Time to shift the focus from fire prevention to plants

As the year draws to an end, my husband and I finished up our efforts to reduce our wildfire risk.  A notice from the Los Angeles County's Board of Supervisors in March concerning the necessity of creating "defensible space clearance" in areas facing significant fire risk triggered those efforts.  (You can find my first post on the subject here).  That notice prompted several actions on our parts, the first of which were relatively simple.

The arbor visible in the distance in the photo on the left, adjacent to our house's roof, was the first thing to go.  It was removed in late April as shown on the right.  I thought I might miss it but I don't, although the Clematis it formerly supported has been forced to weave itself into the nearby shrubs.  We also removed a wood arbor in the north-side garden, which no longer supported anything.

The next steps on my part involved identifying plants that presented a heightened level of risk, either based on their flammability or their placement.  I arranged to have twenty-odd plants removed (as discussed here).  I've since worked to fill many of the gaps, although some remain.

Meanwhile the Fire Department conducted its inspection of local properties in June.  We received notice of our compliance with current requirements in late July.  At the same time, statewide discussions concerning "zone zero," which is intended to establish a space of five feet free of flammable materials around homes in high risk areas, heated up.  In October, I discovered that our local fire severity zones had been redefined.  I was shocked to learn that we'd ended up in a "green zone," albeit just outside of the fire risk areas.  Our neighborhood of fifty-six homes and one empty lot consists of twenty homes in high risk or very high risk zones and twenty-one in moderate risk zones, with fifteen homes and the empty lot in the green zone.

Despite finding that our home is outside the high risk area, with homes in such areas less than a five minutes walk away, we decided we should go ahead in taking steps to "harden" our home in the event of a wildfire.  That involved removing wood structures directly attached to the house like the arbor that had previously been attached to the south side of the house.

My husband almost immediately began tackling removal of the wood fence that bisected our garden on its north side with its attachment to that end of the house.

The photo on the left shows the fence in place and the photo on the right shows the area after it'd been taken down.  We'd talked about getting a contractor to remove the 2-sided fence but my husband decided to handle it himself in early November.  We were lucky to get our tree service to funnel the fence planks through their chipper when they were here pruning our trees.

We've made two additional changes since then.

We'd slated the wood pergola attached to the front of the house for removal too

Once again, I didn't realize my husband had decided to tackle it on his own until I heard the electric saw going.  A neighbor helped him with the largest posts.

All but 2 boards remain as he hasn't figured out how to remove those without damaging the roof's overhang (yet).  Once again, the change doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would.

There was a lot of wood left behind and no helpful tree service to haul it away.  However, 2 neighbors (both with vacation homes in snow country) are willing to accept it as firewood.  

We also replaced the wood bench that surrounded the Magnolia tree in our front garden.  It wasn't attached to the house, although it's relatively close to it, but it'd deteriorated.  Rather than rebuilding it, we decided it made sense to replace it with a metal bench.

The original wood bench, which functioned in part as a plant stand, is on the left.  The new metal bench is on the right.

I'm still using the bench to support potted plants, all succulents and bromeliads

My initial focus now is on cleaning up and replanting the area between the two north-side garden areas formerly divided by the fence to improve the flow between them.  The immediate challenge is to remove all or most of the western sword ferns (Polystichum munitum) that occupy much of the area on both sides of the former fence.  I didn't plant the ferns there and I believe most of them spread from the neighbor's side of the fence that still separates our properties.  Its bulbous roots are everywhere and I suspect that keeping it in check will be a perpetual process.

Should the spindly lime citrus tree ends up on the tree service's removal list next year, I'll be eyeing the space for a small greenhouse

We've had beautiful weather for the past few days with temperatures in the mid-to-upper 70sF (23-26C).  Rain was expected to return this weekend but the chances of that have dwindled dramatically in recent days.  There's snow in the mountains to the east of us, however.

 

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Bird feeder traffic

When I think of Thanksgiving, it's mostly about getting together with family and eating, not necessarily in that order.  It seems an appropriate time to make sure that I feed the birds too.  I used to keep the feeders full year-round but some years ago, concerned with reports of birds spreading disease at feeders, I reduced my provisions of seeds to the colder months of the year when there's less food available to them.

The finches are usually the first to appear.

The Lesser Goldfinches (Spinus psaltria) showed up in greater numbers but the House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) were present too.  I haven't seen the Spice Finches (Lonchura punctulata) at all yet.  The latter are native to Asia but escaped pets have spread in the US, and notably California.

The White-crowned Sparrows showed up slightly later.  There was a good crowd of them at one point but I didn't capture it.  However, the sparrows and the finches always seem comfortable mingling at the feeder and I did capture one in the group shown below.  

The bird sitting in the Ceanothus just below the middle feeder is a White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys).  Unlike the finches, species noticeably differentiated by gender, these sparrows are described as "sexually monochromatic," which means they can't be readily differentiated based on their appearance, although there are apparently nominal size differences.

On the other hand, when the California Scrub Jays arrive, all the other birds back off.

California Scrub Jays (Aphelocoma californica) are described as "assertive" and they take over the feeders and send the smaller birds off as soon as they arrive.  Two of these jays jockeyed for control of the feeders even though they're "squirrel resistant," which means they also lock out the heavier birds to a significant degree.  Even so, the jays are adept at getting to the seeds to some extent.

This is a closeup of one of the jays.  This bird's underside was particularly fluffy.  It occurred to me that it might be a somewhat immature bird but then it's possible it was fluffed up due to either the wind or its conflict with the other jay.  Like the White-crowned Sparrows, adult Scrub Jays can only be differentiated by size, not appearance. 

The finches use the bare Ginkgo tree some 20 feet away as a waystation when the Scrub Jays are in takeover mode

Best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving and may you get all you want to eat!

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: Bits and pieces

We received a great deal of rain between November 13th and November 21st, at least by our standards.  According to my rooftop rain meter, it was nearly three inches and it could've been more as the meter was clogged for almost a day during the height of the first storm.  Unfortunately, my flowers took something of a beating so I was left to collect a lot of bits and pieces to fill my first vase, which was inspired by the last of dahlias that'd surprised me by blooming earlier this month, long after I'd given up on it flowering at all.

Not only was the dahlia late to flower, it also wasn't anything close to what what the tuber's seller advertised.  My best guess is that it's Dahlia 'Ferncliff Illusion'.  I cut the last fully opened flower and one partially opened bud and then disposed of the tuber.

Back view: I used 2 stems of Polygala (aka sweet pea shrub) to create a base to support the dahlia and squeezed in lots of other small stems, including the 2 stems of the Chrysanthemum 'Fairbank Purple Spoon' shown in this view.

Overhead view

Clockwise from the upper left: Abelia grandiflora 'Hopley's Variegated', Argyranthemum 'Everest', Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy', mystery Dahlia (possibly 'Ferncliff Illusion'), Chrysanthemum 'Fairbank Purple Spoon', Matthiola incana in ivory and magenta, and Polygala myrtifolia

Protea 'Claire' produced two especially nice flowers this week and I couldn't resist cutting them for a simple arrangement.

These 2 Protea flowers opened more fully than those I've previously cut.  I used the dark Leucadendron 'Ebony' to play off the dark center of the Protea's flower.  'Ebony' is a sport of L. 'Safari Sunset', which I purchased for a song years ago before it'd been clearly differentiated from 'Safari' by sellers.

Back view

Overhead view

From left to right: Leucadendron salignum 'Blush', L. 'Ebony', and hybrid Protea 'Claire'

Our Thanksgiving holiday is later this year than usual but the holidays still feel as if they've arrived all too soon.  But then it's hard to feel excited this year with the continual horrors pouring out of our federal government.  My husband and I'll have a quiet Thanksgiving but I'm scheduled to meet up with a group of girlfriends the following Sunday, which I'm looking forward to.  Since we've all retired and some of us have scattered, this group meets all too infrequently.

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

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

The trees got their annual trim

I have a tree service in on an annual basis but I don't have every one of them trimmed each year.  However, this year, I included more of them than usual.  This year's exercise included pruning fourteen trees and four tree-sized shrubs, as well as the removal of two dead shrubs and shearing the tall hedge that backs our lath house.  It took the entire day. 

The house and garden had a lovely peppermint scent that day as all six of the Agonis flexuosa (aka peppermint willows) were trimmed.  I think sending the mass of that debris through the chipper is what perfumed the air.

This one on the south end of the back garden is the largest .  It singularly accounts of much of the shade in my back garden but it'll be sunnier now for a time.

This Agonis sits in the northwest corner of the front garden near the property line.  It's always been more wispy than the tree shown in the prior photo.  I don't have it pruned often.

This one alongside the driveway entrance is also on the wispy side and seldom trimmed

The 2 Agonis located directly behind the front hedge along the street may get trimmed the most frequently.  They're more prone to wind damage it seems.

This one on the south side of the garden has always looked a little wonky

The Arbutus 'Marina' (aka strawberry trees) do get trimmed annually.  A good cleanup of the trees' dense interior canopies is necessary to prevent black mildew from forming.  Pruning temporarily reduces the volume of flowers, beloved by hummingbirds, but it keeps the trees healthy and the canopies quickly flesh out.

These 2 Arbutus sit on the north end of back garden

This Arbutus on the northwest side of the front garden presents the trickiest pruning challenge due to all the succulents planted below it.  The agaves suffered "edema" (damage to their leaves) when they were covered by a tarp 2 years ago but the team avoids using those now.

This Arbutus on the south end of the front garden sits atop a moderate slope, also planted with agaves and other succulents

The other trees that received beauty treatments this year include:

Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku' almost got lost on the list but I pointed it out before the team left and one of the crew did a neat job of cleaning it up 

Pruning this lime citrus tree (Citrus aurantiifolia) is a last chance try at saving it.  I inherited it with the garden and while it still produces a lot of fruit, they're tiny and we've little use for them.  It's in the cutting garden area and sited next to the former fence.  If the lime tree is eventually removed, that space may provide me an opportunity to install a small greenhouse.  The fence behind it separates our property from our neighbor on the north side.

The Magnolia grandiflora is another tree that receives an annual pruning.  The principal purpose is to clear its canopy from the roof.

The ornamental pear tree, Pyrus calleryana, is a messy thing, dropping both leaves and inedible fruit that even the critters don't seem to care for.  The debris has been substantially reduced (for now). 

We have ten other trees I didn't include, three additional citrus, two western redbuds (Cercis occidentalis), two pineapple guavas (Feijoa sellowiana), a noID guava (maybe Psidium guajava), and two persimmons (Diospyros kaki).  In retrospect, I wish I'd thrown in at least the redbuds and one of the persimmons, as well as the lemon tree at the bottom of the slope.

Some of my tree-sized shrubs have gotten so large that they're hard for me to handle:

This is Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid'.  It replaced another tall Agonis flexuosa that a former neighbor bullied me into removing based on the claim that it blocked her view of the port years ago.

I used to prune these 2 'Copper Glow' Leptospermums myself, which took hours and hours.  Last year, I decided to hand the chore off to the tree service, which does the job in a fraction of the time it took me.

Leucadendron salignum 'Chief' is another plant that outgrew expectations.  There was one large limb that stretched along the ground and rested its heavy branches on the hedge behind it.  I'm a little concerned that lopping off that limb may kill it but the service did a clean job of removing it at least.  I still have more work to do to cut away the remaining dead foliage. 

The removals (not photographed) included a dead Ceanothus arboreus, also tree-sized, and a large Coprosma repens.  The much-loved Ceanothus 'Clifford Schmidt', which I'd planted from a one-gallon pot, dropped dead in late spring after ten years in the ground.  The tall Coprosma 'Plum Hussey' was poorly placed and was effectively strangled by a rampant honeysuckle vine that crept up from the upper area of the back slope.

The tree service did a great job of cleanup, although leaves and small branches continue to fall as expected.  There was relatively little collateral damage this year, although I lost a branch with Tillandsias wired onto it, which I'd stupidly left on the ground below two of the trees slated for trimming - it must have picked up with the debris and that's entirely my fault as I usually do a better job of clearing work areas before the crew arrives.  However, without an extra charge, the service agreed to send the fence boards my husband recently removed through their chipper, saving him weeks of parsing that out in stages using our recycle bins so that's a win. 

We received some more rain on Thursday, which may spill over into Friday.  From there, we expect some dry, sunny days to carry us through the Thanksgiving holiday.

Best wishes for a pleasant weekend.

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

The Case of the Missing Bulbs - or All's Well that Ends Well

Before I get into my little garden mystery regarding missing bulbs, I'll start with a few beauty shots of my back garden during what we expect will be a very short reprieve from the rain.  My "water year" to-date rain total (counted from October 1, 2025) is 2.89 inches but that tally may be low as my rooftop rain meter was clogged during the first twenty-four hours of the "atmospheric river's" movement through Southern California.  My total includes the 0.74/inch of rain delivered by October's surprise storm.  Counts quoted by nearby areas have suggested the total could be an inch or more greater than we recorded.  Downtown Los Angeles reported 3.47 inches just from the November rain and Santa Barbara was hit hard by 8.58 inches.  All those totals are many times greater than the norms for the southern part of the state in November, or most any other month here.  And we have a ninety percent chance of more rain starting this Thursday. 

View from the back door yesterday morning looking east

Another view looking south

Our backyard fountain is full to the brim for the first time in recent memory without any help from me

The next rainstorm is expected to roll from Thursday into Friday  My rain tanks are already full and, as the ground is saturated and everything is thoroughly wet, there's not much I can do in the garden at the moment.  I still have thirty Freesia bulbs, a handful of Anemones, and ten lily bulbs to plant but all will have to wait until next week when the garden's dried out a bit.  So on to the case of the missing bulbs!

I've admitted to ordering a large number of bulbs this year - and that's without acknowledging the pre-orders of dahlia tubers that won't ship until spring.  However, my biggest orders were three I placed on top of one another in mid-September, all companies that obtain all or the majority of their stock from Dutch bulb sellers.  The first of these orders from K. van Bourgondien shipped in early October, absent three Hippeastrum 'Razzmatazz' bulbs to be shipped at an unspecified future date.

I received my second order on October 21st from John Scheepers.  It also arrived absent a Hippeastrum, this time a single 'Aphrodite'.

I promptly planted the Dutch Iris but the Allium bulgaricum, Ipheion uniflorum, and Tulip clusiana bulbs are sitting a time out in the fridge to get the equivalent of a "winter chill" first

I subsequently received a UPS notice regarding my order to Van Engelen, my third supplier, referencing a pending shipment.  It was quickly followed by two additional messages from UPS showing changes to the delivery date window.  The last notice referenced delivery by the evening of October 28th.  Meanwhile, I received the delayed shipments of Hippeastrums 'Razzmatazz' and 'Aphrodite' separately from their respective sellers.

When I received nothing from Van Engelen by early November, I checked the UPS tracking notice and found they'd recorded a delivery of that package on October 24th.  We checked our camera and found confirmation that I'd opened the door and picked up a small package at the time indicated by UPS.  But I couldn't remember receiving any package from Van Engelen.  I scoured the garden and everywhere and anywhere I might have placed another box.  My husband asked if I was mixing up my bulb deliveries.  Acquainted with my proclivity for "purging" junk, he also asked if I could've tossed the box by accident.  I contended that any box containing the contents of the Van Engelen order would've been large and heavy as the order included six Hippeastrum and fifteen lily bulbs, which I'd be unlikely to throw out as cardboard trash but, as our trash and recyclables had already been collected, I couldn't verify that.  As I was upset that he appeared to think I'd experienced a "senior moment," he checked our cameras to see if he could track my movements involving boxed bulbs.  The only video we found showed me handling one of the recent Hippeastrum deliveries but the box label wasn't visible.

I finally contacted Van Engelen directly by email asking if my order was still in process.  I provided the order number Van Engelen had assigned me and was told there wasn't a pending shipment.  However, I made the mistake of referencing a UPS delivery on October 24th and the customer service representative simply stated that the company had record of a shipment initiated October 20th and delivered on October 24th.  I threw in the towel at that point and decided the bulbs (and $144) might well be a lost cause - but then I noticed that location information in my incoming email "correspondents" list showed "John Scheepers" even though the contact information shown in the message itself identified her as a Van Engelen representative.  I then recalled that I'd suspected but hadn't confirmed a relationship between the two companies.  Google AI confirmed that Van Engelen owns both entities.  For the record, they send out separate catalogs and accept orders separately under the two names.  They've established different minimum order amounts, their pricing is different, and their bulb offers aren't identical.  Effectively, Scheepers operates as a retail seller while Van Engelen is more of a wholesaler.

On November 5th, the day following my exchange with Van Engelen's customer service representative, I received another notice from UPS regarding a shipment to be delivered by November 11th.

The box was bigger and heavier than any of my prior bulb deliveries.  Although the cardboard box here was photographed showing Van Engelen's name, another side of the same box says John Scheepers.  The smaller boxes received with the Scheepers bulbs only had labels identifying Scheepers.

All my Hippeastrums have been potted up (including some purchased from a 4th company).  I hope to give some away as Christmas presents assuming they don't rot in their pots after all this rain.  I intend to put them under cover before the next storm arrives.

So, the mystery is solved and all's well!  I haven't been certified as demented yet but I clearly need to pay closer attention to the companies I'm purchasing from.  I've learned that UPS labels provide tracking numbers but those bear no direct relationship to company order numbers and one has to be careful in framing queries to customer service representatives.  I also learned that I probably shouldn't delete any UPS shipping notices based on "updated schedules" until the deliveries in question are in hand.  As I've just bounced around trying to track an Amazon order that's been shoved off to a patchwork quilt of delivery companies, sending me from a transportation company in Los Angeles to a logistics company in Alabama (which has promised to email the appropriate contact back in Los Angeles), I'm wondering if the old school method of conducting purchases locally may be easiest after all.

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: Sodden flowers

An atmospheric river has been moving through Southern California since late Thursday night.  It's delivered a lot of rain, albeit not as much as I was led to believe it would at the outset.  It's come down in torrents at times and, while the showers paused Sunday afternoon, the rain is expected to pick up again Monday morning with heavier showers in the afternoon.  My flowers have suffered in the process and even my beautiful blue bush violets (Barleria obtusa) are looking sad; however, I hope they'll bounce back once the rain has passed.

I'd targeted my Camellia sasanquas to fill a vase this week.  Camellia flowers are prone to shattering and they were taking a beating on Saturday so I cut several of the longest, prettiest stems I could find that afternoon and put them aside, planning to put my vase together Sunday morning.  Unfortunately, the bulk of the flowers dropped their petals overnight.  I made another pass at cutting the flowers on Sunday between morning showers but the stems weren't as impressive as the first ones I'd cut.

The result turned into yet another of my "everything but the kitchen sink" arrangements

Back view: The Amarine wasn't bothered by the rain at all and neither were the Australian fuchsias (Correa)

Overhead view

Clockwise from the upper left: Coleus 'Florida Sun Rose', noID Dianthus, Correa pulchella 'Pink Eyre', Amarine 'Belladiva Emanuelle', 2 Camellia sasanqua (possibly 'Early Wonder' and 'October Magic Rose', and white Eustoma grandiflorum

I wasn't going to bother with a second vase but I'd cut some snapdragons and a late-blooming zinnia mid-week for my kitchen island.  That arrangement needed a refresh so I pulled a couple of the faded flowers and filled in with blooms of Grevillea 'Superb', a plant that is utterly unfazed by rain.

The arrangement of an orange Antirrhinum majus, Grevillea 'Superb', Zinnia 'Benary's Giant Coral', and a single stem of Agonis flexuosa 'Nana' is very matchy-matchy in terms of color but at least it's a cheerful mix

I also rehabbed both of the vases I created last week and placed them elsewhere.

I cut last week's vase containing Protea 'Claire' down by half, as shown on the left.  Other than removing the spent Cosmos flowers, the Chrysanthemum arrangement on the right remains the same.

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

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party