In a Vase on Monday: The Berries Steal the Show

I have to confess that my vases this week were created Saturday night as decoration for a small family gathering on Sunday.  I wandered about in the half-dark collecting flowers to fill two vases, barely able to see what I was cutting.  Still, I'm pleased with how they turned out.

This one landed on the dining room table.

This photo, taken in Sunday's early morning light, turned out better than those taken the evening before under artificial lights

Back side of bouquet, photographed in my night-darkened kitchen

It contains:

• Agonis flexuosa
• Alternanthera tenella 
• Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Mesa Peach'
• Gomphrena  haageana
• Nandina domestica (berries)

I used 2 forms of Agonis flexuosa - the thin-leaved stems came from one of our peppermint trees and the lower stems with wider leaves came from the dwarf variety 'Nana'

I used the chartreuse Alternanthera to pick up the similarly-colored centers of the Gaillardia

The Gomphrena are on their last legs - the lower petals (actually bracts) have dried and flaked away like rice husks

The second, smaller vase served as decoration in the guest bathroom.

Photographed without the benefit of any natural light

It contains:

• Aster x frikartii 'Monch' (reused from last week's vase)
• Eustoma grandiflorum 'Echo White'
• Hebe speciosa 'Variegata'
• Solanum xantii (also reused from last week's vase)

The Eustoma bud hasn't yet opened

As the sun went down, the flowers of this Hebe seemed to gleam in the twilight but its photos didn't contain the same magic

These vases are my contributions to Cathy's "In a Vase on Monday" meme at Rambling in the Garden.   You can see her vase and find links to other gardeners' creations here.  Most participants are dealing with far colder temperatures than I am.  Our temperatures hovered in the mid-60s Fahrenheit (around 18C) last week but, in response to high winds, they're expected to climb up to 80F (26C) tomorrow before settling back to normal levels before Christmas.  Hopefully, the warmer temperatures following last week's rain will bring more flowers (rather than more weeds).


All material © 2012-2014 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Foliage Follow-up: November 2013

I've added quite a few foliage plants to my garden this year (and the gardening year's not over for us yet in southern California).  One of my most recent acquisitions is Dampiera trigona 'Purple Wire.'  It blooms, as you may be able to detect from the picture below, but the foliage is what landed it in my cart during a recent nursery trip to Carpinteria.  It's a relatively low-growing, clumping plant suited to a rock garden environment so my hope it that it'll find the soil of this former rock quarry hospitable.

It's hard to get a good picture of this Dampiera.  The foliage really is wiry.

Another recent acquisition is a diminutive Phormium, 'Tiny Tiger,' which I picked up on the same nursery trip up north last week.  It gets just one foot high and one foot wide so it should do fine in its location along the pathway of my dry garden.

I've also added a mass planting of Alternanthera tenella 'Crinkle Red' along the pathway in my renovated side garden.

10 Alternanthera tenella 'Crinkle Red' line the pathway

Close-up of Alternanthera

As of last week, no fewer than 3 Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata' have taken root in my garden.

This Prostanthera ovalifolia, placed in the side yard in late September, is getting by on morning sun only so far

My newest Prostanthera ovalifolia, purchased for a bargain price of $8.99 last weekend, is seated in front of a Ceanothus hedge in the back garden

I've posted about my use of Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey' in the garden many times (most recently here) but I've also added the smaller-leafed Coprosma 'Evening Glow' to my collection

One of 3 Coprosma 'Evening Glow,' all still relatively small

But the foliage plants making the biggest impact in the garden right now are still the 2 Persimmon trees we inherited with the house (previously featured here), which are in their full fall splendor.

Persimmon 'Hachiya' in the dry garden

Persimmon 'Fuyu' in the vegetable garden

What foliage is lighting up your garden at the moment?  To see other foliage picks, please visit Pam, the host of the monthly Foliage Follow-up at Digging.

Twofer Nursery Trek

This weekend, a friend and I had plans to visit a couple of nurseries in Carpinteria, a coastal California community more than 100 miles north of where I live.  For various reasons, we delayed that trip until mid-November; however, we did make it to one of my favorite nurseries.   Sprawling over 11 acres in Calabasas, Sperling Nursery isn't fancy but it's always well-stocked with a diverse collection of plants, including California natives and a seemingly ever-expanding selection of succulents.  When I was visiting the San Fernando Valley one or more times a week to see my stepfather, who passed away in 2011, and my mother, who passed away earlier this year, I would often pay a visit to the nursery before getting on the freeway to head home as a way of centering myself.  I haven't been there often since March of this year.

The nursery has always had a friendly, family atmosphere, probably because it's family-owned and operated.  The staff, even those who work the check-out counter, know plants.  Founded in 1971 as a sod outlet by Joe Sperling on one acre of land in what was then a largely undeveloped area, it was expanded it to 11 acres in the late seventies, creating a full-service nursery.  When I pulled up the nursery's website, I discovered that Mr. Sperling passed away in August.  I sincerely hope Sperling will continue as an independent nursery - I still remember what happened to my beloved Begonia Farms Nursery when the founding patriarch died and the land was sold to a developer.  Calabasas has been growing at a wild pace for decades so I'm sure there will be pressure on the family to sell.

It was sunny and hot in Calabasas.  That didn't stop me from thoroughly checking out the plant stock but I'm afraid that it did negatively impact the quality of my photographs.  Sperling doesn't have demonstration planting beds but there are always nice collections of pots arranged near the entrance to show possible planting schemes.

Succulent prices have sky-rocketed in the last few years, here and everywhere, but Sperling offers a nice selection.

Aloe plicatilis (Fan Aloe) could be be yours for $200

This large Aloe ferox was offered for $400

More than any other nursery I can think of, Sperling always entices me to buy garden ornaments I don't need.  I somehow managed to avoid such purchases on this trip, although I was tempted.  (I didn't even set foot in the gift shop.)

I've admired this cast iron crow before but he goes for $120

This little frog might look nice with the orange plants off the patio in the side yard

I have a peculiar affection for gargoyles and dragons

This photo screened onto wood planks was interesting but I didn't even bother to look for a price

My friend was attracted to this rhino pot containing an interesting succulent (but she resisted too).

I was tempted by a beautiful Grevillea.  I passed on it because I couldn't think where to put it but I'm still kicking myself.  Maybe I need to move other plants to make room for it?

Grevillea 'Superb'

Here's what I did bring home:

Tulbaghia violacea, Aster frikartii 'Monch,' Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Little Spire,' and Allium 'Graceful' bulbs

I was happy enough with my Sperling purchases - they'll fill some empty spaces in my back and side yard borders -  but I have to admit that they weren't that exciting.  So, after leaving my friend in the Valley, I decided to stop at another of my favorite independent garden centers on my way home.  Marina Del Rey Garden Center is conveniently located right off the freeway, not far from the ocean.  I once worked nearby and I've been going there for years, although it's a little more out of the way for me now.  It generally offers a good selection of plants but the staff doesn't always seem as well-informed as I'd like to find.

The garden center had a Halloween pumpkin patch and jumper/bouncey house thing going for kids.  I skirted around that and headed straight for the small-sized perennials.

Alternanthera tenella 'Crinkle Red'

Pennisetum setaceum 'Cherry Sparkler' 

Salvia 'Wendy's Wish'

Solanum xantii

I took a stroll through the larger plants in the back.

Lots of Leucadendron

Lots of Phormium and Cordyline

Lots and lots of Salvia

A garden cat who just wanted to be left alone

I spent a lot of time perusing the center's wide selection of succulents.

A very large Agave 'Blue Glow' with multiple pups (yours for $140)

Unlabeled succulents - some kind of Kalanchoe?

I searched out help to get the name of this small tree-sized succulent.  The horticulturist told me it was called 'Copper Leaf' but  she didn't have the species name and it wasn't Acalypha wilkesiana.

I passed on most of the uber-expensive succulents but I did splurge on a large Agave 'Blue Glow' even though the center offered budget-friendly $10 plants in 4-inch pots.  Here's what I took home:

Agave 'Blue Glow,' Alternanthera tenella 'Crinkle Red,' and 3 small assorted unlabeled succulents

All things considered, it was a good shopping day.