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.
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| The result turned into yet another of my "everything but the kitchen sink" arrangements |
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| Back view: The Amarine wasn't bothered by the rain at all and neither were the Australian fuchsias (Correa) |
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| Overhead view |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
"Everything but the kitchen sink" is just fine if the results are as lovely as your vase today: such a wide range of pink to white hues! Truly an eye candy.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have no doubt the bush violets will bounce back with renewed purpose. A good drink will be nice after the long dry summer.
Chavli
For some reason, the bush violets growing in the front garden looked much better this morning than those in the back, which still looked sad. However, the rain is back this afternoon along with some wind. Tomorrow looks clearer but not entirely dry and then the rain is predicted to come back on Thursday and Friday! That's rather remarkable for us, especially given the dire rain projections we'd heard earlier about this rain year.
DeleteThe pink and white is positively cheery, which is needed during all the rain! The smiling pig made me laugh, is that a cookie jar?
ReplyDeleteThe pig is meant to be a cookie jar but I use him for tea bags ;) He is rather cute. I have a cat jar somewhere too, which I'll have to remember to pull out the next time my husband bakes me some cookies.
DeleteI can't get enough of that Grevillea 'Superb', it's gorgeous. I hope the rain hasn't caused any damage.
ReplyDeleteGrevillea 'Superb' deserves its name! I know there's a lot of concern about the rain's effect on the burn areas but I haven't heard of any significant mudslides (yet). We're pretty soggy in my area but unscathed. We've had years with continuous rain over days before but it's been a long time!
DeleteIsn't it strange how some plants can cope with the battering? You have managed to find lots of pretty pinks to fill your first vase, and your second vase is indeed match-matchy, but striking - and you were even able to repurpose last week's vases too! The pelargonium in mine from last week lasted the full week
ReplyDeletePelargonium foliage holds up well in my vases but I can't make the same claims about my Pelargonium flowers. Meanwhile, this week's pink arrangement is steadily losing its Camellia petals. The blooms of Camellia japonica hybrids seem to hold their petals somewhat longer than do the petals of Camellia sasanqua, or at least these particular cultivars in that species.
DeleteI tend to be an 'everything' arranger, as you may have noticed... I can't seem to limit my cutting, ha! However, the results please as flowers are always gorgeous, as your always are. :) Eliza
ReplyDeleteYes, that's my issue too, Eliza. If I cut a stem with an arrangement in mind, I feel compelled to include it in the vase ;)
DeleteMy fingers are crossed that there has been more rainfall over your garden today Kris! Your flowers sing together and do not shown any sign of being battered by the elements. Your table runner matches the colours in the vase so well.
ReplyDeleteWe're creeping up near to a quarter of an inch more so far this afternoon. I'm showing a total of 1.77 inches of rain since Thursday evening but I may have missed some of the total Thursday and Friday when our rooftop rain meter was clogged. Nearby locations have reported anywhere from 2.05 to 3.27 inches - quite a range!
DeleteThat Amarine is just lovely and from above quite stunning. Your smug pig is obviously very proud to be amongst the flowers! I hope some of your rain was able to soak down to the water table. I am sure you don'y need more drought.
ReplyDeletehttps://zonethreegardenlife.blog/2025/11/17/in-a-vase-on-monday-november-17/
Drought appeared to be a virtual certainty given the forecasts I'd heard about this "rain year" but the early rainstorm in October (the start of our annual rain year) and now this extended "atmospheric river" suggests it might not be so bad after all. It feels as though we've had a good soak but, as you've indicated, it does take awhile to penetrate those deep layers of very dry soil.
DeletePretty in pink! Love all those lovely shades of rose pink, especially the Dianthus and the Amarine. Is that a cross between an Amaryllis and a Nerine? Sounds like you finally got a good rain. Your flowers still look perfect though.
ReplyDeleteWhile some of my flowers still look good, that can't be said for all, Cathy. The bush violets are a mess, for example. The Amarine is indeed a cross between Amaryllis belladonna and a Nerine.
DeleteLove the pink again! Rain does do a number on Camellia flowers--the same for roses, too, unfortunately. Gooey brown mush.
ReplyDeleteThe orange arrangement is warming me up just looking at--it's chilly today. The pig is a cutie.
We got 4.41" from the storm! Incredible November. A few roses and camellia flowers ruined--small price to pay.
You did really well on the rain! Our total isn't clear due to the temporary clog in our rain meter but I'd guess we're around half that total after discounting the October storm.
DeleteOh, so pretty! This is when I wish I lived in California--to have flowers year-round. Wonderful! "Everything but the kitchen sink" is a fun way to describe it. Another bennie of living in your climate is being able to grow Camellias--I'm not quite warm enough, so I'll enjoy them on your blog. Gosh, all that rain! I've been thinking of you (and my relatives) while listening to reports of torrential rain in SoCal. I'm glad you're OK and your plants will be OK after the rain stops. Believe it or not, we're in a minor drought here, but the forecasts are calling for a snowy winter, so... ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe rain probably isn't helping the burn areas but I'm glad of the rain we've had overall. It'll be nice to have some flowers that aren't soaked, though ;)
DeleteI like that little red arrangement the most. It's a firecracker! And, I also just wanted to post "That's some pig!" in reference to the 14th photo and to Charlotte's web, a children's animated movie about a very special pig.
ReplyDelete