Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - November 2019

November isn't the best month for gardens in the Northern Hemisphere and mine is no exception.  There's less in bloom in my garden this month than there was last year at this time but that's a byproduct of both weather conditions and inattention on my part.  We've been dry since early May and, although our rainy season officially kicked off in October, we've yet to see a drop of rain.  We've had warmer days than typical for this time of year and bout after bout of high-velocity Santa Ana winds, which spread wildfires as has become the pattern in recent years.  On the positive side, the nights have been cool and the marine layer has raised our humidity during the morning hours of late.  We don't generally get freezes here but the warm daytime temperatures and wind have knocked out many of my plants and, as our 5-month home remodel finally nears its end, my attention has been focused on the inside of the house, with the garden forced to fend for itself.  I'm hoping that'll change in the next month.

I posted photos of my fall floral standouts in late October.  My Senna bicapsularis and Plectranthus 'Zulu Wonder' are mostly done for the season.  The bush violets are still blooming, although they're past they're peak now.

Barleria obtusa (aka bush violet), lending a cool note to our warm days

Several other plants are making a splash right now.

Bauhinia x blakeana (aka Hong Kong orchid tree)

The ever-blooming Grevilleas, 'Ned Kelly', 'Peaches & Cream', and 'Superb'

Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum' and P. 'Sky Rocket'

Rudbeckia hirta 'Denver Daisy'

Tagetes lemmonii (aka Copper Canyon Daisy)

A handful of others have just begun their bloom cycle.

NoID Camellia sasanqua, which lost a lot of bud-filled stems when the house exterior was painted

Correa pulchella 'Pink Eyre'

Hemizygia 'Candy Kisses'

Hypoestes aristata (aka ribbon bush)

Mahonia x media 'Charity'

There were a few surprises too.

The foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea, left) I planted as plugs in October 2018 have bloomed off and on all year and those I didn't pull to make room for dahlias this summer are blooming again now.  Hemerocallis 'For Pete's Sake' (upper right) is blooming for a third time this year. Nerine bowdenii 'Stefani', picked up at The Huntington's 2017 fall plant sale. is blooming now for the first time.

I'm ending my post as I usually do with a few collages showing what's flowering on a smaller scale.

Clockwise from the upper left: Duranta repens 'Sapphire Showers', Polygala fruticosa, noID Wahlenbergia, Lavandula multifida, and Campanula poscharskyana

Clockwise from the upper left: Arbutus 'Marina', Gazania 'White Flame', Pentas 'Graffiti Pink', and 2 of the Zinnia elegans I haven't yet pulled from my cutting garden

Clockwise from the upper left: Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', Lantana 'Lucky White', self-seeded Osteospermum, Gazania 'Gold Flame', and 2 more varieties of Zinnia elegans

For more Bloom Day posts, visit GBBD's ringleader, Carol at May Dreams Gardens.


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

Bloom Day - January 2019

Last year we had the lowest rain level I can remember, with only 3.88 inches registered in our location between October 1, 2017 and September 2018.  (California's "rain year" is always calibrated from the first of October through the end of September of the following calendar year.)  This winter started on the dry side despite NOAA's forecast of weak to moderate El Niño conditions, which can bring heavier rain to Southern California.  Although NOAA has reported that the predicted El Niño has been stalled by other climate factors, notably the Madden-Julien Oscillation or MJO*, we've had a lot of rain in the past week and considerably more is expected before the end of this week.  Our current total for the rain year to date is 7.04 inches, or 181% of last year's total.  Not spectacular relative to our historical average perhaps but definitely an improvement.  The only difficulty is that it's coming down all at once, leaving us sodden and threatening mudslides in the recent burn areas.  Fortunately, I took most of my Bloom Day photos in advance of the latest spate of storms.  I don't know how those of you in parts of the world with heavier precipitation manage!

The stars of my January garden are fairly consistent with those cited in prior years with the notable exception of Camellia 'Taylor's Perfection', which is usually in full bloom by the middle of January but thus far this year has only tightly furled buds.  The Grevilleas and Leucadendrons win the top slots this month.

The large-flowered Grevilleas bloom consistently year-round here but the volume is greater right now in all cases.  Even so, Grevillea 'Superb' (shown here) is a stand-out.

Grevilleas 'Ned Kelly' and 'Peaches & Cream' aren't looking too shabby either

Blooms on the small-flowered Grevilleas, G. lavandulacea 'Penola' (left) and G. 'Scarlet Sprite' (right), are seasonal but generally profuse

Technically, Leucadendron "flowers" are actually bracts surrounding cones but they count in my book.  I've got 2 L. 'Wilson's Wonder', both shown here.

Leucadendron salignum 'Chief', shown here, sprawls a bit but it makes a great flower substitute in arrangements

More Leucadendrons, L. 'Safari Sunset' with what I think is L. 'Blush' on the left and L. 'Summer Red' on the right

There are other plants that are providing a strong showing this month too.

Bauhinia x blakeana (aka Hong Kong orchid tree) was the head-liner in last month's Bloom Day post but it was still looking great this month, even after some rain; however, I can't say it's looking as good after yesterday's downpours

It may not be entirely evident from this photo but the tiny flowers of Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold' are a pale pink.  The plant's common name is "Breath of Heaven" for the beautiful scent of its foliage.

Like the large-flowered Grevilleas, the tiny flowers of Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy' keep coming all year

Mahonia x media 'Charity' finally bloomed in early January

These paperwhite Narcissus, planted long ago by some prior owner of our property, have sprung into bloom throughout the garden in response to the earlier rain.  The current rainstorms are pounding them flat.

The white Pyrethropsis hosmariense (aka Moroccan daisy) have also responded positively to the rain

All my rosemary is in bloom but this Rosmarinus 'Gold Dust' delivers something extra with its variegated foliage

A few other plants also deserve special mention.

Succulent blooms are popping up all over.  From left to right here are a tiny noID Aloe, Bryophyllum gastonis-bonnieri (still in bud), Crassula ovata, and Crassula 'Springtime'.

No, these aren't flowers but the Heteromeles arbutifolia (aka Toyon or Christmas berry) and the navel orange are as colorful and the first feeds the birds and the second feeds us (and the greedy raccoons)

As usual, I'll end this post with the best of the rest arranged by color in collages.

Top row: Ageratum houstonianum 'Blue Horizon', noID lavender, and Limonium perezii
Middle row: Ocimum hybrid 'African Blue Basil', and Osteopermums '4D Silver' and 'Violet Ice'
Bottom row: Polygala fruticosa 'Petite Butterfly', Scabiosa 'Fama Blue', and Trichostemma 'Midnight Magic'

Clockwise from the upper left: Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' (off to a slow start), noID Camellia sasanqua (wilting in the rain), miscellaneous Cyclamen, Hemizygia 'Candy Kisses', and Pentas lanceolata 'Nova'

Left to right: Dermatobotrys saundersii, Hippeastrum 'Giant Amadeus', and Rosa 'Joseph's Coat'

Clockwise from the upper left: Achillea 'Moonshine', Lomandra 'Breeze' Tagetes lemmonii, Aeonium arboreum, and Senna artemisioides 

For more blooms, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens, our esteemed Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day host.

*Once again, descriptions of weather conditions in Southern California are sounding like the mythic battle between Godzilla and Mothra.


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

New Plants!

Fall is widely regarded as the best time to plant in Southern California, although you wouldn't necessarily realize that scanning the stock available in local nurseries and garden centers.  Daytime temperatures are generally cooler and there's a promise of winter rain, both of which help plants get established.  I admit that I go a little crazy with plant shopping at this time of year and, despite periodic spates of ridiculously hot fall weather here and gloomy forecasts of low winter rainfall, this year has been no exception.  I've already featured the results of some of my plant shopping expeditions (see here and here) but there have been more so I thought I'd give you a peek at some of my other recent purchases.

I'd mentioned that I was considering a smoke bush for a difficult area on the south side of the garden, partially shaded by a large Arbutus 'Marina'.  I found one last month.  Although it wasn't in perfect condition when I bought it, it seems to be settling into its spot just fine so far.

Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple' is planted in the bed formerly occupied by a very large Eucalyptus (removed in 2013).  The debris around the plant consists of small prickly bits left over from a light pruning I gave our citrus trees, which I've strewn here in another possibly futile effort to deter the raccoons from digging.

I also picked up a Duranta erecta for the partial sun area behind the street-side hedge.

The tag on Duranta erecta 'Lime' (aka 'Gold Mound') says it won't grow taller or wider than 2 feet.  Of course, I believed a similar tag on the specimen on the right.  Planted several years ago, it's now close to 6 feet tall.

The Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite' I added to my dry garden last year has done well so I decided to add 2 more plants.

I could only find 'Scarlet Sprite' in large (3-gallon) containers but eventually caved and bought them anyway.  At least the 2 new plants shouldn't take too long to catch up in size with the the original plant (shown in the rear of the photo on the right).

The local botanic garden held another of its special fall plant sales, which a friend and I attended the weekend before last.  She left empty-handed but I did not.

I picked up an unusual trailing Salvia, S. cacaliifolia (aka Guatemalan Leaf Sage).  It has ivy-like leaves, no odor, and isn't sticky.  It also needs regular water so it went into a large pot to be watered by hand.

I also picked up this Agave 'Kissho Kan' at a very reasonable price.  The variegation isn't as pronounced as most I've seen but it's still a handsome agave.

On our way home, my friend and I stopped in at a clearance sale held at a small local nursery and I came away with yet another agave.

This agave wasn't labeled and 2 larger specimens of what appeared to be the same species had different labels.  The nursery owner thought it is Agave angustifolia 'Marginata' but I think it may be the variegated form of Agave tequiliana, in which case it'll get too big for its current spot in my garden.  

Late last week, I made a trip to a nursery in Huntington Beach in search of a Mahonia for the vacant spot in the area recently cleared of a dying hedge.  I left with the Mahonia and 2 other plants.

I've wanted a dwarf Jacaranda 'Blue Bonsai' since the plant became widely available last year but I waited to see if the price would come down.  It didn't but I caved.  I didn't get it planted before Sunday's rain but hope to get it in place next weekend.

I picked up this Leucadendron salignum 'Summer Red' to add some height and softer texture to the succulent garden on the south side of the house.

And here's Mahonia x media 'Charity'.  I'd scoured the nursery in a fruitless search for Mahonias, only to have a huge display of these plants set up in the front parking lot pointed out to me as I was checking out with my other purchases.   They were on sale for half-price too.

Is that all, you ask?  Nope.  Plants also arrived by mail!  The first delivery was a complete surprise.

I received a box containing 8 bulbils from Pam Penick's famous Moby, a massive Agave ovatifolia that bloomed earlier this year.  Six of these tiny plants will be passed along to other local bloggers at a meet-up we have planned in early December and 2 will be planted out in my garden when they gain some size.  Moby's progeny have been widely distributed - he's taking over the country, one garden at a time.

I received advance notice of the second delivery.  Loree of danger garden contacted me on election night to say she had a Tetrapanax papyrifer seedling if I wanted it.  The offer, which I gratefully accepted, was the only bright spot in what proved to be a very depressing evening.  Her package arrived this week.

Loree packaged the seedling with expert care and it arrived in perfect condition.  I've tucked the seedling into a pot out of the wind that can buffet plants here while it gains some size.

So, is that it?  No, but this post is long enough so it will do for now.  For those of you in the US, Happy Thanksgiving!


All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party