Top Ten (New) Blooms - Late March 2019

Chloris of The Blooming Garden posts a monthly top 10 list of what's flowering in her garden and invites others to join in.  I don't routinely participate as what I'd cover would frequently be a rehash of what's covered in my mid-month Bloom Day post.  As my March 15th Bloom Day post was particularly extensive, bordering on obnoxious, another post featuring many of the same blooms might strike readers as overkill.  Hopefully, Chloris will forgive me if I put my own spin on her meme.  The focus of this post will be on my favorites among the newest blooms in my garden.  With a few exceptions, these are flowers that didn't start blooming until the second half of the month.  In Spring, when almost every day reveals a new jewel, it isn't all that hard to come up with 10 candidates.  In fact, I had several that I culled from the list for the purposes of this post.

In my mid-month Bloom Day post, I bemoaned the fact that some of my most flamboyant bulb blooms hadn't yet made an appearance.  That changed in the second half of the month.

I was delighted when the Dutch Iris (Iris x hollandica) I planted around our backyard fountain our first year here bloomed.  I was more delighted still when they came back year-after-year, stronger than they were the prior year.  I've planted more of these bulbs the past 2 years and look forward to seeing similar results from them.

Scilla peruviana (aka Portuguese Squill) was a haphazard bloomer for my first few years here but it's become more dependable the last few years, a sign that I should plant more of these bulbs as well

I planted Ferraria crispa (aka Starfish Iris), a South African bulb, in December 2016.  If memory serves me correctly, the 2 bulbs bloomed for the first time last year.  I was able to get seeds to germinate too but I expect it's going to be a few years before I get those seedlings to bloom.  In the meantime, I'm pleased to see my original plants return to bloom again this year.  The flowers are about the size of a quarter and last only a day but they're spectacular nonetheless. 

I featured a single photo of one Leucospermum bloom in my earlier post, which is all there was to show at that point.  I took a ridiculous number of photos of that one flower as the bloom slowly unfurled.  My obsession has continued since then as more flowers have begun to open.

I planted Leucospermum 'Brandi' in March 2016 after a few prior failures in growing plants in this genus.  This one produced its very first blooms last year.  This year, the shrub's produced more buds and larger blooms.  The mature bloom is roughly the size of my hand.  I have 3 other species of Leucospermums in the garden now, all with buds, but 'Brandi' is the first out the gate.

Narcissi of various types have been blooming in my garden since January but more appeared last week, my favorite of which is the Tazetta Daffodil, Narcissus 'Geranium'.

This one produces as many as 6 flowers on each stem, making each stem look like a bouquet all by itself

I inherited several Phlomis fruticosa (aka Jerusalem sage) with the garden but most of the shrubs have declined significantly in the last few years, presumably due to persistent drought and soaring summer-time temperatures.  I pulled a couple and hard-pruned the others about 2 months ago.  I didn't have high hopes that they'd rebound; however, at least 2 shrubs are making a good go at doing just that.

I love the soft yellow of the flowers, which always strike me as something Dr. Seuss might have drawn

My mid-month post featured a single photo of a Ranunculus, the only one of these in bloom at that time.  The tubers in my cutting garden suddenly got cracking during the second half of the month.

From one bloom to more than a dozen in matter of days

In addition to white and pink picotee varieties I planted a batch labeled "salmon."  I was concerned that the latter would all bloom in exactly the same shade but "salmon" seems to encompass a range of pinkish-orange colors.  I've had problems growing poppies but these strike me as great substitutes.

The next candidate for my top new blooms list is an odd one.  Some of you may find it homely but I find it very interesting.

This is Salvia africana lutea.  I picked up a small plant at my local botanic garden 3 years ago.  It's still a little less than 2 feet tall but it's blooming well this year.  The flower's shape and color is unusual.

My next "new" bloom doesn't really fit the category as I've described it thus far.  It blooms nearly continuously but it's so hard to photograph that I seldom feature it.  I cut it back a month ago and it's looking particularly good right now.  I also managed a half-way decent photo of it for once so here it is:

This is Lavandula multifida (aka fernleaf lavender).  The pale pink-flowered Coleonema behind it helped the thin flower spires stand out in the photograph on the left.  The blooms last a long time and they're very aromatic, although I don't like the scent as well as I do other lavenders.  Its chief values to me are its deep blue color and drought tolerance.

My last entry is a flowering tree I found blooming only yesterday.  Once I noticed the blooms on mine, I noticed the same species in bloom all over town, as if a bell sounded to call them out.

This is Cercis occidentalis (aka Western Redbud).  In my garden it wants to be a shrub, producing a lot of suckers at its base.  If it wasn't for this annual display of flowers, I'd probably pull both of mine out.

That's it for my top 10 blooms for the second part of March.  Visit Chloris at The Blooming Garden to discover what she and other gardeners are celebrating as Spring kicks off.  Check out my Bloom Day post if you want to see what else is blooming in my garden at the moment - our heavier-than-usual winter rains have created magic.


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

Bloom Day - March 2017

Spring may still officially be several days away but it's already arrived here in my area of coastal Southern California.  After an extraordinary winter rainy season, warm temperatures arrived and my garden literally exploded into bloom.  It might actually be easier to list the plants not in bloom than to show those that are.  I'll warn you now that I took a lot of photos but even so these don't capture everything.

I'll start with some of the plant combinations making the biggest splash at the moment.

Felicia aethiopica has formed a pool of blue here, surrounded by ornamental grasses.  Echium webii to the left of the Felicia is in bud. 

There are too many blooming plants to enumerate in this photo but the pink glow is provided by Freesia, Cuphea hybrid 'Starfire Pink, and Argyranthemum frutescens

Lavandula multifida takes center stage here, backed up by more Cuphea 'Starfire Pink' and Colenema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold'

Here, Limonium perezii is surrounded by succulents with self-seeded Osteopermum in the background (upper left)

NoID Narcissi backed up by Erysimum linifolium 'Variegatum' with Felicia in the distance on the upper left and Freesia bombing the shot on the lower right

Zantedeschia aethiopica and seed-grown California poppies (Eschscholzia californica 'White Linen') growing at the bottom of the back slope.  A Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri), not yet blooming, sits in the background in front of the mass of ivy spilling down the slope).

As usual, there are a number of genera contributing to the current bloom count, including these:

Arctotis 'Opera Pink' is on the left and A. 'Pink Sugar' is on the right

Freesias are blooming throughout the garden

The flowers of Grevillea lavandulacea 'Penola' on the left are fading but still plentiful and covered with busy bees.  Grevilleas 'Ned Kelly' (top right), 'Peaches & Cream', and 'Superb' never stop blooming.

Two forms of Lotus berthelotii are aggressively covering ground in the back garden.  'Amazon Sunset' is shown on the left and the more common golden-flowered form is on the right, mingling with Abelia 'Kaleidoscope'.

The Osteospermums all responded well to our winter rains and cooler temperatures.  Clockwise from the left are O. '4D Silver' and a self-seeded variation of 'Berry White'; 'Sweet Summertime Kardinal'; 'Violet Ice'; a white form that has self-seeded widely throughout the garden; and 'Zion Copper Amethyst'

The Pericallis 'Senetti' hybrid on the left is blooming for its second year.  The Pericallis on the right is one of those commonly sold as "Florist's Cineraria."

Both of my Veltheimia braceteata have resurfaced and bloomed

There were also some blooms that took me by surprise for a variety of reasons:

Clockwise from the upper left are: Scilla peruviana, which fails to bloom more often than not; Iris x hollandica, which made a poor spring showing throughout our 5-year drought; Eschscholzia californica 'White Linen', which I finally succeeded in getting to bloom; Helleborus 'Anna's Red', which produced a single bloom in year #2 in the ground; Helleborus 'Phoebe', which produced a couple of blooms after 5 years in the ground; and Salvia africana-lutea, planted last April, which produced its first bloom on Monday

As has become my habit, I'll conclude with collages of other blooms, organized by color.

Top row: Alyogyne huegelii, Anemone coronaria, and Brachyscome 'Enduring Blue'
Middle row: noID Ceanothus, Erysimum  linifolium 'Variegatum', and Euphorbia characias 'Black Pearl'
Bottom row: Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy', Ipheon uniflorum, and Lantana montevidensis

Clockwise from upper left: noID Alstroemeria, Coleonema 'Sunset Gold' (with Cuphea 'Starfire Pink'), noID Dianthus, noID Lathyrus  odoratus, Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard', and Pyrethropsis hosmarianse 'Marrakech'

Clockwise from the left: Russelia equisetiformis 'Flamingo Park', Alstroemeria 'Inca Husky', Calliandra haematocephala, noID Cymbidium, Gaillardia aristata 'Gallo Bright Red', Gazania 'White Flame', and Viola 'Pandora's Box'

From the left: Zantedeschia aethopica, Argyranthemum frutescens, Auranticarpa rhombifolia, Coleonema album, Convolvulus cneorum, Jasminum polyanthum (which actually belongs to a neighbor but hangs over our common fence), and Pyrethropsis hosmariense 

Top row: Aeonium arboreum, Bulbine frutescens, and noID Cymbidium
Middle row: Euphorbia rigida, Euryops 'Sonnenschein' and self-seeded Gazania
Bottom row: Papaver nudicaule, Phlomis fruticosa, and Sparaxis tricolor

Have I burned out your retinas?  For photos of what's blooming elsewhere in the country and around the world, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens, our Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day host.



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

In a (New) Vase on Monday

A friend and I took off on an excursion to our favorite Orange County garden center on Saturday.  This particular garden center has a wide selection of indoor decor, which I usually steer clear of, preferring to invest every dollar I have to spend on plants.  But my friend enjoys checking out all the store has to offer and this time I broke from my standard operating procedure.  As it turned out, we both bought plants but I was the only one who bought anything inside the store.  I brought home a vase.  The store carried 3 vases of the same size and shape in different but coordinating finishes and I was sorely tempted to bring home all 3 but I reeled myself under control.  This is exactly why I try to stay out of such stores - limited will power.

In any case, the new vase called out for blue flowers.  Finding a single stem of Ceanothus already in bloom sealed the deal.  I'd planned to stick to a blue and white palette but, although the vase is relatively short (about 7 inches tall), the stems I collected were generally shorter still.  So I ended up adding bright yellow Iceland poppies to the mix to get the extra height the arrangement needed.

Front view showing more yellow and white than blue

The shorter blue flowers feature more prominently in the back view

The yellow poppies hog the scene when the vase is viewed from the top

I stuffed a surprising number of plant stems down the 2.5 inch throat of this vase:
Top row - Anemone coronaria (a cheat as the stems came from newly purchased plants), noID Ceanothus, and Globularia x indubia
Middle row - Lavandula multifida, Osteospermum '4D Silver', and Papaver nudicaule
Bottow row - Ranunculus (the first one to bloom), Pyrethropsis hosmariense, and Salvia cacalifolia
(Included but not highlighted - Chrysanthemum paludosum, now classified as Mauranthemum paludosum)

There's a second vase (of course).  Two of my largest Leucadendrons are going nuts and it's almost impossible to ignore them when passing through the garden.

Front view

The back view could have used some dressing up but I ran out of time

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left, this vase contains: Leucadendron salignum 'Chief', L. 'Wilson's Wonder', noID Narcissus, and Zantedeschia aethiopica

That's it for my interior decorating this week.  For more Monday vases, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

The new vase sits in the front entry, accompanied by blue bird salt-and-pepper shakers inherited from my mother-in-law, and the second vase sits on the dining table, having evicted the only somewhat bedraggled vase with the Leucadendron stems created 2 weeks ago

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

March Bloom Day

This Bloom Day catches me relatively unprepared as I've been pulled in different directions by personal life events.  Still, I didn't want the day to go by without any recognition so here, without much in the way of commentary, is a selection of what's in bloom at the moment in my garden:

Alstroemeria, deciduous type (No ID)

Anemone (no record of variety)

Bauhinia x blakeana

Camellia japonica 'Taylor's Perfection'

Ceanothus (No ID)

Parsley, bolting

Coleonema pulchrum 'Sunset Gold'

Coleonema album

Dymondia margaretae (groundcover)

Erysimum linifolium 'Variegatum' with Osteospermum ecklonis '3D Silver'

Freesia

Freesia

Freesia

Freesia

Geranium pyrenaicum 'Bill Wallis' (sorry the picture's fuzzy like the Lamb's Ear)

Geranium hybrid 'Tiny Monster'

Grevillea lavandulacea 'Penola'

Lavandula multifida (great plant but needs a better backdrop than it has here)

Loropetalum  chinense 'Hines Plum Leaf'

Mystery shrub I hacked back a month ago

Narcissus (no record of variety) & Nemesia 'Sunsatia Lemon'

Nemophila menziesii 'Baby Blue Eyes'

Osteospermum 'Serenity Purple'

Osteospermum 'Zion Copper Amethyst'

Pelargonium ionidflorum 'Pink Fairy Cascade' (I think)

Pelargonium hybrid 'White Lady'

Phlomis fruticosa

Plum 'Santa Rosa'

Polygala fruticosa 'Petite Butterfly' (aka dwarf 'Sweet Pea Bush')

Ranunculus asiaticus 'Merlot'

Schizanthus pinnatus (Poor Man's Orchid) in pot with Fuchsia

Wildflowers, including California Poppy, planted at my mother's house from seed by my brother

Zantedeschia aethiopica (Common Calla Lily)

Still not blooming, despite having buds since January, is my Eupatorium corymbosa:

Eupatorium corymbosa (close but not quite there)

Spring is already here and, with temperatures back in the 80s for the last couple of days, it feels as though summer is just around the corner.  More Bloom Day posts can be found at the May Dreams Gardens blog site, hosted by Carol.