In a Vase on Monday: The Lisianthus step up

It's considerably harder to determine what to use to fill a vase now that the summer bloomers are, for all practical purposes, gone.  A few new flowers have emerged here and there but they don't send the siren's calls that dahlias do.  However, the bush violets, Barleria obtusa, have just gotten started and I can't ignore their blue flowers.  While these plants flower abundantly, the stems are best used as accents and fillers so the remaining question concerned what I could use as a focal point.  Luckily, a small number of Lisianthus (officially classified as Eustoma grandiflorum) provided the answer.

I cut stems of just about every blue flower I have to fill the vase but I had just one stem of a pure white Lisianthus

Back view: The bush violets flower profusely but their delicate blooms also drop continuously.  Fortunately, buds continue to open as others fall.

Top view: The butterfly-like flowers of Rotheca 'Ugandense' (formerly classified as Clerodendrum ugandense) are as prone to dropping as those of the bush violets but less profuse, yet I included them too

Clockwise from the upper left: Barleria obtusa, berries of Billardiera heterophylla (formerly Sollya heterophylla), foliage of Centaurea 'Silver Feather', Eustoma grandiflorum, Lavandula multifida, and Rotheca myricoides 'Ugandense'

I'd originally planned to use stems of the green Lisianthus in my back garden with the bush violets but, when I saw the pristine white variety in the front garden, I went with it.  Still, I'm very fond of the green variety (which I've used as wallpaper on my mobile phone) so I wanted to take advantage of them while they're fresh.  I cobbled together a second arrangement featuring two of those stems.

I used stems of Correa glabra, a green-flowered Australian fuchsia, to echo the pale yellow-green color of the Lisianthus.  The Correa's flowers are sparse but the plant seems to produce slightly more flowers with each passing year.  The vase is a smaller version of the green porcelain vase I've often used this year. 

Back view:  I used 2 stems of Coleus 'Chili Pepper' to spice things up a bit (pun intended)

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Coleus 'Flame Thrower Chili Pepper', Correa glabra 'Coliban River', Eustoma grandiflorum, and Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata'

All but one of my dahlias, the 'Caproz Pizzazz' that produced a single bud, are now gone.  While preparing to remove 'Lady Darlene', I realized I had two more zinnias growing nearby in the corner of the same raised planter.  I plopped two of the flowers into the small vase on our kitchen island, accompanied by some of the leftovers from the vase that contained the last of 'Lady Darlene's' flowers last week.

Single stems of Zinnia elegans (probably 'Senorita' and 'Benary's Giant Coral') accompany stems of Leucadendrons 'Blush' and 'Jester'

The marine layer has brought down temperatures again over the last few days but weather forecasters are predicting yet another mid-week uptick.  Meanwhile, there's no rain in sight as we bore ahead into November.

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: Looking for something different

I've been stuck in a rut when it comes to selecting materials to fill a vase.  While I've spotted some new buds developing here and there, it's going to be a while yet before those buds become blooms.  However, I thought I'd at least try to vary my color palette this week.

This arrangement was kicked off by an orchid stem I discovered in bloom in my lath (shade) house.  I picked up the noID Oncidium back in September.  The new flower stem this month was a surprise.

Back view: I used other plants with purplish blooms to pick up the spots in the orchid flowers

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy', Grevillea sericea, Polygala myrtifolia, noID Oncidium, and Pelargonium peltatum 'Lavender Blizzard'

At this time of year, I often use Leucadendron stems to serve both as replacements for flowers and as foliage fillers in vases.  My second arrangement is heavy on those stems with just a couple of softer notes.

The softer elements are a single stem of Eustoma grandiflorum (aka Lisianthus) and 2 stems of Antirrhinum majus (snapdragpns)

The back view is all about the Leucadendron stems

Top view

 

Clockwise from the upper left: Antirrhinum majus, Eustoma grandiflorum, Leucadendron salignum 'Jester', L. s. 'Safari Sunset', and L. s. 'Winter Red'

There's still no rain in our forecast.  Saturday's front page headline in the Los Angeles Times was entitled "Southland Rainy Season Hasn't Been."  When local weather gets a headline, it's a big issue.  Our last rainstorm of any significance was May 5, 2024 when the downtown area got 0.13/inch.  (Our own roof-top weather station recorded 0.17/inch.)  I'm sorry I keep bemoaning the fact but, even in an area prone to drought, I remain incredulous about how dry it is this year.

For more IAVOM posts, 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: The Lisianthus are showing off

The lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) I found by happenstance in my local garden center a couple of months ago are blooming with some vigor now and I couldn't ignore them when it came time to put together a floral arrangement for "In a Vase on Monday" yesterday.  In fact, I cut several stems for two different vases.

The first features a green-flowered lisianthus.  I hadn't seen this variety in years, despite looking for it in both garden centers and online.  I bought the only two plants the garden center had when I stopped by - if there'd been a dozen of them, I probably would have bought them all.

I selected Leucadendron 'Jester' to complement the pale green flowers of the green Eustoma.  As that plant has pink tinges, that led me to add a few other pink elements to fill out the vase.

Back view

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Antirrhinum majus, Cuphea 'Honeybells', Eustoma grandiflorum, Leucadendron salignum 'Blush', L. 'Jester', and Prostanthera ovatifolia 'Variegata'

My second vase features the blue lisianthus, which really does look as close as any of us will ever get to a blue rose.

I was surprised to find a few stems of Hebe 'Grace Kelly' with purple blooms to add to the mix.  This Hebe is known for its variegated foliage but half my plant has reverted to green.

I included a couple of stems of another Hebe, 'Purple Shamrock', to dress up the back view

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Billardiera heterophyllum (syn. Sollya heterophyllum) with its purplish fruit, blue and white Eustoma grandiflorum varieties, Hebe 'Grace Kelly', H. 'Purple Shamrock', and Osteospermum 'Violet Ice'

It's still very dry here.  Mother Nature spit at us a bit on Thursday afternoon.  It was enough to deliver a gallon of water to one of my empty rain barrels, even though our roof-top weather station didn't register it.  I suspect the gauge is clogged but, at most, it wasn't more than one or two hundredths of an inch.  The fire that broke out in Malibu last week in response to high winds was forty-two percent contained as of yesterday after burning over 4000 acres.  All evacuation orders have been reduced to warnings.  Only nineteen structures, including eight homes, were destroyed, but that's still hard on the affected residents, especially with the holidays just around the corner.  Wind warnings were back in place yesterday.

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: Variations on a theme

I've been happy to see that the lisianthus plants I happened upon at my local garden center six-plus weeks ago have started to bloom, even if I've yet to see blooms on any of the plants that were supposed to have blue flowers.  I cut two stems of the lavender-blushed variety again this week but used different flowers and foliage to complement them.

The lavender blooms of Polygala myrtifolia and Pelargonium peltatum look better with the lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) than the flowers I selected last week 

The shiny dark green Ceanothus foliage I used is nice but, in retrospect, this back view could've benefited from some lighter elements

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Ceanothus griseus horizontalis 'Carmel Creeper', Leucadendron 'Jubilee Crown', Pelargonium peltatum 'Lavender Blizzard', Eustoma grandiflorum, and Polygala myrtifolia (aka sweet pea shrub)

I've been planning to cut the flowers of Tagetes lemmonii (aka Mexican marigold) for a few weeks now but, as my husband dislikes their scent, I knew I couldn't use too many stems without annoying him.  I clipped flowers from two other shrubs, Senna bicapsularis and Grevillea 'Superb' to fill out the arrangement.  The Senna flowers are on their way out but the ever-blooming Grevillea is always available to fill out a vase.

The color mix is very autumnal but I wasn't entirely happy with it, at least in this view

Back view

Top view: I did like this particular view

Clockwise from the upper left: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', berries of Auranticarpa rhombifolium, Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple', Grevillea 'Superb' (shown with a seed head of Echinacea purpurea), Senna bicapsularis, and Tagetes lemmonii 

Our temperatures have been vacillating but we've had several days of warm afternoon readings in the low to low-to-mid 70sF (21-24C), which have been prompting the Ranunculus and Anemone bulbs to sprout.  Temperatures could go higher still beginning next weekend.  Meanwhile, our "water year" total (counted from October 1st) stands at 0.19/inch with little to no rain in sight.  If Santa could deliver rain, I'd send him a letter...

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: 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: 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