Fabulous April Favorites

I completely zoned out on the fact that yesterday was the last Friday of the month and time for the parade of favorite plants hosted by Loree at danger garden.  Even though the weather has turned decidedly warm (some might say hot) and the winds here have been relentless, the garden is still demonstrating buoyancy in the afterglow of the heavier-than-normal rains winter brought us so I hustled outdoors today to take photos of those clamoring for recognition.

Alstroemeria makes the most of spring's cooler temperatures.  As it heats up, most will retreat but I've enjoyed a plentiful selection of flowers this April.  From left to right, are 'Claire', 'Inca Husky' and a noID pink variety that came with the garden.  The first 2 have short stems but are semi-evergreen.  The pink variety has taller stems but goes completely dormant in summer.

Anigozanthos 'Yellow Gem' gets about 5 feet tall in my garden and creates a see-through screen.  Its yellow flowers have a green cast in contrast with another (unnamed) variety I have elsewhere.

Centranthus ruber is a weed here but I can't help appreciating its vigor in the driest areas of my garden.  This mass of blooms in 3 colors on my back slope grew from a few seedlings I transplanted our first year here.  I doubt I could get rid of them if I tried now.

The winds and spiking temperatures have taken a toll on the flower spikes of Echium candicans 'Star of Madeira' but the bees are making the most of the flowers while they last.  The plant on the left is in my front garden and the smaller one on the right is in the garden on the south side of the property, where it happily keeps company with succulents.

Gaura lindheimeri has sprung into bloom in various locations.  Some of these plants, like the ones in the middle photo, are self-seeded.  Gaura looks delicate but it likes a certain amount of heat, just like the Pelargoniums seated around each of the plants shown in this collage.

All my large-flowered Grevillea seem to bloom year-round once established but 'Ned Kelly', shown here, has a produced a particularly strong flush of blooms this month.  Its flowers are somewhat larger than those of 'Superb' and also more red than coral in color.

I made several attempts to get a good photo of Lobelia laxiflora but this was the best I could do.  It echoes the colors in Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' and Leucadendron 'Jester', both of which occupy the same bed.  When we moved in, I found this plant, which a neighbor described as a weed, in one of the shadier areas of my garden but it disappeared when we removed the Eucalyptus tree and dug up the garden on the south side of the house.   It appears to handle sun as well as shade and it makes do with moderate water.

The self-seeded grass here is Lagurus ovatus, aka bunny tail grass.  It doesn't seem to be invasive and I love the furry-textured flowers, which can easily be dried.

I featured Limonium perezii as one of my favorite plants back in February (left) but I couldn't resist showing you how floriferous it is now (right).  This is a tough heat and drought tolerant plant, easily grown from plugs here.

Here's another pretty weed, Oenothera speciosa, aka pink evening primrose.  Like Centranthus and Gaura, it self-seeds freely, especially in the drier, less cultivated areas of the garden, like the back slope.  It didn't produce many blooms at the height of the drought but it appears to have recovered its vigor this year.

Polygala myrtifolia 'Mariposa'  blooms sporadically during the year but it's covered in blooms this month.  I was surprised to discover that this plant also self-seeds when I discovered 4 good-sized seedlings in the front garden.  I pulled out 3 shrubs in the front garden 18+ months ago so I can only assume that it needed regular rain like that we received this past winter to germinate.

My last selection is Salvia lanceolata, a shrub native to South Africa, also known as Rocky Mountain Sage.  Like a couple of my other choices this month, it's difficult to photograph.  I originally purchased it for its silver foliage with no idea what the flowers looked like.  The flowers, similar in shape to those of Salvia africana-lutea, are unusual but very interesting.

For a look at more plant favorites, visit Loree at danger garden.


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

In a Vase on Monday: One simple, one not

I spent a couple of hours working on my back slope on Saturday and, after admiring all the Calla Lilies in bloom there out of view, I felt compelled to use some of them in this week's "In a Vase on Monday."  I had a few ideas as to what might be used to complement them but, in the end, I kept the arrangement very simple.

Front view: This arrangement is similar to one I created a month ago, albeit without the Moroccan daisies and with a different vase

Back view: Although it's a bit of a shame to cut the long stems of the lilies short, that was necessary in using this ornamental teapot as a vase

Top view

The vase contains just 3 materials: Freesias, Zantedeschia aethiopica flowers, and a few Zantedeschia leaves

While I appreciate the simplicity of my first vase, with spring in full gear in my garden, I also felt the need to bring some of that riotous color inside.  The oldest of my Grevillea 'Superb' shrubs is now large and floriferous enough to cut long stems so, with those in hand, I hunted down plant material to complement the coral color of the shrub's blooms.

Front view: Strong corals and oranges with a touch of yellow as an accent

Back view, showing more yellow color

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Grevillea 'Superb', orange-tinged foliage of Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Alstroemeria 'Inca Husky' (shown with a newly opened bud of Papaver nudicaule), Bulbine frutescens, Lobelia laxiflora, Papaver nudicaule, Phlomis fruticosa, and Russelia equisetiformis 'Flamingo Park'

The vase full of Leucadendron stems I created over 2 weeks ago still looked good but it got evicted from the dining room table in favor of the vase featuring the Grevillea flowers.  The Calla Lilies sit in the front entryway.

Here are the Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' stems photographed on March 3rd (left) and March 19th (right)

And here are the new vases in their places

For more vases, visit our "In a Vase on Monday" host, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden, who is also celebrating her 5-year blogging anniversary this week.  Better yet, if you have some spring flowers in your garden, create a vase of your own and join the fun.



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