In a Vase on Monday: Pick me, pick me!

I could never have been a high school drama teacher.  Not only do I have none of the acting or directing skills probably required for the job but I'd also find it impossible to ignore all those eager faces hoping to be chosen for roles in the school play.  I'd be adding bit parts the play didn't call for until the play ran twice as long as was intended or the stage itself broke under the weight of the players.  At this time of year I have a similar problem when I walk into the garden to pick flowers for "In a Vase on Monday," the popular meme hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  Unlike late summer when searching for suitable plant material is akin to a scavenger hunt, there's no shortage of prospects in Spring, when one flower after another waves in the wind beckoning me closer.

I initially focused on two of my more unusual flowering plants, Salvia lanceolata and Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi Verde', both of which produce flowers in rust-toned shades.  The Salvia is a South African native and the Aeonium is a succulent that's produced an unexpectedly large crop of flowers this year.  Before I was done, they were joined by some unlikely companions.

Fading stems of Helleborus 'Phoebe, ' and the delicate blooms of Alstroemeria 'Claire' grabbed center stage from the Salvia and Aeonium

Aeonium 'Kiwi Verde' took over the rear of the arrangement.  Unlike the variegated Aeonium 'Kiwi' which generally produces only a flower here and there, a third or more of the 'Kiwi Verde' I planted over the past 2 years are blooming this Spring.

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Helleborus 'Phoebe', Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi Verde', Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Alstroemeria 'Claire' noID self-planted Cotoneaster, and Salvia lanceolata

The pleated vase I used for the first arrangement has a relatively small throat that couldn't swallow all the stems I'd cut so I popped some of the Aeonium's slenderer stems into a small vase.

The waxy succulent flowers seem to fit this cactus-shaped vase

Frothy pink blooms currently fill two areas in my garden so I felt the time was right to use some of those before our temperatures rise and put an end to them.  We've enjoyed an amazingly cool and comfortable Spring thus far but prior experience suggests that we could get hit with a blast of hot weather at any time.  However, weather pundits are currently suggesting that we may continue to benefit from the "Great Puny El Niño of 2018-19" throughout the summer and possibly into the fall.  We actually got drizzle last Monday and little more last night.  That's remarkable for May here.

While Leptospermum 'Pink Pearl' grounds the arrangement, Centranthus ruber in 3 colors plays the starring role

The 2 large shrubs of  Leptospermum in my garden peaked a week or 2 ago and are already beginning to fade, although I can usually expect a second flush of bloom in the fall

The pink variety of Centranthus is by far the most common in my garden but I usually get some red blooms too.  I've been actively encouraging the spread of the white form for a few years now.

Clockwise from the upper left: pink, white and red Centranthus ruber, Dorycnium hirsutum (aka hairy Canary clover), Orlaya grandiflora (aka Minoan lace), variegated Pelargonium hybrid 'Lady Plymouth' and, in the center, Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl'

And who can ignore sweet peas?  Even though the plants in one raised planter are still stubbornly refusing to bloom, those I sowed in a half-barrel in the cutting garden are pumping out blooms faster than I can cut them.

Most of the flowers in this Lathyrus odoratus 'Pastel Sunset' mix are shades of pink but there are some cream and lavender-blue blooms too.  According to the seller's on-line information, the mix contains seeds of 'Sylvia More', 'Jilly' and 'Chatsworth'.

Visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to discover what she and other IAVOM contributors have picked this week.

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

In a Vase on Monday: The usual suspects

Every garden has its rhythms and, despite the mild winter conditions here, mine is no exception.  When I look back at photos of arrangements I created in January in prior years, the same flowers usually make at least one appearance on In a Vase on Monday, the popular meme hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.  The tradition continues with this post.

Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' produces yellow "blooms" every January.  While this is one of my favorite plants of all time, notable not only for its colorful yellow bracts in winter but also for its fiery red bracts in summer, I've never been entirely happy with how it looks in a vase.  On this occasion, I trimmed off most of the green foliage to make the bracts surrounding the cones more flower-like and to show off the plant's red stems.

I also kept the arrangement somewhat looser than I usually do.  The paperwhite Narcissus was thrown in the back, partly to add interest there but also because the stems had been plastered to the pavement by rain.

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder', Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Corokia x virgata 'Sunsplash', Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', and noID Narcissus

For a few weeks now, I've been pruning plants as though my life depended on it and, as my pink-flowered Leptospermum is one of the plants under siege, I'm using it and another January all-star, Grevillea 'Penola', in a second vase.

The Leptospermum and the Grevillea both have needle-like gray foliage but the former's flowers are flashier

This Grevillea has small but profuse red and white snail-shaped flowers,  Most of the flowers on my plant are still tightly furled.

Top view

From left to right: Grevillea lavandulacea 'Penola', Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', and Persicaria capitata

For more January arrangements, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

On the weather front, we got a decent soaking of rain at last on Saturday night and there's more coming down this morning, and still more predicted for the coming weekend.  With that boost, I'm hoping I'll see a variety of new blooms in February, if not sooner.  On the other hand, I also hope Los Angeles will avoid any serious rain-related disasters in the recent burn areas.  It's a fine balance Mother Nature but I know you're up to the challenge!

View of the incoming storm from my backyard late Saturday afternoon

This is a closer look at one of the funnel clouds that got some news press in association with Saturday's storm.  I caught it on camera too.  Luckily, this one never touched the surface.

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

In a Vase on Monday: Better than I'd anticipated

The Agapanthus are making their annual appearance throughout my garden.  Unlike prior years when they've arrived like a stampede of cattle, they're moseying in a few at a time.  However, as I have more clumps of the plants than I can count, that's still a lot of flowers.  The question this week wasn't would I use them in an arrangement for "In a Vase on Monday" but rather how I'd use them.  Although I like the flowers, I've seldom been pleased by how they look in a vase.  As the variegated Echium 'Star of Madeira' is also blooming at last, I decided to see how those two plants would look together.  Frankly, I wasn't too impressed by the combination once the cut stems were in my bucket but adding a few other plants seemed to improve the overall effect.

I tried to keep the arrangement airy but it could perhaps have used more splashes of white

Back view

Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: blue and white Agapanthus, Coleonema album, Echium candicans 'Star of Madeira', Consolida ajacis (aka larkspur and Delphinium ambiguum), and Osteospermum '4D Silver'

I managed to take out a small slice of one finger while cutting back the weed-like growth of Erigeron karvinskianus in the course of assembling flowers for this weeks' vases.  This put a damper on my flower arranging exercise but my husband bandaged up my finger and I persevered to create a second vase, using flowers I'd had my eye on since last week.

This was supposed to be the front of the vase but I changed my mind

This view shows off the flowers of Leptospermum 'Pink Pearl' and Dorycnium hirsutum, which were the inspiration for this arrangement.  The vase itself is new, picked up during a weekend botanic garden/nursery trip with a friend to celebrate my upcoming birthday.

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left, this vase contains: noID Alstroemeria, white and pink Centranthus ruber, Dorycnium hirsutum (aka Hairy Canary Clover), Jasminum polyanthum (hanging over the fence from my neighbor's garden), and Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl'

Those of you who've included peonies in recent arrangements know I suffer from a severe case of peony envy.  I have 2 peony plants but the Itoh peony hasn't bloomed since the year I purchased it (in 2013!) and the Majorcan variety, which generally produces at least a single bloom, has produced none this year.  So, when my hairdresser told me the market down the street from her shop had peonies, I treated myself to some.  It's an IAVOM cheat but here's my third vase:

The rose may be the queen of flowers but I think the peony is the empress.  This vase is sitting in the kitchen window where I can admire the flowers many times a day but it didn't photograph well there.

For more Monday vases, visit our host, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

And best wishes to all of you in the US for a happy Memorial Day holiday!


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

The Domino Effect

Last week I published photos showing the removal of a large Grevillea in the dry garden area on the northeast side of our property.  At that time, I commented on the domino theory and how one change can precipitate another.  Well, further changes were made this week.  The sad little non-blooming cherry tree came out and so did one of my two guava trees.  The latter change made the biggest difference in the area.

Here's a before shot showing the guava tree in question, which largely obscured the Leptospermums behind it

and here's the area after the guava tree, which we inherited with the garden, was removed

The flower and leaf-less cherry tree can be seen here, to the right of a persimmon tree that's in the process of leafing out

and here's a shot of the same area after the cherry tree was removed

I made the changes (with my husband's able assistance) despite the fact that I haven't yet decided what will go into the empty spaces.  I don't plan to put anything large into the space formerly occupied by the guava tree.  I want to give the 2 Leptospermums in that area a chance to fill out and I expect I'll just add ground cover plants beneath them, or possibly fill in with more Centranthus ruber, which is a virtual weed here.  Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl' is one of my favorite plants and it deserves an opportunity to shine.

The 2 shrubs need shaping but I'll handle that after the current bloom cycle.  They have a long bloom period, heaviest in spring with a light repeat bloom during the fall.

While I'm talking about favorite plants, I thought I'd join Chloris at The Blooming Garden and share my top 10 favorite bloomers for the month of April.  As I've got a flower fixation and as April is possibly the most floriferous month here, restricting myself to 9 other favorites wasn't easy but here we go:

Echium webbii is my current favorite in the back garden.  It's a bee magnet.  I don't think I'd be exaggerating to say that there are at least a hundred bees swarming about the plant during the sunniest part of the day.  It's bloom cycle is well ahead of variegated Echium candicans 'Star of Madeira' this year.

Most of my Freesias are done blooming but this batch of blue Freesia in the back garden is still going strong.  In this case, I bought the plants in bud to replace the pink, red and orange Freesia that came up in place of the blue blooms I expected from the bulbs I planted last fall.  I'm much happier with the blue blooms here and, given my luck (or lack of it) with packaged bulbs, I may have to make it a practice to buy such bulbs in bloom in the future to ensure I get what I want.

I've bemoaned the failure of my bearded Iris to bloom over the past few years so I was delighted when this noID Iris germanica on the neglected back slope produced 3 tall bloom stalks this year, despite our truly pathetic winter rains. 

I look out at this Hunnemannia fumariifolia (aka Mexican tulip poppy) from my home office window and smile every time I see it

I featured Leucospermum 'Goldie' (top row) in my Bloom Day post.  Planted late last year, it represents my first real success with the genus; however, 2 other Leucospermums, 'Spider Hybrid' (lower left) and 'Brandi' (lower right, planted in March 2016) are also blooming and still another plant has buds.  I'm thrilled to think I may have finally overcome my problem with this genus.

While all my Alstroemeria are blooming, 'Indian Summer' is the most striking of them all.  In addition to the attractive flowers, its dark foliage is also attractive, especially when backlit.

These are the same photos I used for my Bloom Day post but I cut the Lotus berthelotii 'Amazon Sunset' here back dramatically a week ago so it doesn't look quite this good at the moment.  However, past experience suggests that it'll come roaring back.  It's a very vigorous plant and makes a great ground cover.  Its only fault is that it'll swamp anything in its path if allowed free rein.

Gazania blooms year-round here but it's at its flashiest in the spring.  The 2 top photos feature 'White Flame'.  The photo on the lower left is 'Strawberry Shortcake' and the bloom on the lower right is a noID self-seeded form.

Coleonema album (aka breath of heaven) adds white froth to the garden at this time of year

One plant that didn't make the cut this month is Festuca californica, a native California grass that's currently blooming.

It's hard to capture its beauty unless it's backlit

The grass adds an airy feeling to the garden and, rather than plant a tree in the area formerly occupied by the Grevillea and the cherry tree, I'm considering adding a mass planting of this grass and perhaps another large agave in that area rather than a tree.  My husband has made it clear that he really wants a tree to screen his view of the newly renovated house up the hill from us and I don't want to place two trees in such close proximity.

Enjoy your weekend and do check in with Chloris at The Blooming Garden to see what blooms gained her approval and that of other participating gardeners this month.


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: Spring has arrived!

Two weeks of periodic rainstorms may not have made up for the overall dryness of our winter rainy season or lifted us back out of drought but it's re-energized both the garden and the gardener, at least for now.  Suddenly, the problem in preparing arrangements for "In a Vase on Monday," the popular weekly exercise hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden, isn't what to pick but how to cram everything I've picked into the vase I've selected.  The Ranunculus in the cutting garden got me started this week as they all seem to be blooming at once.

I wasn't sure what I was going to pair with the vivid red Ranunculus when I cut those first stems but in no time I'd gathered more than I needed.

The red Ranunculus were supposed to be purple but I must admit they proved useful as vase material this week

The orange-red Freesia were supposed to be blue and, although they're messing with the color composition of 2 of my borders, they also came in handy in preparing this arrangement

Grevilleas and a stem of early-blooming Alstromeria added extra pizzazz 

Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', red and yellow Freesia, Ranunculus californicus (aka California buttercup), red Ranunculus (open form), Xylosma congestum, another red Ranunculus (rose form), Lotus berthelotii 'Amazon Sunset', and, in the center, Grevillea 'Ned Kelly'

My second vase also started out with Ranunculus and Freesia.

I cut the first bloom of Digitalis 'Dalmatian White' in my cutting garden to give this arrangement more height

This is the back view but, when I reviewed my photos, I liked it better than the view I selected as the front of the arrangement

Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Coleonema album; Cuphea hybrid 'Starfire Pink'; Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey'; pink and white Freesia; white, pink and picotee Ranunculus; Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl'; and, in the center, Digitalis purpurea 'Dalmatian White'

For more vases from IaVoM contributors, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

Last week I discovered a new book on flower arranging that captures my own approach, Color Me Floral by Kiana Underwood.  It offers recipes for monochromatic arrangements, albeit based on a wider range of floral and foliage materials than most of us are able to forage from our gardens.  You can find more information about the book here if you're interested.*

Image from Amazon.com

*I found this book on my own and wasn't offered anything to include mention of it in my post.


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party