In a Vase on Monday: Spring in January

It definitely feels like Spring here.  We had temperatures in the low 80sF (28C) last week.  It cooled down slightly yesterday and it's expected to slowly drift down into the mid-60sF (18C) as the week continues and the marine layer reappears.  While I've enjoyed the warmer temperatures, I nonetheless hope this isn't the new normal.  I certainly don't want to find us jumping into summer anytime soon.

My first arrangement this week made use of the dramatic 'Bordeaux' Anemones that have been blooming for weeks already.

The plum-colored Anemones aren't easy to photograph.  It also didn't help that its petals are prone to spotting but then the overhead watering I did last week when the Santa Ana winds were blowing didn't help there.

Back view: The blue flowers of Aristea inaequalis provided a nice accent when I cut the stems in the morning but unfortunately I find they close up in the afternoon.  I'm hoping that the late afternoon sun in the front entry where the vase sits will cause them to reopen. 

The flowers made their best showing in this overhead shot 

Clockwise from the upper left: Anemone coronaria 'Bordeaux', A. c. 'Lord Lieutenant', Aristea inaequalis, noID Ceanothus, Chrysanthemum 'Fairbank Purple Spoon', and Hebe 'Wiri Blush'

My second arrangement is very pink and still more spring-like.

Although the 'Taylor's Perfection' Camellia blooms play the starring role, it was the pink snapdragons that inspired this arrangement

Back view

Overhead view

Clockwise from the upper left: Antirrhinum majus, Boronia crenulata 'Shark Bay', Camellia williamsii 'Taylor's Perfection', and Narcissus papyraceus

Our formerly saturated soil is becoming drier by the day.  More rain would be appreciated before our all too short rainy season comes to an end in April.  AccuWeather currently projects the possibility of rain late this month.  My fingers are crossed that forecast is correct.

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

All material © 2012-2026 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: Nose dive

One of the plants in my back border took a nose dive a few days ago.  Although the gardeners trimmed the hedge behind it before we noticed it had toppled, I don't think anyone was responsible for knocking it down.  The plant in question was an artichoke with three very heavy chokes.  I think its sheer weight caused its nose dive.  Dry soil may have been a contributing factor as we've been dealing with our first heatwave of the year since Friday.  In any case, rather than tossing the entire thing in the compost bin, I decided to use part of it in an arrangement.

The 'Purple Romagna' artichoke has exceptionally sharp spines that glint like gold in the sun.  Unfortunately, I couldn't capture their color properly with my camera.

Back view: I added a few stems of the bronzy-colored flowers of the Aeonium haworthii to play off the choke's gold spines and white and purple flowers of Nigella papillosa to echo the choke's flesh.  In retrospect, it may have been better to stick with one or the other.

Overhead view

Clockwise from the upper left: Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi Verde', Nigella papillosa 'African Bride', and Cynara cadunculus var. scoolymus 'Purple Romagna'

My second arrangement is more conventional.  Many of its components didn't appreciate the sudden surge in our temperatures over the weekend, peaking at 95F (35C) on Saturday, so I treated my selection process as a rescue operation, saving some flowers from a third day of high temperatures.  We're expecting a dramatic drop in temperatures today.

While I started off with a few stems of pink Alstroemeria, Centranthus and 2 varieties of snapdragons took over

I dressed up the back view with stems of 'April in Paris' sweet peas, which have suddenly burst into bloom

Overhead view

Clockwise from the upper left: Antirrhinum majus in dark pink and white, Argyranthemum frutescens 'Mount Everest', noID pink Alstroemeria, Centranthus ruber, Fuchsia 'Dollar Princess', and Lathyrus odoratus 'April in Paris'

I've a lot of work to do in the garden this week (as well as the foreseeable future) so I'm looking forward to temperatures in the pleasant range of the mid-to-upper 60sF (17-20C) at least through next Sunday.

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

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

In a Vase on Monday: Easter flowers

I didn't decorate eggs for Easter but I did collect flowers from my garden, which is at its spring peak at the moment.  After a cool week, the weekend delivered blue skies and comfortably warm temperatures in the mid-70sF (23C).  Despite forecasters teasing us with rumors of a chance of rain last week, we didn't get any and in all likelihood our rainy season is over.  Unless we're gifted with a monsoonal storm straying off the desert areas to the east in late summer, we probably won't see rain again until November.

Given the especially dry conditions this year, it isn't really a surprise that the foxgloves have been slow to develop.  However, one plant in a well-watered barrel in my cutting garden produced its first flower stalk and I took advantage of that for my first arrangement this week.

That flower stalk was very hefty even when I cut it down to size to suit the vase  

Back view: Once again, my arrangement looked lop-sided when viewed from the back but I didn't have the time or energy to make it more symmetrical

Overhead view: It also could have used some lighter notes to break up all that magenta color

Clockwise from the upper left: Antirrhinum majus in magenta and a lighter pink, more snapdragons in white, Argyranthemum frutescens 'Mount Everest', Digitalis purpurea, Pelargonium cucullatum, P. 'Lady Plymouth', and Salvia canariensis var. candidissima

My second arrangement made use of two of my Leucospermums, also known as pincushion shrubs.

Drama queen that she is, Leucospermum 'Brandi Dela Cruz' took center stage

Back view

Overhead view

Clockwise from the upper left: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', A. 'Inca Sundance', Leucadendron 'Jester', Leucospermum 'Brandi Dela Cruz', L. 'Sunrise', and Lobelia laxiflora

I cut some succulent flowers to include in the second arrangement but wasn't able to cram them into the vase so I tucked three of the stems into a small vase.

The stems were cut from Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi Verde', which are flowering abundantly right now

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

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

In a Vase on Monday: Pinks, purples and blues

After more than a week of unusually warm, summer-like temperatures, it's cooled dramatically the past couple of days, varying from the upper 50sF (14C) to the low 60sF (17C).  The marine layer has returned as well, hanging on into the mid-afternoon.  There's even a chance of rain on Friday, although I'm not laying any odds on that yet.

I cut more flowers than I'd planned, and ended up with three arrangements this week.  The first one is very pink.

I cut a single Hippeastrum flower, rescuing it from the ravages of an earwig insect

Back view: the pink edging the Hippeastrum's petals directed me to complement that bloom with pink and white Alstroemeria and snapdragon stems

Overhead view

Clockwise from the upper left: noID Alstroemeria, pink and white Antirrhinum majus, Argyranthemum frutescens, Hippeastrum 'Aphrodite', and Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' (foliage)

My second arrangement was inspired by the dark purple bearded Iris at the bottom of our back slope.  The flowers were admittedly looking a little battered but I cut them anyway, along with a stem bearing two unopened buds.

Although the Irises were intended to be the centerpiece of the arrangement, I think the flowering stems of the Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata' (aka mint bush) stole the show

Back view

Overhead view

Clockwise from the upper left: Ageratina (possibly A. adenophora), noID Iris germanica, Osteospermum '4D Pink', Phlomis purpurea, Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata, and Scabiosa 'Flutter Deep Blue'

I initially cut a few blue Echium stems for the purple arrangement but they didn't fit well so I ended up with a third arrangement, embellishing them with two stems of another bearded Iris.

The third arrangement ended up on the kitchen island.  The vase contains more Ageratina, Echium webbii, and Iris germanica 'Gilt Edge'

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

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

In a Vase on Monday: Mixing things up

I participated in a lovely Zoom meeting with a half dozen of the IAVOM contributors on Sunday morning Pacific time.  It was great to see everyone, if only virtually.

It was on the cool side on Sunday, in the low-to-upper 50sF (11-14C), so I didn't dilly-dally in the garden when it came time to pick flowers, not that there were all that many options available to me this week.  My first arrangement was inspired by a particularly attractive Protea bloom.  As usual, the challenge was to find something to pair with it.  I ended up combining plants hailing from different parts of the world, rather like our Zoom conference.

The flowers of Protea neriifolia 'Pink Ice' in my north-side garden have dried up but its cousin, Protea 'Claire', had the beautiful bloom, which is shown front and center here.  That plant also has 3 more nice buds. 

I hadn't planned to use more Camellia flowers this week but the back view needed a flourish and I discovered 3 stems bearing multiple flowers

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left, with species origins in parentheses: Alstroemeria 'Inca Vienna' (South America), Camellia sasanqua (South Asia), Coprosma repens 'Fireburst' (New Zealand), Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl' (New Zealand), and Protea neriifolia 'Claire' (South Africa and Australia)

My second arrangement is smaller.  It was inspired by a lavender-tinged lisianthus and provided an opportunity to use the bush violets (Barleria obtusa) that are suddenly fading away.

In retrospect, the lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) looks a little dingy next to the bright white of the snapdragons

I think I like the back view better

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Abelia grandiflora 'Hopley's Variegated', Felicia aethiopica, Eustoma grandiflora, Antirrhinum majus 'Speedy Sonnet White', Salvia discolor, S. 'Mystic Spires', and Barleria obtusa

The bomb cyclone and atmospheric river that hit the Pacific Northwest and Northern California hard Friday and Saturday largely petered out by the time it reached us in coastal Southern California.  Blogger friends in Northern California mentioned getting from two to seven inches of rain.  We got a total of eight one-hundredths of an inch, which doesn't come near to a good soaking.  The storm system was over and gone by Sunday morning when I woke up.  (The cat sounds her personal alarm just after 6am each day.)

View looking southeast toward the entrance to the Port of Los Angeles as the sun stretched above the cloud bank

View looking at the northeast section of the harbor with boats and cranes still half-hidden by clouds

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

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

In a Vase on Monday: Hip, hip Hippeastrums

As expected, the Hippeastrums have finally jumped into gear.  I used two of them in my arrangements this week but four have blooms at present.  The difficulty now is finding suitable companions to show them off.  As California was forecast to take a punch from a second atmospheric river beginning late Saturday or early Sunday, I collected materials for my vases on Saturday afternoon, although I put them together on Sunday as usual.

The first one features Hippeastrum 'Zombie' (which deserves a better name).

'Zombie' has fully double 5-inch blooms

Back view: I added orange snapdragons for another jolt of color

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt', Leucadendron 'Jester', L. 'Summer Red', L. 'Safari Sunset', noID Antirrhinum majus, Hippeastrum 'Zombie', and Metrosideros collina 'Springfire'

While I was relatively pleased with how the first arrangement came together, I struggled to find the right materials to fill out the second arrangement featuring Hippeastrum 'Exception'.

Hippeastrum 'Exception' has large (6-inch) single-petaled flowers.  It's beautiful but I had very limited options to accent its pinkish-red tones or white background. 

Back view: I made do with the stiff, prickly stems and rosy-red flowers of Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite'

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Alstroemeria 'Inca Vienna', Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite', Hippeastrum 'Exception', Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', Leucadendron 'Blush', and Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata'

I threw together a third small arrangement because the kitchen island needed fresh flowers and there was no point allowing all the anemones in bloom in my cutting garden to be pummeled by rain.

Clockwise from the left: Front view, Anemone coronaria, Antirrhinum majus, Felicia aethiopica, and Pyrethropsis hosmariense  

As it turned out, the storm took its time moving into coastal Southern California.  We didn't see any measurable rain until early afternoon on Sunday and it didn't pick up force until late afternoon.  The current forecast calls for "torrential rain" through Monday, tamping down a bit on Tuesday before slowly petering out by Thursday or Friday.  It has the potential to cause more damage than last Thursday's atmospheric river did.  On that occasion a rain cell got stuck in place directly over the area I live in, resulting in local flooding and temporary road closures (but no landslides which are a significant issue here).  This time concerns are greater for the Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties north of us.  It's just after 9pm now and I'm scheduling this post to publish automatically as there's no certainty we won't lose power overnight.  At present, we've accumulated just under one-inch of rain in about nine hours and our rain year-to-date total (since October 1st) stands at 8.84 inches.

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

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