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

In a Vase on Monday: The garden giveth

Although I look forward to the flowers that bloom during our cool season, the transition is always difficult.  The color quotient in my garden drops dramatically as seeds, bulbs, and plug plants take their time to develop roots, shoots, and buds.

I welcome the relatively few plants that flower during the fall months, one of which is Barleria obtusa, also known as bush violet.  I'm surprised that I've never seen these plants in local garden centers.  I picked up my original plant at the botanic garden located roughly five miles from my home years ago during one of their fall plant sales - when they had such sales, as well as an in-house propagation unit staffed by volunteers.  Perhaps my biggest disappointment with that botanic garden, where I was once a volunteer, is that both the plant sales and the propagation unit have been abandoned.

I selected a single stem of lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) to flatter the bush violets.  Planted as plugs early this year, I was surprised that the lisianthus produced new flowers as temperatures cooled, especially as the plants took a hit during September's heatwave. 

Back view

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Barleria obtusa, Centaurea 'Silver Feather', Correa 'Ivory Bells', Eustoma grandiflorum, Lavandula multifida, and Vitex trifolia

I collected a grab-bag of other flowers to fill a second vase focused on the few pink flowers currently found in my garden.

Two bulb flowers, an Amarine and a Lycoris, provided the starting point

Back view, fleshed out with stems of Leucadendron and Plectranthus scutellarioides (aka coleus)

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Amarine belladiva 'Emanuelle', Lycoris springeri, Plectranthus scutellarioides 'Florida Sun Rose', Leucadendron salignum 'Chief', Pelargonium hortorum 'Dynamo Hot Pink', Persicaria capitata, and Eriocapitella hupehensis (aka Japanese anemone)

It remains very dry here.  Last week's rain didn't materialize and there's nothing auspicious in the ten-day forecast either.  It's windy too, which makes the garden even drier and the marine layer isn't expected to pay us a return visit until at least Wednesday.  However, in the meantime the garden soldiers on with the assistance of our irrigation system and spotty hand-watering.  According to my records, November 5th marks six months since our last real rain in early May, which measured only 0.17/inch.  I'm not expecting the bounty of rain we got during the last two "water years" (measured from October 1st through September 30th of the following calendar year) but something along the lines of "normal" rain would be much appreciated.

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

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: Goodbye Emanuelle and hello Itsy Bitsy

It's getting harder to pull together arrangements using what's blooming in the garden but I managed to do so again this week. My first arrangement was created around the last of the Amarines to flower.

I think the pale pink Amarine was upstaged once again, this time by a coleus rather than a dahlia.  Amarines are hybrids of Amaryllis belladonna and Nerines.

Back view: I used a second stem of Plectranthus scutellarioides 'Florida Sun Rose' (aka coleus) to dress up the back.  The coleus stem in the front view is the one I used 3 weeks ago.  It's developed roots and I hope to overwinter the cutting in my shade house.

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Correa 'Wyn's Wonder', Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', Prostanthera ovatifolia 'Variegata', Alstroemeria 'Inca Vienna', Amarine belladiva 'Emanuelle', Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', and Plectranthus scutellarioides 'Florida Sun Rose'

The second arrangement features some flowering plants emerging from their summer dormancy.  Gomphrena 'Itsy Bitsy' has also returned with a mass of tiny blooms.  I cut the shrub down to the ground months ago.  The foliage bounced back quickly but the flowers took their time.

Stems of Polygala myrifolia (aka sweet pea bush) provided the base of this arrangement but it's really an ensemble cast

Back view

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Antirrhinum majus, Pelargonium peltatum 'Lavender Blizzard', self-seeded Osteospemum, Digitalis purpurea, Gomphrena decumbens 'Isty Bitsy', Polygala myrtifolia, and Vitex trifolia

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

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