Summertime Blues

The title of this post has nothing to do with my mental state, even through the month of June has been a turbulent to say the least.  The focus of my post is entirely on the blue-flowered plants in my garden.  I'll try growing just about any plant with blue flowers that has the slightest chance of surviving in my climate.  Of those that I've successfully established in my garden, it seems that the largest number of them flower in summer.  Here's the current line-up:

The Agapanthus (aka Lily of the Nile) came with the garden.  I've never had an accurate count of them and over time I've pulled out some clumps, dividing bulbs and replanting some of them, but I'd guess there are at least 40 clumps spread throughout the property.  Those shown in this photo are a portion of what's in the back garden.

These are in the front garden

I don't have any of the midnight blue varieties of Agapanthus, nor any bi-colors.  Mine range from medium blue to light blue to white.

Catananche caerulea (aka Cupid's dart) has self-seeded freely here

Several years ago I fell in love with the rose-like double-petaled form of Eustoma grandiflorum (aka lisianthus).  It's a short-lived perennial in my climate.  Breeders have recently introduced a broad variety in different colors, many of which I've tried.  Still, the blue cultivar is one of my favorites.  It's the first and thus far the only one to bloom to date this season.

Globularia x indubia (aka globe daisy) hails from the Canary Islands.  I originally bought it for its foliage but I love its flowers too.

I planted this lavender my first year in this garden and I don't have any record of its name but I think it's a Lavandula angustifolia.  I put in just one plant here but it cleverly encircled the birdbath, which is filled with glass marbles rather than water.

Lavandula multifida, a hybrid commonly known as fern lavender or California lavender, is difficult to photograph.  I cut this one back just last week but it's already got lots of bloom spikes. 

Limonium perezii (aka sea lavender) has been blooming for months.  It's in the final stages of its annual bloom cycle now but still has a significant presence in my garden even though I've cut much of it back.  This plant is also a native of the Canary Islands.

This is another plant I have difficulty photographing.  It's Plectranthus neochilus (aka lobster flower) and it stinks, literally.  The foliage smells like a skunk's spray and the warmer it is the more it smells.  But, if you can get past that, it's a great plant.  It flowers nearly continuously, makes a good groundcover, and gets by with very little water.

Salvia clevelandii 'Winnifred Gilman' is also aromatic but not in a bad way.  This is smaller version of the native California sage with deeper blue flowers.

I got Wahlenbergia 'Blue Cloud' from Annie's Annuals & Perennials by mail order several years ago.  I've never seen anything else in this genus offered elsewhere.  It spreads freely and rather boisterously but it's easy enough to pull it out when it gets out of hand.  It creates a meadow-like effect, even when growing among succulents.

But wait, there's more!  These are blooming as well, albeit as bit players in the garden:

Ageratum houstonianum (aka flossflower) has a long bloom season if dead-headed periodically

Until last year, I steered clear of Delphiniums and warned my friends to do the same.  I planted a 6-pack of a 'Pacific Giant' variety in my cutting garden last year on a whim and was shocked and delighted that it flowered.  Treated as an annual, it can't handle our summer heat but I appreciate it in the late spring/early summer.  In my cutting garden it's well-watered.  I don't think it could handle the drier conditions elsewhere in my garden.

I planted Nigella papillosa 'Starry Night Mix' (aka love-in-a-mist) from seed this year in my cutting garden and it did well.  This is the last of it.

I planted several Platycodon grandiflorus (aka balloon flower) in a semi-shaded area of the front garden a couple of years ago.  They didn't handle summer well and I thought I'd pulled all of them but this one returned unexpectedly last year and it's done so again this year.  Despite their reputation for requiring "regular water," I may try adding a few more if I find them in my local garden center.

I photographed this Salvia cacaliifolia (aka Guatemalan sage) from an odd angle, making it look like an alien insect.  Its flowers are a gorgeous shade of blue.

I'd all but forgotten about planting bulbs of Triteleia laxa (aka Ithuriel's spear) last year.  They didn't bloom then but I discovered a few blooms 2 weeks ago.  They're shorter than they should be but welcome nonetheless.

May your weekend proceed under a bright blue sky!


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

In a Vase on Monday: Begging to be picked

I was on my way home from the Washington DC area last Monday after attending the 2017 Garden Bloggers' Fling and, arriving home in the late afternoon at the height of a heatwave, I missed out on "In a Vase on Monday" for what I think was the first time since I began participating.  As much as I missed joining in on the meme, I also lamented the absence of flowers in the house as I've grown used to having them there to greet me every time I walk in the door.  I thought of cutting some flowers "off schedule" but it was a busy week and I never quite got round to it.  The garden was screaming for attention too but I've barely made a dent in that either.

The biggest issue in the garden at the moment is the blanket of pink fuzz from the mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) which covers a large area of the back garden.  This tree, inherited with the garden, is a major mess-maker, especially in the summer when it's in full bloom as it is now.

The tree sits just beyond the edge of the back patio, stretching its branches in all directions.  It flowered lightly during the height of our drought but it's over-achieving this year and the floral free-fall is continuous.

I'll save the specifics of my complaints about the mimosa for another post at another time.  On Sunday, I decided to try making lemonade out of lemons and cut a few small branches from the Albizia to use in an arrangement, along with a host of other pink blooms that recently made an appearance.

This mason jar contains the pink ensemble I collected on my pass through the garden.  The fuzzy pink blooms on the right are those cut from the mimosa tree.

I soon became frustrated with the Albizia flowers, as they dropped all over my kitchen and stuck to my clothing.  In the end, I omitted them from my arrangement.  I had plenty of better-behaved plant material to use.

This is the completed arrangement, sans the annoying Albizia blossoms

Back view

Top view, showing off the free noID lily I planted 5 years ago.  It's not flashy and it has no scent but it's returned every year while other lilies disappear after one or two years in the ground here.

Clockwise from the left, the vase contains: Eustoma grandiflorum (from one of my original plants, hanging on for yet another year), Abelia x grandiflora 'Edward Goucher', Artemisia ludoviciana, Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey with Origanum 'Monterey Bay', and the noID lily

I cleaned up a couple of small stems of the Albizia and plopped them in a tiny vase on the kitchen counter.  I vowed that as soon as the flowers started to drop, I'll toss the lot.

They were jettisoned by dinner time

There were plenty of other flowers begging to be cut.  I forced myself to stop after creating two more vases.  Here's the first:

A simple arrangement consisting of shades of yellow, silver and white with another returning Lisianthus front and center

And Shasta daisies adding interest in the rear

Top view, highlighting the silvery cones of Leucadendron 'Pisa'

Clockwise from the left, the vase contains: pale yellow Eustoma grandiflorum, Abelia 'Hopley's Variegated', Leucadendron 'Pisa', Leucanthemum x superbum, and Tanacetum niveum

And here's the last vase:

This one features a deep blue Lisianthus as well as a white variety showing just the faintest touch of lavender 

Back view, featuring Cupid's Dart 

Top view

Clockwise from the left: blue Eustoma grandiflorum, a white form, Catananche caerulea, Duranta 'Sapphire Showers', and Vitex trifolia

Hopefully, I'll have more Lisianthus to share in future weeks.  I planted plugs of a variety said to produce flowers that are nearly black, as well as a white variety edged in blue.  Neither has bloomed yet.

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


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

In a Vase on Monday: Itsy Bitsy Bouquets

Before any discussion of floral bouquets, itsy bitsy or otherwise, I want to report that, this past weekend, we actually got a bit of rain out of the monsoonal moisture that has hung over the area for weeks now.  It was by no means a drought-ending deluge but it was certainly a great improvement over the 3-minute drizzle we got several weeks ago.  Maybe I could learn to put up with the miserable humidity if we could just get a little rain out of it on occasion - those of you in the sub-tropical areas of the US south and southeast that contend with this humidity year after year have my utmost respect.  In any case, the rain felt like a minor miracle and has put me in a much more positive frame of mind.  On to the subject of this week's floral arrangement...

Other than tickseed and feverfew, my garden doesn't have much to offer in terms of flowers for cutting right now, at least not for a conventionally sized vase.  My response to the challenge to create a vase for Cathy's "In a Vase on Monday" meme at Rambling in the Garden was to go small.  Yes, I could have stopped at one itsy bitsy bouquet but I didn't - I filled all 3 of my tiny colored glass vases (all roughly 4-inches/10 cm tall and 2-inches/5 cm wide).

Here's the first, which is my favorite, although it may have the shortest shelf life:

The centerpiece is Hemerocallis 'Cordon Rouge,' but the bouquet also includes one of the last stems of Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame,' flowering stems of Abelia 'Kaleidoscope,' Tanacetum parthenium 'Aureum' (golden feverfew), and 2 varieties of Zinnia.

Hemerocallis 'Cordon Rouge,' a reblooming daylily variety, recently started its 2nd bloom cycle

Digiplexis 'Illumination Flame' appears to have bloomed out but it may surprise me yet again

Eustoma grandiflorum 'Echo Blue' is the focal point of the second bouquet.  The flowers aren't quite as full as those of Eustoma grandiflorum 'Borealis Blue' but they're still gorgeous.

Close-up of Eustoma grandiflorum 'Echo Blue'

This bouquet also features Catananche caerulea (aka Cupid's Dart), one stem of Veronica 'Vernique Dark Blue' (recently purchased to occupy a pot), more feverfew, and a few pieces of flowering thyme.

Close-up of Catananche caerulea

The star of the third bouquet should be the Echinaceas, 'Magnus' and 'Cheyenne Spirit,' but I think Pentas 'Kaleidoscope Appleblossom' upstages them.  This bouquet also includes Pentas 'Nova,' Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold,' Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum,' and, again, feverfew.

Close-up of Pentas 'Kaleidoscope Appleblossom' photobombed by Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit'

The plumes of Pennisetum setaceum Rubrum look almost like fur

You may have noticed that I usually photograph my vases in the kitchen.  I haven't found a better backdrop.  The surfaces are white; it has lots of natural light as well as numerous pot lights; and the counters are usually clear (except when my husband is cooking).   This week one of my vases found a place to stay in the kitchen while the other 2 migrated to other areas of the house.

The pig in the kitchen (which holds tea bags rather than cookies) approves of the Lisianthus

The toad prefers daylilies

The pink vase landed on a living room side table, where I hope those Pennisetum blooms will not prove too tempting for Pipig the cat to ignore

What have you got in a vase this week?  Go to Cathy's site to see her composition and to find other gardeners' creations.

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

A side benefit of taking pictures

We had hazy skies this morning so I took advantage of the partial gloom to take pictures of the garden.  My goal was to document what's new in bloom.  During the course of snapping photos, I discovered that my malicious raccoon neighbors had paid yet another visit.

An Adenophora potaninii (Bush Ladybells), moved a few feet yesterday to give it more sun in the hope it might yet bloom, had been yanked out

Dichondra 'Emerald Falls', added earlier this week as a foil for the nearby Coprosma 'Plum Hussy', had also been uprooted

Fortunately, this time, unlike the occasion I documented earlier, no plants were destroyed as a by-product of the raccoon's pursuit of grubs.  However, I realized that I need to reinstate my morning raccoon damage reconnaissance exercises.

On a more pleasant note, there are plenty of plants putting on a show now that weren't blooming yet at the time of the mid-May Bloom Day post.

Achillea 'Moonshine'

Agapanthus (no ID), now with open flowers

Calandrinia grandiflora, a transplant from my old garden, blooming at last

Catananche caerulea (Cupid's Dart), added recently to complement a grouping of lavender plants

Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow' seems to like this spot much better than the one on the other end of the garden I chose for it last year

Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Goblin'

Hebe 'Wiri Blush'

Inherited dormant daylily (no ID), one of 40 of the same type scattered about the property when we moved in

Unfortunate color clash between the red/orange daylily and an alstroemeria, both inherited with the garden

Hemerocallis 'Cordon Rouge'

Hemerocallis 'Frank Gaylord', happy in its new location after a move last fall

Hemerocallis 'For Pete's Sake', blooming in my dry garden

Leucanthemum x superbum 'Snow Lady'

Leucanthemum x superbum, tall ruffled variety (no record of variety)

Lupinus cruickshankii 'Sunrise'

Magnolia (no ID), inherited with the house and standing proud in the middle of the front lawn

Scaevola 'Suntastic Yellow', returning to bloom a 2nd year

Tanacetum parthenium 'Aureum'

Trachelospermum jasminoides (Star Jasmine) with Disticis laxiflora (?) aka Vanilla Trumpet Vine, climbing on an arbor over the fence between the dry garden and the vegetable garden