Wednesday Vignette: A pleasing combination

Mindful that Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is just a day away, I'm limiting this post to a single image, collected as I was taking photos of my flowering plants for tomorrow's post.  

The yellow-flowered Lantana, while no longer at its peak, picks up the similarly-colored edging of Agave multicolor next to it.  I'd like to say that was planned but it wasn't.  It was simply a lucky coincidence.

I'm feeling calmer this week.  I scaled back my news consumption; completed my ballot and mailed it (with ballot tracking turned on to follow its delivery to the Los Angeles Registrar of Voters, which confirmed receipt); and even took care of my large backlog of ironing.  Before the newest heatwave settled in, I also got started on one one of my fall garden projects.  Addressing what's within my control while turning off the noise relating to what I can't control was the ticket.

For more Wednesday Vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.

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

In a Vase on Monday: Dahlias, dahlias, and more dahlias

As the title indicates, this week's "In a Vase on Monday" post is all about dahlias.  They put a positive spin on what has otherwise been a dismal week.  We're luckier than many people in California and the Pacific Northwest but it's hard not to get depressed when everything around us is shrouded in a smoky haze and our air quality vacillates between "unhealthy for sensitive groups" to flat-out "unhealthy," coming close to "very unhealthy" at some points when the wind shifts.

When our view of the Los Angeles harbor is obscured like this, the cause is usually the marine layer that helps keep temperatures down; however, it's smoke blown in from wildfires both north and east of us that has kept the harbor partially or entirely hidden for days now

While the smaller dahlia buds in my cutting garden were scorched during our recent heatwave, the larger buds and those already starting to open fared relatively well.  One of these, Dahlia 'Iceberg', mocked its name and bloomed despite the fact that its outer petals were badly singed the week before.

I took this photo of 'Iceberg's' bud on September 8th, as our heatwave was waning.  I considered cutting it on the spot to encourage new buds but I decided to wait it out and see if it would bloom anyway.

Unless you saw the back of the flower, you probably wouldn't know 'Iceberg' had been damaged at all.  Dahlia 'Enchantress', which joined 'Iceberg' in this arrangement, was wholly unaffected by the heatwave.

Back view: Cosmos and Zinnias served as fillers

The top view allows 'Enchantress' to strut her stuff

Clockwise from the upper left: Dahlia 'Enchantress', Cosmos bipinnatus, Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata', Dahlia 'Iceberg', and lilac and purple Zinnia elegans

Dahlia 'Labyrinth' has also defied expectations.  I grew a dahlia labeled as 'Labyrinth' last year that flowered with blooms that were a pale imitation of the blooms I got this year.  This dahlia, grown from a new tuber, has also been the most prolific in my garden by far this year.

There were eight flowers in full bloom on 'Labyrinth' this morning and I cut five of them for this arrangement

I was tempted to accent the dahlias with foliage alone but, in the end, I couldn't help throwing in a few things to dress up the back view

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Dahlia 'Labyrinth', Abelia grandiflora 'Hopley's Variegated', Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum', and Zinnia elegans.  I sowed my Zinnia seeds haphazardly again this year so I can only guess that the first two Zinnias are  from the 'Unicorn Mix' and  the last is 'Envy'.

Dahlia 'Mr Optimist' has also been an exuberant grower, although the open blooms I failed to cut last week shriveled when our temperature reached 108F (42C) during the worst of our heatwave.  I therefore felt I owed it to him to showcase a few of the blooms that made an appearance over the course of the past week.

I kept this arrangement relatively simple

I used two varieties of yellow-flowered Lantana to pick up the yellow touches in the tips of the dahlia petals

Top view

From the left: self-sown Amaranthus, Dahlia 'Mr Optimist', and variegated Lantana 'Samantha'.  (I also used Lantana 'Lucky Yellow'.)

For more IAVOM creations, visit the woman leading our parade, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

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

Another perspective on the garden

In July, Tamara of Chickadee Gardens published a post by her "facilities manager" featuring his favorite flowers.  Earlier this week, Loree of danger garden provided a list of her husband's favorite plants from their garden.  With a degree of trepidation, I asked my spouse if he'd identify his favorite plants in our garden.  After a roll of his eyes and my assurance that he could limit his list to ten plants, he laughed and signified general acceptance of the request (after I agreed that we could skip the back slope).  As background, my husband has always been very willing to help me with all the heavy lifting in the garden, including the removal of all the lawn that came with it, laying flagstone paths, and constructing a stairway of concrete blocks down our steep back slope.  He also built an arbor for our grapevine, a dining table for our back patio, a lath house for my shade plants and, most recently, compost bins.

In addition to designing and building the lath house, including internal shelving and external window boxes, he also created custom-fitted shade-cloth screens to cover the ceiling and top two shelving areas to increase the shade quotient during the hot summer months 

That said, he shows little to no interest in what I plant, except to occasionally express concern that one plant or another may impact his view of the harbor.  He's also severely color blind, so much so that I'm regularly required to advise him as to the colors marking electrical wires when he's wiring anything. I periodically invite him into the garden to look at plants I'm particularly pleased with but the best I usually get out of him is "uh huh, that's nice."

He walked through the garden before making any selections.  Then he started pointing to things but he left the camera work to me.  I asked if he could tell me what he liked about the plants he identified and he responded to the effect that I hadn't said that was necessary so "no" and we proceeded with him pointing and me clicking the camera.  Here's his list in order of selection:

Pyrus calleryana, aka ornamental pear : This tree admittedly provides good shade cover in the front garden but it's also extremely messy; however, I'm the one that deals with the leaf litter and falling fruit

Phormium 'Maori Queen': One of my favorite plants as well.  He noted that we had several and his praise encompassed all of them.

Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum': He took note of two of them but there are others.  He looked up at Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' as we walked by the area on the right but made no note of that plant.

Helichrysum petiolare 'Licorice Splash: I was confounded by this choice, especially as he completely ignored Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt'

Arthropodium cirratum, aka Renga Lily (not currently in bloom): This selection startled me too.  I love the plant, which handles dry shade conditions well, but he passed by a couple of dozen of these plants elsewhere in the garden without noting them.  The two plants here receive more sun and are a bit sun-bleached by comparison to others in shadier areas.

Zinnia elegans: The first flowers he acknowledged, although he waved at them and said "these chrysanthemums or whatever they are."  In retrospect, I wondered if he noticed these because this area was recently covered with scrappy looking rosemary shrubs.  I added the Zinnias as a temporary filler after pulling the shrubs out.

Yucca 'Bright Star': Another plant we agree on

Polygala fruticosa, aka sweet pea shrub: Although I've got a few of these in the garden, the most I can say about it is that it's a tidy shrub when young

Lantana 'Samantha': Another flowering plant, this one with variegated foliage.  There was no mention of the lovely sunflower in a pot nearby that echoed the yellow flower color.

Pelargonium 'Lady Plymouth': His selection of this one had me thinking that he's drawn to variegated foliage that stands out among the surrounding plants

Gladiolus 'Green Star': A total surprise

The Mandarin and navel orange trees: In this case, he specifically mentioned that he appreciated their excellent fruit.  There are still a few orange spots visible near the top of the Mandarin orange tree on the left but most of those are just shells left by the rats after they ate the remaining fruit in place.

If you've counted, his list included twelve plant species rather than ten as we'd both lost track.  Like Loree, I suspect the list might be very different at another moment in time.  No succulents were identified.  I was moderately surprised there weren't more trees on the list (I'm certain the lemon tree would've been included if we'd gone down the back slope) and almost as surprised that he included any flowers at all.  I'm not sure what I can take away from the exercise about his preferences other than perhaps that he shows some preference for variegated plants.

Online sources are predicting a nice drop in temperatures over the weekend and although they've consistently underestimated our daytime highs I'm nonetheless hopeful they're right this time.  I hope you enjoy a safe and comfortable weekend as well.

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

Bloom Day - August 2020

Until this week, I'd been exclaiming over what a comfortable summer we've been enjoying in my area of coastal Southern California.  This week, the thermostat has been turned up and each day has been getting more toasty.  Forecasters say this heatwave is going to be with us for awhile.  With the heat on, I've confined my garden activity to early morning rounds delivering extra water to bolster sensitive plants - and taking photos for this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post.

I'll start with this month's star performers.

This is Amaryllis belladonna, also called the naked lady because the flowers bloom well after the foliage has died back.  Tammy of Casa Mariposa kindly sent me a couple dozen of these bulbs back in 2015 after she decided they weren't a good fit in her Virginia garden.  They're having their best year ever here.

This is a white Amaryllis belladonna from the same shipment.  They're somewhat more unusual it seems.

I got yet another flush of flowers from Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' this month.  As soon as the heat turned up this week, they started fading from this lovely peachy-pink to dusty beige.

This is Crassula pubescens.  It flowers later than the yellow-flowered variety with smaller leaves but it has almost as much impact in my succulent beds.  I've discovered that the flower stems are great in arrangements too.

Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' just keeps on flowering

Ditto for Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun'

This combination of orange and yellow Lantana has been blooming buoyantly for a good month

One border in my back garden is dominated by this variegated Lantana 'Samantha'

Symphyotrichum chilense, aka California aster, is something of an out-of-control monster, but it's pretty even so

I've come to love this hybrid of California's native woolly blue curls, Trichostema 'Midnight Magic'

Last year, Dahlias were the headliners of my August post but this year they're only just getting started.  This is entirely my fault, as I planted my tubers a good six weeks later on average than I did last year.  I'm including the few blooms I have thus far with the other recent arrivals.

The first and second Dahlias to bloom were 'Sellwood Glory' (left) and 'Mr Optimist' (right)

Dahlias 'Enchantress' (left) and 'Labyrinth' (right) didn't quite make full bloom status in time for their Bloom Day portraits yesterday but I expect they'll be in full flower later today

Most of my Agapanthus are early summer bloomers.  I added five bulbs of Agapanthus 'Stevie's Wonder' last year and two of those produced their first blooms this month.  The flowers are a deeper blue than any of those I inherited with the garden.

I didn't get around to sowing any Cosmos seeds until July but I bought a six-pack of white Cosmos bipinnatus to provide a supply of those blooms as the seedlings grow

I saw this plant out of the corner of my eye on my last trip to the garden center and found I couldn't leave without it.  This is Cuphea ramossima 'Pink Shimmer'.  The flowers are truly tiny.

I planted Gladiolus in my cutting garden this year after finding the corms on a last-chance sale.  These are 'Green Star' (left) and 'Vuvuzela' (right).

I've killed Grevillea 'Moonlight' twice before.  This one, planted in early March, seems happy.

Rudbeckia hirta 'Sahara' was purchased by mail order in July

Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum' came with the garden.  It's starting its summer/fall bloom phase.

I planted several packs of Zinnia plugs in July to provide a quick splash of color on the south end of my garden but the seed-sown plants in my cutting garden are finally starting to bloom too.  The large photo in this collage features Zinnia elegans 'Queen Lime Blush'.

I had a few surprises too, which deserve special notice.

I fell in love with Coreopsis 'Redshift' in 2012 and planted several in various areas of the garden.  This plant in the back border is the only one that survived.

This unnamed Crocosmia popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, belatedly reminding me that I'd planted a dozen bulbs a few years ago.  This is the first to ever make an appearance.

I planted  a huge bulb of Drimia maritima, aka sea squill, on our back slope last year.  The foliage died down in March and it's producing its first bloom spike now.  The bloom hasn't flushed out yet and I hope I don't miss it when it does.  Although I've never discovered their nest, there are fire ants down there and, when I checked on the Drimia earlier this week, I got stung (again).  I suited up in protective gear to get this photo yesterday morning.

As has become my practice, I'll close with the best of the rest, organized in collages by color.

Clockwise from upper left: Erigeron glaucus 'Wayne Broderick', blue and lavender Eustoma grandiflorum, Plectranthus neochilus, Salvia canariensis var candidissima, and Salvia x jamensis 'Ignition Purple'

From the upper left: Pandorea jasminoides, Achillea ptarmica 'Peter Cottontail', Coriandrum sativum, Eustoma grandiflorum, Magnolia grandiflora, Mimulus bifidus, and Tanacetum parthenium 'Aureum'

From the upper left: Achillea 'Moonshine', self-sown Gazania, noID Phalaenopsis, and Rudbeckia hirta 'Denver Daisy'

From the upper left: Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', G. 'Superb', Hemerocallis 'Persian Market', Hesperaloe parviflora 'Brakelights', Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit', Lantana 'Irene', and Russelia 'Flamingo Park'

From the upper left: Leucadendron 'Summer Red', self-sown Amaranthus, Grevillea 'Ned Kelly', Penstemon mexicali 'Mini-bells Red', and Pelargonium peltatum 'Burgundy'

Top row: Alstroemeria 'Inca Vienna', Bauhinia x blakeana, and Cuphea 'Starfire Pink'
Middle row: Eustoma grandiflorum, Gomphrena 'Itsy Bitsy', and Fuchsia 'Old Berkeley'
Bottom row: Osteospermum 'Berry White', Rosa 'Pink Meidiland, and Scabiosa columbaria

For more blooms, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.  

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