Bloom Day - July 2021

Despite the horrible heat many areas of California and the western US are facing (not to speak of the large number of wildfires already burning), my area along the coast has enjoyed a relatively mild summer thus far.  We're still facing serious drought conditions and, like most of California, we've been asked to reduce our water consumption by 15%.  Even though the 2015 water conservation limits were lifted in 2016, I've continued to try to work within those original guidelines and I'm not sure how I can eke out another 15% reduction at this point.  My deliberations on that quandary continue but the subject of today's post is Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day so let's focus on that for the time being.

I'll start with what I consider my star blooms this month.

I've long believed that I can't grow lilies here but, last fall, I acted on a whim and purchased 6 lily bulbs.  The first variety, Oreinpet lily 'Pretty Woman', produced 5 blooms on 3 plants.  The scented flowers are larger than my hand.  Three more 'Purple Prince' lilies didn't quite make the Bloom Day cutoff but they're getting ready to bloom too.

My 4 strawberry trees (Arbutus 'Marina') are literally dripping with tiny coral flowers this month

Daucus carota 'Dara', grown from seed, is flowering like there's no tomorrow

The Lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) seem to be off to a slow start but at least I finally have flowers in a variety of colors

I thought my daylily season was mostly over when Hemerocallis 'Spanish Harlem' finished up in late June but I've had a few other varieties throw out blooms this month.  Left to right are: 'Apollodorus', 'For Pete's Sake', and 'Persian Market'.

Lavandula angustifolia exploded like the Independence Day fireworks this month

The flowers of Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' aren't easy to photograph but they're particularly abundant this year

My favorite shaggy daisy, Leucanthemum x superbum, took off this month, seemingly blooming all at once

The interesting flowers of this small shrub, Melaleuca thymifolia, deserve more attention than they usually get near the rear of the backyard border

Next up are a few blooms that came as a surprise.

I didn't expect any Hippeastrum blooms this late in the year.  Appropriately perhaps, this variety is called 'Zombie'.  The large bloom is held up by a 3-inch stem.

I sowed seeds of Nigella damascena 'Albion Green Pod' months after I'd sown my Nigella papillosa seeds and, when cilantro came up instead of the Nigella, I assumed I wasn't going to see any flowers from 'Albion Green Pod'.  This delicate flower made its first appearance shortly after I pulled the cilantro.

The flowers of the shrub Rotheca myricoides (syn. Clerodendrum ugandense) must be viewed in closeup to explain its common name of blue butterfly bush (not to be confused with anything in the Buddleia genus)

Every garden has its reliable workhorses and here are some of mine.

Cuphea hybrids 'Starfire Pink' and 'Vermillionaire' bloom year round but the floral display is heaviest during the summer months

With the exception of 'Scarlet Sprite' (lower left), these Grevilleas also bloom year-round.  Clockwise from the upper left are: Grevillea 'Superb' (first 2 photos), 'Ned Kelly', 'Peaches & Cream', and 'Scarlet Sprite'.

Salvia canariensis var candidissima doesn't bloom year round but the colorful calyces that hold the lavender-pink blooms extend the show it provides

Creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum) regularly gets stepped on and it still blooms each year

I also have a host of plants that are coming to the end of their bloom season after putting on a good show in late spring/early summer.

I've already cut down 2-3 dozen spent bloom stalks of Agapanthus.  The rest are getting straggly and most will probably go by the end of the month.  

Like most of the Agapanthus, Hemerocallis 'Sammy Russell' is one of the few perennials that came with the garden.  Those in the back garden are almost done and I expect those in the front will follow within the next couple of weeks.

I've belatedly started to deadhead Monarda 'Peter's Purple' in the hope of getting another flush of flowers

Osteospermum generally goes into hiding during the summer months but this mix of '4D Silver' and 'Violet Ice' has hung on longer than expected

The bright blue flowers of Salvia clevelandii 'Winnifred Gilman' are fading fast

There are a handful of recent additions to my garden I'd like to share too.

I wish I'd bought 2 more of this Agastache 'Sunset Orange' for this bed

This bedding Dahlia 'Dark Side of the Sun' is the first and only dahlia blooming in my garden at the moment.  This one arrived as a mail order plant, while all the rest were planted as tubers.

I was delighted to stumble upon this California native Solanum xanti in a local garden center 2 weeks ago.  I've grown it before and was very pleased with it.

Venidium fastuosum 'Orange Prince' (syn. Arctotis fastuosa) is my latest plant crush.  I purchased 3 plants by mail order in early June and wish I had more.

This is my latest attempt to grow dwarf Verbena bonariensis 'Lollipop'.  The rabbits mowed down 2 plants in the front garden but thus far have left the 3 in the back garden alone.

I'll close as I usually do with color collages capturing the best of the rest of what's in bloom this month.

Top row: Fuchsia 'Deep Purple', buds of Globularia x indubia, and Hebe 'Grace Kelly'
Middle row: Plectranthus neochilus, Polygala fruticosa, and Scabiosa columbaria 'Flutter Deep Blue'
Bottom row: noID Scaevola, Trachelium caerulea, and Trichostema 'Midnight Magic'

Top row: Cistus skanbergii, C. 'Sunset', and Fuchsia 'Miss California'
Middle row: Hebe 'Wiri Blush', Lantana camara 'Irene', and Rosa 'Pink Meidiland'
bottom row: Nemesia 'Banana Swirl', noID Pelargonium, and Scabiosa columbaria 'Flutter Rose Pink'

Top row: Abelia grandiflora 'Edward Goucher', Angelonia 'Archangel White', and Cosmos bipinnatus
Middle row: noID gauva, Magnolia grandiflora, and Myrtus communis 'Compacta'
Bottow row: noID Phalaenopsis, Phyla nodiflora, and Tanacetum parthenium 'Aureum'

Top row: noID Anigozanthos, Lantana 'Lucky Yellow', and Zinnia 'Profusion'
Middle row: Cotyledon orbiculata and Hesperaloe parviflora 'Brakelights'
Bottom row: Leonotis leonurus and Epilobium californica

Top row: Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun', and Lobelia laxiflora
Middle row: Cosmos bipinnatus and Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy'
Bottom row: Pelargonium peltatum and P. sidoides

Congratulations, you made it to the end of my very long July Bloom Day post!  To catch up with what's blooming elsewhere in the country and the world, check in with Carol at May Dream Gardens.

All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: Sprinting into summer

If weather reports are accurate, Southern California and a large portion of the US Southwest are going to get toasted this week.  Up to this point our usual June Gloom along the coast has prevented midday temperatures from soaring but it sounds as though we're not going to get a lot of help there this week.  Over the past few days, I've given selected sections of my garden a deep soak in an effort to sidestep any serious repercussions but the severity of heatwaves is never predictable.  I briefly considered cutting everything in sight for "In a Vase on Monday" but I reined myself in before I went crazy.

My first arrangement was inspired by the wild carrot that took me by surprise in late April.  I'd completely forgotten that I'd sown seeds of Daucus carota 'Dara' late last year and, when the seedlings first appeared, I didn't recognize them.  Now, the largest plant is nearly as tall as I am.

I felt I needed a flower that played off the burgundy color of the umbellifer to serve as a focal point but, when my first choice didn't do the job, I decided to cut one of the daylilies that has been blooming with abandon, recognizing that it won't have a long vase life.  I'll either cut another daylily tomorrow, or simply let the wild carrot flowers stand on their own.

The flowers of the burgundy ivy geranium (Pelargonium peltatum) I'd originally eyed as a focal point were relegated to the back of the vase as they're already beginning to shatter

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Daucus carota 'Dara', Hemerocallis 'Spanish Harlem', Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', Leucadendron 'Jubilee Crown', Pandorea jasminoides, and Pelargonium peltatum

The second arrangement was driven by a desire to save some blooms before the heat pushes them over the edge.  When I unceremoniously yanked all my sweet pea vines last week, the three foxglove plants they'd shielded from the sun in my cutting garden began to droop rather sadly.  

The stems of Coriandrum sativum (aka cilantro/coriander) I used as a filler were wilted a bit when I took these photos but they've since rebounded, as they always do.  I didn't sow any seeds of cilantro this year but, as it's popping up nearly everywhere I spread my homemade compost, I clearly didn't need to.  

Back view

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left are Abelia grandiflora 'Edward Goucher', Arthropodium cirratum, Coriandrum sativum, Digitalis purpurea, Nigella 'African Bride', and Scabiosa columbaria 'Flutter Rose Pink'.  (Included, but not shown in close up, is a lavender Pelargonium peltatum)

Hopefully, there will still be plenty of flowers to cut next week!  For more IAVOM creations this week, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Barrels of Fun

A couple of weeks ago my husband asked me what I'd like for my birthday.  He reminded me that I'd mentioned a new set of everyday dishes following our 2019 home renovation but I had zero interest in shopping for china.  I told him what I'd really like was three more half-barrels for the garden and, two days before my birthday that's what I received, along with some bags of top soil to fill them.

Two of the barrels joined the three I already had in the front garden under the magnolia tree.  I've made minor attempts to plant directly into the ground under the tree but tree roots have prevented me from getting very far.  When we moved in, there was lawn there but it struggled too and required too much water.  So we put in a bench around the tree and covered the soil with bark mulch.  Planting in barrels has provided the color I wanted.

So, lets look at what I've got in the barrels, starting with the two newest ones in the foreground of the above photo.

This is the first of the new barrels, which I planted using mostly plants considered annuals here

The photo on the left provides an overhead view of the contents shown on the right, plugs of Cosmos bipinnatus, a white-flowering Delphinium (moved from my cutting garden to make room for a dahlia), and plugs of Salvia lyrata

This is the second of the new barrels, containing a mix of plants, at least two of which I hope will last more than a season

Clockwise from the upper left, this barrel contains: a white Bacopa, a single Cosmos plug, Dahlia 'Kogane Fubuki', hybrid Digitalis 'Pink Panther', Pimelea ferruginea 'Magenta Mist', and Salvia 'Danielle's Dream'

The third barrel, one of those I received for my birthday last year, had been filled with Iceland poppies which for some reason never took off and, with summer coming, I pulled them and replanted from scratch.

I included Dahlia 'Iceberg', which gets big.  The tomato cage was added to provide support, assuming that the tuber takes off.  This one is a division taken from the plant I grew last year.

Clockwise from the upper left: overhead view of the barrel, Dahlia 'Iceberg' (with lavender alyssum), Penstemon 'Rock Candy Blue', Nepeta 'Blue Prelude', Scabiosa columbaria 'Flutter Deep Blue', Angelonia 'Archangel White' and, in the center, Calibrachoa 'Ice Blue'.  I'm hoping the Nepeta won't be eaten to the ground by the neighbor's cat, which has been the fate of every other Nepeta I've tried to grow.

I didn't touch the next barrel.  It contains the same plants I installed last year.

The pink Scabiosa bloomed lightly last year but took off this year.  The new blue Scabiosa is part of the same 'Flutter' series so I'm hoping it'll also thrive.

Clockwise from the upper left: overhead view, Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata' (aka mint bush), Pelargonium peltatum 'Burgundy' and 'Lavender', and Scabiosa columbaria 'Flutter Rose Pink'.  There's a Penstemon mexicali in there somewhere but it seems to have been swamped by its companions.

I replanted the last barrel earlier this year.

I had herbs, principally basil, in this tub last year

Clockwise from the upper left: overhead view, Dichondra 'Silver Falls', noID Hedera, Hemerocallis 'Space Coast Behavior Pattern', and Nemesia 'Banana Swirl'

The third barrel my husband bought me was intended for a shady corner near the street.  I'd had a barrel there for years but it literally disintegrated over time.

This barrel was intended for a spot in the background on the right

The wood slats of the barrels pulled away easily but it took a good deal of work to wrangle out the metal bands and dig up the Salvia and Abelia that had rooted into the ground below the barrel

Cleared area

With the area cleared, I moved in the new barrel, balancing it atop several concrete bricks in the hope of providing this one a longer useful life.  As this area behind the front hedge and directly below a peppermint willow (Agonis flexuosa) is very shady, I selected plants that tolerate those conditions.

It gets a little sun in the late afternoon

Clockwise from the upper left: overhead view; Calathea 'Medallion'; Fuchsia 'Miss California'; and three varieties of  Plectranthus scuttellariodes (aka coleus) 'Flame Thrower Salsa Verde', 'Sea Monkey Purple', and 'Vino' 

All things considered, even given the hassle of pulling out the disintegrated barrel and its contents, this was a fun project.  Now, fingers are crossed that all new plants will do as well as that fourth one I showed you.

Best wishes with whatever new projects you have in store for the weekend.

All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party