May Favorites

On the last Friday of the month, Loree of danger garden hosts a meme focusing on favorite plants.  In preparation, I took photos of all sorts of plants but my attention kept coming back to one bed.  I call it the "spa bed" because at one time it contained a "snorkel spa" we inherited with the house.  The spa was heated by firewood and very inconvenient to use so, after living with it for a few years and using it only a few times, we took it out and used the spa's top to build a patio table.  (I'm using the royal "we" here as my husband really did all the work.)  I planted the spa bed in March 2014 and have modified my plant choices several times since.  I feel it's finally coming together now and, although the plants are still immature, I love the combination already so I'm featuring the occupants of this bed as my May favorites.

Wide shot of the bed formerly occupied by the snorkel spa

Another view of the same bed

The tree on the left, an Arbutus 'Marina', was in place when we moved in, as was the clump of Agapanthus on the right and the hedge behind.  Everything else is a more recent introduction.  After a brief flirtation with some other plants, I took my color cues from the Arbutus with its red trunk and its coral pink flowers.  Here's a closer look at the present bed.

The bed echoes some of the colors in the dry garden beyond

Melianthus major, Leucadendron 'Jester' and Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' started the ball rolling.

A current photo showing the chandelier-like flowers of Arbutus 'Marina' dangling above Melianthus major, mirroring the colors of Leucadendron 'Jester' below and Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' on the right

A broader view picks up the red of Pennisetum 'Fireworks', Lantana camara 'Irene' and Leucadendron 'Blush'

Pennisetum 'Fireworks', Leucadendron salignum 'Blush', a yellow Anigozanthos and a host of smaller plants were later introductions.  Most recently, I've added  Agastache 'Kudos Mandarin', Leucadendron 'Jubilee Crown' and Leucospermum 'Royal Hawaiian Brandi'.  I love each of these plants individually but it's their synthesis that makes them my favorite selection this month.

Top row, from left: Agastache 'Kudos Mandarin', noID yellow Anigozanthos, and Arbutus 'Marina'
Middle row: Grevillea 'Ned Kelly', Leucadendron 'Jester' and Leucadendron salignum 'Blush'
Bottom row: Pennisetum 'Fireworks', Origanum 'Monterey Bay', and the two newest additions, Leucadendron 'Jubilee Crown' and Leucospermum 'Brandi' (still babies)

Visit Loree at danger garden to see the plants she and other gardeners are most excited about this month.


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

In a Vase on Monday: It started with a rose...

There aren't many roses in bloom in my garden at present and those that do appear don't last long so, when I saw that 'California Dreamin' had a bud opening, I clipped it and, as Cathy at Rambling in the Garden does, I wandered about my own garden looking for suitable partners to go in today's vase.  I didn't start this week's project with selections in mind as I often do.  I wasn't even sure there was much out there that I hadn't already used in one form or another.  So I was surprised how well this vase came together.

Unlike many of my bouquets, this one was no struggle to photograph.  In fact, this one wasn't capable of producing a bad photo.

Photo taken from above the bouquet looking downward

This bouquet may be my personal favorite thus far.  Here's what I used:

• 1 rose bud ('California Dreamin' rose)
• 3 stems of Bulbine frutescens, yellow variety
• 1 Dahlia 'Fringed Star'
• 2 stems of Digitalis x mertonensis 'Polka Dot Pippa' (with the persistent aphids removed)
• 1 stem of Grevillea 'Superb' containing 2 mature flowers
• 3 stems of Leucadendron salignum 'Chief' 
• 3 stems of Origanum 'Monterey Bay'
• 2 stems of the always useful Tanacetum parthenium 'Aureum' (aka golden feverfew)

Close-up of 'California Dreamin' rose

Close-up of yellow Bulbine frutescens with Digitalis x mertonensis below

Close-up of Dahlia 'Fringed Star,' which has a lot less pink than than the photo attached to the bulb package

Close-up of Grevillea 'Superb,' the blooms of which start out a yellowish peach and turn pinkish coral as they age 

Back of the bouquet, which highlights Leucadendron salignum 'Chief' and Origanum 'Monterey Bay'

The vase in this case is a decorative teapot given to my mother-in-law by one of her neighbors several months prior to her death.  I brought it home last year when my husband and I cleared her home for sale, planning to use it to hold flowers.  This is the first time I've done so and, even though it isn't a family heirloom, it reminds me of her.

What better place for a teapot masquerading as a vase than the kitchen.  It brightens the mostly white space, doesn't it?

The lemons from the tree at the bottom of our slope even make a nice accent

If you have a vase of flowers collected from your garden sitting on a countertop this morning, post a picture and link up to Cathy's "In a Vase on Monday" meme at Rambling in the Garden.

In a Vase on Monday: Before and After

After one week of cooler weather, temperatures are climbing once again in southern California and the Santa Ana winds are blowing.  The winds, called "devil winds" during California's Spanish colonial period, are the source of as many problems as the heat, increasing the danger of wildfires and drying up soil, plants, and the gardener's skin.  The Santa Anas have a place in popular mythology too.  They featured prominently in Raymond Chandler's 1938 story, "Red Wind," in which Chandler described the hot, dry winds as those "that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch."

This is a long-winded (no pun intended) way to explain how I chose the centerpiece for the bouquet I put together in connection with Cathy's weekly meme at Rambling in the Garden.  I don't have many hybrid tea or floribunda roses so I use them sparingly as cut flowers, if at all.  But, when the Santa Anas blow, these flowers can shrivel or blow to pieces overnight so, facing that prospect, I cut 2 stems of my lavender rose, consisting of 2 full-blown blooms and 4 buds, for today's vase.

This was my first pass at constructing my bouquet.

Vase, sitting in my kitchen window with a cookie jar pig I use as a tea caddy

I'm uncertain as to the name of the rose, which came with the house.  The best guess is 'Angel Face,' although the blooms are much bigger than those of the 'Angel Face' I grew in my former garden.  However, like that rose, the flowers are extremely fragrant.

I accented the roses with Pentas, ornamental oregano, Gaura, and stems from one of my favorite variegated foliage plants.

Pentas lanceolata 'Kaleidoscope Appleblossum'

Origanum 'Monterey Bay'

Gaura lindheimeri 'Snow Fountain'

Pseuderanthemum 'Texas Tri-Star'

The arrangement was fine but I thought it needed something else with volume to fill the space between the roses and the wispy Gaura.  I went hunting in my garden for the white form of Centranthus ruber which, along with the pink varieties, is a virtual weed here.  Unfortunately, the big white blooms had been wiped out by the last heatwave.  I found only smaller sprays of white Centranthus.  Even the pink varieties, on their second bloom cycle, were relatively small.  I added some of both to the bouquet anyway.  Here's the "after" photo:

Vase after the addition of Centranthus ruber

The addition of the Centranthus did help fill out the arrangement from the back.

Although all my photos were once again taken in the kitchen, the bouquet sits in my home office, where I can enjoy the fragrance.  (Taking a good picture in my home office appears to be impossible.)

This is my contribution to Cathy's meme.  Please visit her at Rambling in the Garden to see what she's cooked up this week and to find links to the creations of other participating gardeners.