In a Vase on Monday: The Stars of my January Garden

I focused on two of the stars of my January garden this week.  One is close to reaching its peak and the other is nearly past it and both deserve a little time on the center stage.

This is Camellia williamsii 'Taylor's Perfection'.  I think it was the first plant I bought for my garden here after we moved in.  I had several Camellias in my former tiny garden but, due to our persistent problem with drought, this is the only one I've planted here.  Luckily, I also inherited a few well-established Camellia sasanqua with the garden.

Camellias generally don't last long in a vase but I enjoy having them in the house, if only briefly, so I can enjoy their beauty up close.

I chose an asymmetrical glass vase and plants with subtle pink touches to let the Camellias shine

Back view: The yellow at the throat of the Nemesia picks up the color at the center of the Camellia in a subtle echo

Top view

Clockwise from the left: Camellia williamsii 'Taylor's Perfection', Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold', Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', and Nemesia 'Snow Angel'

I usually feature the flower-like bracts of Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' in a vase earlier in January.

These plants get big!  I brought the one on the left with me from my old house in a pot and it exploded in size once planted in the ground.  The one on the right has only been in the ground 3 years but it's already giving me reason for concern that it might outgrow its spot.  I cut both down by about half once their winter "bloom" cycle is cover.

Some of the yellow bracts of the Leucadendron are already developing the reddish color they get as they age and the central cones are gradually shifting from yellow to brown so the window to share them in a vase was narrowing.

The only floral accents I included were a few stems of paperwhite Narcissus

Back view

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder', Corokia x virgata 'Sunsplash', Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', noID Narcissus, and Phormium 'Maori Queen'

We had a few warm days last week and expect to have even higher temperatures in the mid-to-upper 70sF this week.  Sadly, there's no rain in the forecast for the next couple of weeks but, if we can't have rain, maybe I'll at least have some new blooms to share next week.

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

All material © 2012-2020 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: Rain showers yield flowers

New flowers are popping up here and there throughout my garden.  Plants don't follow a precise calendar but it seems at least some plants may be responding to the rain we received earlier this month by blooming a couple of weeks ahead of their usual schedule.

I've been watching buds forming on my Echium handiense for a few weeks now and last week noticed that a neighbor's plant was already blooming.  On Saturday morning I noticed mine had begun to bloom too so I knew it was a prospect for In a Vase on Monday.  Other elements of the arrangement, including the vase itself, were a matter of pure serendipity.

I met a friend for a belated birthday celebration on Saturday (her birthday, not mine).  After lunch we toured a couple of secondhand shops and I found the wonderful glass vase shown here.  A great buy for $16!

While checking out my friend's garden later in the afternoon, I discovered she had a beautiful Bush Germander (Teucrium fruticans).  I begged a few flowering stems, as well as a couple of seedlings.  The flower color is a much deeper blue than the cultivar I grew in my former garden.

I added 2 stems of the tall-flowered Dianthus I picked up on a shopping trip last week and a couple of stems of Camellia 'Taylor's Perfection' to echo the pink color of the Echium's buds

Clockwise from the upper left: Echium handiense, noID Ceanothus, Diathus caryophyllus 'Cut Flower White', Camellia hybrid 'Taylor's Perfection' and Teucrium fruticans (possibly 'Compactum').  The Echium is considered critically endangered in its native habitat in Spain.  I've never seen it in a garden center.  My plant comes from my local botanic garden.

There were a few leftover flowers that didn't fit into my new vase.  I popped these into a tiny vase.  In addition to small stems of Ceanothus and Teucrium, these included several stems of Osteospermum '4D Silver'.

The snapdragons in my cutting garden provided the jumping off point for my second arrangement.  The plants are already showing signs of rust, probably spurred by the warm temperatures that followed the persistent rain we enjoyed the week before last.

I played on the colors in the snapdragon, adding stems of Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder', which are currently taking on a reddish tinge, and Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream'

The high winds that blew off and on all last week took out most of my paperwhite Narcissus but I threw a few of the remaining stems in this vase

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Antirrhinum majus 'Bronze', Myrtus communis, Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder', Papaver nudicaule (Iceland poppy) with noID Narcissus, Pyrethropsis hosmariense (Moroccan daisy), and, in the center, Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream'

My vases assumed spots in the front entry and the dining room table as usual.  The tiny vase of leftovers landed on a side table in the living room.

Unfortunately, the Camellias began dropping one by one almost as soon as I cut them and I had to juggle the stems in the first vase to make up for the loss of those blooms

For more Monday vases, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Bloom Day & IaVoM Mash-up - January 2018

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day and In a Vase on Monday are once again falling on the same date so I'm mashing the 2 posts together.

Last week, our long dry spell came to an end.  We registered just over an inch of rain here over the course of 2 days.  Unfortunately, some of the areas burned by Southern California's recent wildfires received much more, leading to horrific mudslides in Montecito in Santa Barbara County, resulting in at least 20 deaths, massive property losses, and the complete closure of a major highway connecting the northern and southern parts of the state.  This past weekend witnessed the return of the nasty Santa Ana winds, once again dropping humidity levels and raising temperatures to summer-like highs.  Yet, despite Mother Nature's turmoil and a general shortage of rainfall, the plants in my garden are blooming right on schedule.

This month's stars are the Leucadendrons.

This is Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' at its very best.  Unfortunately, a gardener mistook my larger specimen as a hedge and hacked away all its lower blooms.

Leucadendron salignum 'Chief' is also at peak winter bloom

Leucadendron 'Blush' (top) looks great when back-lit.  The same is true of L. 'Summer Red' (bottom, left).  While a little scruffy right now, the blooms of L. 'Safari Sunset' (bottom, right) are still attractive.

The Camellia sasanquas featured last month are bloomed out but Camellia 'Taylor's Perfection' has taken up the slack.

This hybrid Camillia benefits from a shady spot protected from the wind next to the garage

Two more Grevilleas are blooming, joining those that bloom most of the year.

The rosy red and white blooms of Grevillea lavandulacea 'Penola' are small but plentiful

I picked up this dwarf Grevillea rosmarinifolia at The Huntington Gardens last fall plant sale.  While still small, it doesn't seem shy about getting its bloom on.

Meanwhile, my other Grevilleas keep right on flowering.  Clockwise from the upper left are G. 'Superb', G. alpina x rosmarinifolia, G. 'Scarlet Sprite', G. 'Peaches & Cream', and G. 'Ned Kelly'.

Other prolific bloomers include the following:

Erigeron glaucus 'Wayne Roderick'

Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy'

Ocimum hybrid known as African Blue Basil

Others plants are just getting started on their annual bloom-fests:

Flower spikes are appearing on Aeonium arboreum throughout the garden

Calliandra haematocephala is producing its first blooms but it doesn't like those drying Santa Ana winds

I've had a few surprises too:

The Billbergia nutans (Queen's Tears) I divided last year has finally graced me with a new bloom

I'm utterly captivated by the first bloom on Calendula officinalis 'Bronzed Beauty'

The Crassula multicava 'Red' I planted last year for their foliage are now producing delicate sprays of pink and white blooms

This Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia x blakeana) lost all its blooms after last week's rain but, as soon as the rain stopped and the temperature shot up, the show went on

Plants acquired for my new lath (shade) house are also adding color to the garden.

Top row: Anemone coronaria and 2 noID Cyclamen
Middle row: noID blue Hydrangea, Hydrangea macrophylla 'Shooting Star', and Plumbago auriculata 'Imperial Blue'
Bottom row: Argyranthemum 'Go Daisy Mega White', Nemesia 'Sunshine', and noID Viola

I'll close the Bloom Day segment with a few collages of the blooms making an appearance on a smaller scale.

Clockwise from the upper left: Ceanothus arboreus 'Cliff Schmidt', Lantana 'Lucky White', Lavandula multifida, Leucanthemum x superbum' , Lobularia maritima, Lotus jacobaeus, Osteospermum '4D Silver', Rosmarinus 'Gold Dust' and, in in the center, Osteospermum 'Violet Frost' with noID Viola

Top row: Gaillardias 'Arizona Sun' and 'Sunset Flash' and a self-seeded Gazania
Middle row: Hunnemannia fumariifolia and 2 forms of Lotus berthelotii
Bottom row: Metrosideros collina 'Springfire, noID Narcissus, and Russelia equisetiformis 'Flamingo Park'

Clockwise from the upper left: Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard', Arbutus 'Marina', Arctotis 'Pink Sugar', Pentas 'Kaleidoscope Appleblossom,  and Osteospermums 'Berry White' and 'Summertime Sweet Kardinal'

For more Bloom Day posts, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.


So what did I assemble for In a Vase on Monday?

I cut Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder', L. 'Chief', Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' and the gold and red forms of Lotus berthelotii for this vase on the dining room table

I picked up this vase featuring manicured hands at a thrift shop on an outing to Ventura with a friend on Saturday.  I filled the vase with stems of Camellia 'Taylor's Perfection', Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl' and Pyrethropsis hosmariense.

To find more IaVoM arrangements, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: It had to be pink

I spent Saturday in downtown Los Angeles.  Just after 7am, with 2 friends, I boarded a bus filled with 55 women and 2 men for a 45-minute trip to Pershing Square to join the Women's March-Los Angeles.  Seventy thousand marchers were expected but, on the way there, we heard that the number of marchers had more than doubled to 150,000.  But the numbers grew steadily.  There are no definitive counts of the actual size of the crowd but current estimates place it between 500,000 and 750,000 participants.

Men were well-represented but the march had a distinctly female vibe.  Knitted pink "pussyhats" were everywhere.

Wedged in among thousands of marchers, it was difficult to get any good photos but this one may give you some impression of the ubiquitous pink color

So, Sunday morning when I darted out in the rain to pick materials for "In a Vase on Monday," pink was on my mind and, luckily, still abundant in my garden.  I didn't spend much time deliberating on my choices and, as the rain came down more and more heavily as the day proceeded, I made do with what I gathered on my first mad rush around the garden.

Front: The flowers are packed into a vase rather like my fellow marchers and I packed the streets of Los Angeles

Back: But I like to think the varied materials support one another as well as thousands upon thousands of strangers supported one another on the streets of LA

Top view (You can find an aerial view of the Los Angeles march crowd here)

Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Argyranthemum frutescens, Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold', Coprosma 'Fireburst', Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', Pentas 'Kaleidoscope Appleblossom', and Rhodanthemum hosmariense with noID Dianthus

The few extra stems I couldn't cram into my selected vase were popped into a tiny vase.

Camellia williamsii 'Taylor's Perfection' with another noID Dianthus

These two vases found places, while the presentable leftovers of last week's vases were consolidated and found a spot too.

The tiny vase sits near the kitchen sink; the larger vase sits on the dining room table; and the mash-up of last week's vases sits in the front entry

The rain continued all day.  It was more rain than I think we've had on any single day in the 6 years we've owned our current house.  The daily total exceeded 4 inches.  While I realize that may not seem like a lot to those of you in wetter climates, it is a LOT for us.  Probably not a drought-buster, but things are looking up there.  Unfortunately, SoCal's honeymoon with rain also appears to be over with the onset of mudslides, fallen trees and flooded freeways.

View through my kitchen window on Sunday at 4pm

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


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