium graveolens 'Colocho'

The second arrangement was inspired by my first Hippeastrum bloom. I'd ordered thirteen new Hippeastrum bulbs (commonly called Amaryllis) this year, all of which I potted up between late October and early November. I'd planned to give away some of those I'd planted in individual pots as holiday gifts but, to date, only one has shown any signs of growth. Once it took off, it speedily reached bloom stage. However, as I allowed it to get battered by rain in its early stages of development, it was stunted and not gift-worthy so I cut it for my vase.

This is Hippeastrum 'Double Razzmatazz'. The other 2 of these have yet to show any sign of producing buds, even though they were planted in pots of the same size at the same time. All the bulbs would probably respond better if grown inside where it's warmer but I don't have the space for them in my kitchen window (or anywhere else).

Back view: The stems of Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset' are colorful bracts but they're doing a good job of imitating flowers when set against the dark green foliage I included

Overhead view, showing off 2 stems of the first paperwhite Narcissus to make an appearance in my garden

From the upper left: Cistus ladanifer 'Blanche', Hippeastrum 'Razzmatazz', Leucadendron salignum 'Safari Sunset', and Narcissus papyraceus

We've had no rain since the two storms that moved through in late November. There was a little rain in the forecast afterwards but that didn't materialize. There's now a projection for rain in mid-December and again in late December but it's still too early to get invested in either possibility. Meanwhile, I'm rapidly using up the rainwater I collected earlier.

For more IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

Friday, December 5, 2025

A look back - and ahead (in collaboration with A Week of Flowers)

Cathy of Words and Herbs is once again sponsoring her annual "A Week of Flowers" meme as a way of offsetting the gloomier days of December in the Northern Hemisphere. It's a way of looking back at the more flowerful periods of the year and also looking forward toward what we can expect when the days once again get longer and warmer. Conditions in coastal Southern California aren't as cold or as gloomy on average as conditions elsewhere in the Hemisphere but flower power is in short supply even here and I like to remind myself of what's just around the corner for my garden so I concentrated on the much-loved flowers that hopefully await me in January and February.

As I wasn't able to carve out time to participate in Cathy's meme during most of the week, I hope you'll forgive me if I cram nine of my 2025 January and February favorites into this post. I promise to spare you any commentary beyond plant names.

Anemone coronaria, clockwise from the upper left: 'Azzurro', 'Mr Fokker', 'Grape', 'Bianco Centro Nero', 'Mount Everest', 'Rarity', and 'Rosa Chiaro'