In a Vase on Monday: A diversion on a gloomy day

Between the fires that have decimated large sections of Los Angeles County over the past two weeks and the looming changes in the political leadership of the US, it's been hard to avoid feelings of dread and dejection.  My garden has always been a sanctuary but poor air quality has limited the time I've spent outside recently - I can only stand wearing a mask for so long.  Gloomy skies (with no rain) and cold temperatures made rounds of the garden to cut flowers less appealing yesterday but new Echium blooms at least offered a starting point.

Echiums are very drought tolerant plants and most have blue flowers, which make them all the more desirable.  I found my first Echium handiense at our local botanic garden in 2011 and purchased another one in 2016.  It's a native of the Canary Islands threatened with extinction.  As the botanic garden no longer offers sells plants propagated onsite, I've propagated it from my own cuttings in recent years.

Back view: As the Echium has touches of pink in its buds, I usually end up pairing it with pink flowers, as I've done again this time

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt', Alstroemeria 'Inca Vienna', Anemone coronaria (probably 'Mr Fokker'), A. c. 'Mount Everest', Antirrhinum majus, and Echium handiense 'Pride of Fuerteventura'

Some weather forecasters have projected a real rainstorm for the first day of February.  AccuWeather currently shows a seventy-five percent chance of rain but then predictions that far in advance are notoriously unreliable so I'll try not to obsess about it (yet).  Rain is essential to clearing the fire-related pollutants in our air and could literally put a damper on our fire risk.  Meanwhile, I hope the marine layer will continue to give the firefighters a boost in fully containing the Palisades and Eaton Fires, which currently stand at fifty-six and eighty-one percent containment respectively.  High winds are predicted to pick up again here later this afternoon and may continue throughout the week.

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

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