In a Vase on Monday: Sweet peas

I considered pulling out my sweet pea vines when I cleared most of my cutting garden of the rest of the cool season annuals.  As the result of our cooler temperatures, they'd gotten a slow start and our persistent marine layer encouraged the foliage to mildew.  However, as the sweet peas stepped up production, I found it hard to let them go.  A few sunny afternoons and, all of a sudden, there are more flowers than I can cut.

A lot of those sweet peas are too tall for me to reach without a ladder

In addition to a varied combination of sweet peas, I added 2 stems of Gladious 'Vuvuzela' growing in the same raised planter

Back view: I also cut 3 foxglove stems

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Digitalis purpurea 'Dalmatian Purple', D. 'Dalmatian White', Gladiolus 'Vuvuzela', Lathyrus odoratus 'Blue Shift', L. 'Dancing Queen', L. 'Enchante', and L. 'Oban Bay'

 

My second arrangement was inspired by one of the first lilies to make an appearance this year.

I used the lily as my centerpiece even though it was still in the process of opening

I cut 3 more stems of the 'Golden Celebration' rose this week to dress up the back of the arrangement

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Abelia grandiflora 'Kaleidoscope', Achillea 'Moonshine', Alstroemeria 'Claire', Lilium 'Conca d'Or', Lagurus ovatus, Orlaya grandiflora, Prunus lilcifolia, and Rosa 'Golden Celebration'

 

I'd cut a few stems of Centaurea 'Silver Feather' to include in the first arrangement but they looked wonky so I cut them down in size and threw them into a small vase with more sweet peas for the kitchen island.

The small vase contains Centaurea 'Silver Feather' and Lathyrus odoratus x belinensis 'Erewhon'

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

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: Just peachy

On Saturday, I noticed that the Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri) on our back slope was sporting five blooms.  Although I've tried to remove the thuggish plant twice, even enlisting my husband's help to dig it out once, it inevitably reappears, producing tall, sprawling stems topped with fragile blooms beloved by the bees.  I headed down the slope early Sunday morning hoping for at least three intact blooms and came back with only one but I was committed to a white and yellow arrangement so I persevered.  Some peach colors infiltrated the mix as I tried to fill it out.

Although the Matilija poppy was the inspiration for this arrangement, the 'Golden Celebration' rose assumed the lead role

Back view: I used stems of Argyranthemum frutescens and Pandorea jasminoides to add the touches of white I'd originally hoped to get from the poppies

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Abelia grandiflora 'Hopley's Variegated', Achillea 'Moonshine', Alstroemeria 'Claire', Romneya coulteri (aka Matilija poppy), Antirrhinum majus 'Chantilly Peach', Argyranthemum frutescens 'White Butterfly', Pandorea jasminoides, and Rosa 'Golden Celebration'

 

We had another stretch of hot weather late last week, with temperatures reaching 90F (32C).  The seemingly constant pattern of flip-flopping temperatures has stressed many of my plants.  My cool season flowers, like the foxgloves, sweet peas and larkspur, were slow to get going but now seem to be ready to throw in the towel.  The larkspur made an especially poor showing this year and I decided I'd best make use of the remaining presentable blooms before they're gone.

With the addition of a beefy stem of Delphinium elatum 'Morning Light', the arrangement was off to a lop-sided start but I did my best to give it better balance by adding numerous stems of Consolida ajacis (larkspur), Orlaya grandiflora, and Nigella papillosa

Back view

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Consolida ajacis, Delphinium elatum 'Morning Light', Lathyrus odoratus x belinensis 'Erewhon', noID white Lathyrus odoratus, Nigella papillosa, and Orlaya grandiflora

 

Nine of my dahlia tubers have sprouted thus far and I've already moved seven of these from their temporary pots into their summer homes, the raised planters and half barrels that make up my cutting garden.  As I remove the cool season plants, the space they occupy will be filled by other dahlia tubers and the zinnia and sunflower seedlings I've grown from seed in plastic pots.  Summer is breathing down our necks here.  Southern California had its first major wildfire last week and, on the heels of that, there was a smaller fire less than five miles from my home in a nearby park.  Swamped by over 80 firefighters and assisted by water drops from helicopters that flew directly over our house a couple of times, it burned just ten acres before it was extinguished.  Luckily no structures were damaged but it was a stark reminder of the challenges summer poses.

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

 

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

 

 

In a Vase on Monday: Unlikely Companions

Yellow is one of my favorite colors (along with blue and green) but even so, I find some strong yellows off-putting.  Still, the Didelta 'Silver Strand' I planted in November had recently produced so many flowers, I found I couldn't ignore it.

Unfamiliar with Didelta, a succulent, I planted a single specimen in a 4-inch pot in one of my back garden borders.  I selected it for its silver foliage and drought tolerance.  The tag said it produced yellow flowers but I didn't expect a display like this.

The question was: what do you combine with flowers in an intense yellow like that?  Rather than attempting to provide a distraction by using other strong colors that would compete with it, I decided to lean in with other yellow flowers, creating a combination of plants which probably would never be found together in nature.

The Didelta flowers tended to droop when placed in a vase, making them appear less prominent.  The 'Golden Celebration' rose easily handled the competition presented by the succulent's flowers.  However, as most of those roses fried during our recent heatwave, I only had one presentable bloom to include.

Back view: Alstroemeria 'Inca Sundance' offered a softer influence and tied in well with the foliage of Agonis flexuosa 'Nana'

Top view: The flowers of Iris 'Lion King' also tied in well - and I'd previously been perplexed about what to pair with them

Clockwise from the upper left: Agonis fleuxosa 'Nana', Alstroemeria 'Inca Sundance', Argyranthemum frutescens 'White Butterfly', Didelta 'Silver Strand', Iris hollandica 'Lion King', and Rosa 'Golden Celebration'

While my first arrangement is vivid, my second consists primarily of softer colors.

My cutting garden finally produced foxgloves in shades other than peach

Back view

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left, Digitalis purpurea in pink and white, Orlaya grandiflora, Pelargonium cucullatum 'Flore Pleno', Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata', and Scabiosa columbaria 'Flutter Rose Pink'

Like last week, my IAVOM preparations were temporarily interrupted by an unexpected visitor, one much rarer than the bunny that stopped by last week.

As I was cutting flowers for this week's vases, I heard the tell-tale cries of a male peacock nearby but I was still surprised when I looked out the kitchen window and caught him eating blueberries from the pots just outside our back door.  He allowed me to follow him for several minutes before flying over the fence into my neighbor's garden.  These birds are well known on our peninsula but I haven't seen one in almost 2 years.  (You can read more about the birds in a 2020 post here.)

 

When finished, my new arrangements assumed their usual positions in the front entry and on the dining room table.

 I had flowers left over from last week's arrangements I couldn't bear to toss too.

The Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi' flowers (left) have a very long vase life.  The Dephinium elatum 'Cobalt Dreams' flowers don't but I cut the stems down in order to preserve the florets as long as possible, although I see fallen petals every time I glance in the direction of that vase.

 

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

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: Wild or just weird?

Last week I mentioned another plant I wanted to feature in a vase.  This is that plant:

Salvia lanceolata, a South African native aka Rocky Mountain Sage, recently featured in my April plant favorites post

As you can see, it has an unusual flower and, frankly, I wasn't sure what to do with it.  I cut several stems, stuck them in a jar with water, and meandered through the garden looking for suitable partners.  I thought the end result had a wild and romantic air about it but you'll be forgiven if you think it's just weird.

Front view, highlighting a wind-ravaged Rudbeckia stem, from the only one of 12 plugs planted last November that's bloomed thus far

Back view: wispy stems of Gaura have sprung into bloom in throughout the garden as our temperatures soared

Top view (views including grasses always look funky)

Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Salvia lanceolata, Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey', Dorycnium hirsutum (aka Hairy Canary Clover), Festuca californica, Gaura lindheimeri, and Rudbeckia 'Cherry Brandy'

Summer's advance becomes more evident each day.  In addition to rising temperatures, the wind here has been almost relentless for the past 2 weeks, sometimes producing gusts over 30 miles an hour.  Every time I admire a spring bloom in my garden, I fear it may be the last time for the season so, like a junkie in need of a spring floral fix,  I over-compensated this week by creating 2 more vases.  The first of these was inspired by Aquilegia 'Spring Magic', which just produced its first blooms.  I planted 3 clumps of this columbine in 2012 but, after our long drought, only one survives and its blooms generally don't last long.

Front view: the purplish-blue and white color of the columbine set the color scheme

Back view, which shows off the papery flowers of Limonium perezii and the first of the Achillea blooms

Top view, highlighting the white Centranthus

Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Aquilegia 'Spring Magic', Achillea 'Moonshine', Centranthus ruber 'Albus', Lathyrus odoratus 'Big Blue', Limonium perezii, and Tanacetum niveum

The last vase was inspired by the bright orange flowers of Ornithogalum dubium.  I picked up this bulbous plant a few years ago and, lacking a good spot for it, stuck it in the corner of one of the raised planters in what is now my cutting garden.  It dies back every summer and I usually forget all about it until it returns following our winter rains.

Front view: I used my ornamental teapot for this arrangement but, in retrospect, it might have been better in a vase with a narrower neck to support the stems

Back view, dominated by the stems of Agonis flexuosa (aka peppermint willow)

Top view, showing how the stems tended to flop to the sides of the pot

Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Ornithogalum dubium, Abelia 'Kaleidoscope', Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Bulbine fruticosa 'Hallmark', Jacobaea maritima, and Rosa 'Golden Celebration'

Visit Cathy of Rambling in the Garden, our "In a Vase on Monday" host, to find more vases.  Or join in the fun and post photos of one of your own vases!

Today's vases in their places: the dining table, the coffee table in the living room, and the console table in the front entry

All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: An Exercise in Restraint

I had plants in mind when I stepped into the garden on Sunday to select flowers for "In a Vase on Monday," the meme hosted by Cathy of Rambling in the Garden.  For a change, I stuck pretty much to my original intent.

Vase #1 was arranged around the foxgloves that finally bloomed in my cutting garden.  I grew these plants from plugs, not from seed, but for a while I thought they weren't going to do much of anything.  On Friday, I also feared that weeks of high winds, followed by a spike in our daytime temperatures and a sharp drop in our humidity levels, was going to put a premature end to the sweet peas I'd earmarked to accent the foxgloves.  However, a 10 degree drop in our temperature and a substantial increase in humidity gave the sweet peas a reprieve on Sunday.

Front view: the mottled white vase, decorated with a ribbon-like painted overlay, was a gift my mother brought me many years ago after a trip to her parents' Finnish homeland 

Back view, showing off the maroon sweet pea stems and my weed-like Centranthus

Top view

From left to right, the vase contains: Centranthus ruber (pink and white forms were used), Digitalis purpurea, and Lathyrus odoratus

Vase #2 was constructed around my white Alstroemeria, which is looking especially pretty right now.  I allowed myself 2 last minute additions to the vase in this case.

Front view: the last minute additions were the rose and the Grevillea stems.  I got the rose, a David Austin selection, from my favorite mail order nursery last November and have been growing it in a pot - this is its first bloom.  The Grevillea blooms sporadically.

The back view is all about the Alstroemeria

The top view highlights the flowers of the humble dusty miller plant (Jacobaea maritima)

Clockwise from the left, the vase contains: Alstroemeria 'Claire', Abelia 'Kaleidoscope', Grevillea alpina x rosmarinifolia, Jabobaea maritima, and Rosa 'Golden Celebration'

On my final round through the garden, I latched eyes on another recent bloomer I want to use in a vase but I stopped myself at 2 this week.  Hopefully, the other plant will still be vase-worthy next week.  For more vases, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

My vases in their places

All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party