Bloom Day - October 2020

Last month on Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day we'd just put our worst heatwave of the season behind us but California and a good part of the Pacific Northwest were dealing with catastrophic wildfires and truly terrible air quality.  We've had more heatwaves since, including this week, and our air quality has been up and down but at least things are better than in mid-September.  We enjoyed a brief flirtation with fall last week and I'm hoping that, when the current heatwave passes, cooler temperatures will stick around for the long haul.

This month I'll start my bloom review with the newest arrivals.

These Anemone hupehensis (Japanese anemones) came with the garden but it still startles me when they return despite our generally dry conditions.  The pink variety in the front garden has yet to appear but I'm not about to count them out.

I invested in a flower-less one gallon container of Barleria obtusa (bush violet) at the local botanic garden's fall plant sale in 2014 and the plant now occupies several areas in my garden.  If I hadn't been vigilant, it probably would've taken over by now.  It certainly keeps trying but I can forgive a lot for those blue blooms.

The Australian fuchsias (Correa) are off to their usual slow, measured start.  From left to right are: Correa 'Ivory Bells', 'Sister Dawn', and 'Wyn's Wonder'.  Correa pulchella 'Pink Eyre' is covered in buds but appears to be waiting out the heatwave before it flowers.

This Hibiscus trionum (flower-of-an-hour) is a recent gift from a friend.  I grew it previously but it died out, while she's blessed with more seedlings than she can use.  Like daylilies, the blooms don't last long.

Plumbago auriculata 'Imperial Blue' is a virtual weed in this climate and I've never planted it in the ground but I have two plants in pots that take off at this time of year.  I love the color of the flowers if not their stickiness.

Zauschneria californica (California fuchsia) is making a big splash this year, although it's battling for space with a Grevillea I'd forgotten was planted just behind it

I planted rain lilies (Zephyranthes candida) here in 2014 but never remember they're there until they appear each fall, rain or not

While the new blooms have added flashes of color here and there, the old summer stalwarts still dominate the stage.

The dahlias went crazy during the last heatwave.  I photographed these last weekend before the current heatwave set in.  The blooms are steadily decreasing in size and their foliage is getting grungy so I suspect this is their last Bloom Day appearance of the year.
Top row: Dahlias 'Belle of Barmera', 'Labyrinth', and 'Candlelight'
Middle row: 'Enchantress', 'Iceberg', and 'Sellwood Glory'
Bottom row: 'Loverboy', 'Mr Optimist', and 'Rip City'

This is one of 15 buds on Dahlia 'Gitts Crazy'.  I planted it in late April and it sprouted less than three weeks later.  As all the other dahlias are finishing up, it's only just now preparing to bloom.

The large-flowered Grevillea bloom all year but they're really floriferous right now.  The closeups in the top row are, left to right: Grevillea 'Ned Kelly', 'Peaches & Cream', and 'Superb'.  Photos of the last two shrubs are shown below.  When grooming the shrubs, I'm surrounded by a constant buzz of bees, none of which have ever stung me.

These Lantana are blooming especially well this year.  The orange and yellow varieties (left), planted in a half barrel container three years ago, may have gotten a boost from the fertilizer I've been adding to get another dahlia, planted late in the season, to bloom, but the variegated Lantana 'Samantha' (right) never received any fertilizer and it's going strong after being cut to the ground last winter.

I can always count on Pennisetum to put on a show starting in late summer.  On the left is Pennisetum 'Fireworks' and on the right is P. advena 'Rubrum'.

Salvia leucantha is also having a good year

This is probably the last hurrah for the Zinnia elegans this year too.  The foliage is developing a bad case of mildew due to the mixed influence of our damp morning marine layer and the continuing high temperatures.

The Lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) that had burned out earlier this summer also staged a recovery, or two varieties did anyway.

I'm always happy to have them back

There were several other surprises as well.

A friend gave me this Iris germanica 'Autumn Circus' in late May.  I didn't expect any blooms until next year but I got this one earlier this month.  Another bud followed but it was incinerated by the last heatwave.

I planted Lessingia filaginifolia 'Silver Carpet' (carpet beach aster), a groundcover, in 2015.  It's persisted but I seldom notice it until it flowers, partly because Helichrysum petiolare 'Petite Licorice', a weed here, is constantly seeking to overwhelm it, as shown.

Stapelia grandiflora made another appearance.  Its bud, shown on the left, opened a couple of days after I discovered it.  I took the photo on the right before its characteristic odor began attracting flies.

This isn't quite a bloom yet but it's the first time I've ever seen a bloom stalk on Vriesea ospinae cv gruberi (now classified as Goudaea ospinae)

This Yucca 'Bright Star' bloomed earlier this year but it unexpectedly developed a side bloom I only just noticed last week

That brings me to the the usual color collages I end my Bloom Day posts with, featuring the best of the rest.

Clockwise from the upper left: Trichostemma 'Midnight Magic', Brachyscome 'Brasco Violet', Lavandula multifida, Plectranthus neochilus, Polygala myrtifolia, Oxalis triangularis, and Wahlenbergia 'Blue Cloud'

Clockwise from the upper left: Cuphea 'Honeybells', Rosa 'Pink Meidiland', Cuphea 'Starfire Pink', Pentas lanceolata, noID rose, noID Phalaeonopsis, and Bauhinia x blakeana

Clockwise from the upper left: Alstroemeria 'Inca Sundance', Abelia grandiflora 'Edward Goucher', A. 'Kaleidoscope', Euryops chrysanthemoides, Hemerocallis 'For Pete's Sake', Oncostele 'Wildcat', noID self-seeded Osteospermum, and noID Phalaeonopsis

Clockwise from top left: Rosa 'Medallion', Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', noID Amaranthus, Cuphea 'Vermillionaire', Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun', Pelargonium peltatum, Penstemon mexicali, and Rosa 'Joseph's Coat'

For more on what's blooming in other parts of the country and around the world, visit our bloom-fest host, Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

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

My favorite plant this week is a weed?

Last week, I shared photos of a bed I'd recently replanted.  Although the focus of that post was on my newest Australian plant introductions, another plant, Hibiscus trionum, vied for attention by flashing its flowers.

Hibiscus trionum, as seen last week photobombing Leucadendron 'Blush'

The plant is now flowering more heavily.

The flowers last only a day but they're very pretty, featuring cream-colored petals and deep burgundy centers.  The question I face is: is it a lovely wildflower or a noxious weed?

I've had mixed feelings about this plant since I purchased it, on the fly, last March.  I found it at my local botanic garden.  I was familiar with the large-flowered shrub Hibiscus but not this species.  I grabbed it up, not knowing what I was getting but reassured that anything offered for sale by the botanic garden must have the garden's stamp of approval.  Then I looked up the plant on-line.  The gardening community is divided on the subject of Hibiscus trionum, also known as flower-of-an-hour, bladder weed, modesty, shofly, and Venice mallow.  It's native to the Eastern Mediterranean and was introduced as an ornamental in the US but has naturalized as a weed in many areas.

While Fine Gardening described it as a "perfect filler" plant, the opinions expressed by posters on Dave's Garden illustrate a range of strong opinions.  Here are a few quotes from the critics:

• "The only good is when the soybean aphids arrive, it is the first plant they attack."
• "All it took was a little rain and a little sun and they invaded like Attila the Hun."
• "This plant needs to be tacked up on the Post Office Bulletin Board."
• "It is not just invasive...it is EVIL, bad, malo, muy malo, ..."
• "Kill them early and kill them often...When you think of this plant, think INVASIVE, such as in 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers.'"

Even after reading the warnings, I haven't been able to bring myself to pull it out.  It has attractive, spreading foliage, which forms a mass 1-3 feet (30-90 cm) tall and wide.

The flowers last only a day but it blooms profusely from early summer through fall.  Mine was already blooming sporadically in March and has continued to do so, with heavier bloom following our recent spot of rain.  The flowers open when the sun comes out.  While some commentators contend that the flowers remain open only a short while, those on my plant appear to remain in bloom until the bed retreats into full shade in the late afternoon.

The plant prefers moist, well-drained soil.  Under our dry conditions, I hope the plant will remain under control.  It's obvious that it will self-sow freely.  Each spent bloom opens to reveal seeds, which can reportedly survive for years, waiting for the right conditions to germinate.

Oops!  There's a grass weed hiding beneath the Hibiscus I must pull

So what differentiates a weed from a flower?  I think it's in the eye of the beholder.  Many years ago my stepfather gave me a stitchery piece he'd made with me in mind, which I still have.  Maybe he saw me as a weed sympathizer even then.

There are many plants I consider weeds in my garden, some of which I tolerate in small quantities, like Centranthus ruber, Geranium incanum, and Erigeron karvinskianus.  Others, like the seedlings of Albizia julibrissin, I pull out at first sight, wherever I find them lurking.

One of 2 Albizia seedlings found hiding yesterday evening

The weed-suspect Hibiscus trionum, is my contribution to the favorite plant of the week meme hosted by Loree of danger garden.  Whether it stays a favorite remains to be seen.  Behavior will tell.  Please visit Loree to see her favorite this week (which is definitely NOT a weed).


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