Bloom Day - September 2021

It's hard for me to get excited about my garden in late summer, especially this year when the garden never got the boost normally provided by our winter rainy season.  The downside of sandy, well-drained soil is that it doesn't hold onto moisture long enough.  I'd like to give everything a really good soak but I feel guilty about providing extra water when our drought is so serious.  Even when I find something new in bloom, I can't avoid seeing what's dead or dying out of the corner of my eye.  However, my Bloom Day survey helped put things in perspective!  I may not have as many flowers in bloom as I did last year or the year before but I've still got a good supply to share this September.

I haven't watered my cutting garden as much as I usually do during the hot summer months but it's still watered much more liberally than the rest of my garden.  The dahlias and zinnias are once again playing starring roles.

Dahlia 'Akita', which I'm growing for the first time this year, is my favorite.  These are three views of the same flower as it aged.

Other Dahlias blooming at the moment include, clockwise from the upper left: 'Cafe au Lait', 'Cafe au Lait Royal', 'Enchantress', 'Gitt's Crazy', 'Summer's End', and 'Waltzing Mathilda'.  'Loverboy' and 'Breakout' have buds but haven't yet bloomed.  'Iceberg', 'Kogane Fabuki', and 'Magic Moment' look like they're nearing bud stage but that may be wishful thinking on my part.

Like my Dahlias, the Zinnias got a late start.  The top row features 3 varieties in the 'Profusion' series, purchased as plugs.
Second row: seed-sown 'Benary's Giant Wine' (first 2 photos) and 'Benary's Giant Salmon Rose'
Third row: seed-sown 'Queen Red Lime' and 'Queen Lime Orange'

Several plants surprised me by putting on strong showings in defiance of summer's heat.

Euryops chrysanthemoides 'Sonnenschein', a common plant putting on an uncommon performance in partial shade with relatively little water

The #1 bee magnet in my garden this summer is this African blue basil (Ocimum hybrid)

All my Phalaenopsis (moth orchids) are blooming in my shaded lath house.  I don't have proper names for any of them.

However, the most unexpected blooms were these:

This Plumeria was a gift from a neighbor who found this cutting and others in a trash can.  I've had another, larger Plumeria in a bigger pot for years and it's never bloomed.

 As many of the summer bloomers begin to shut down, others are just getting started:

This twiggy Bauhinia x blakeana (aka Hong Kong orchid tree) needs a good trim, which will have to wait as it's full of flowers (most well above my head)

This year, I managed to get Clematis terniflora (aka sweet autumn clematis) to climb to the very top of its arbor, also putting the flowers above my head (and making them difficult to photograph in the process)

Correa 'Ivory Bells' (aka Australian fuchsia)

The Japanese anemones have apparently been reclassified as Eriocapitella hupehensis

I thought this hybrid Nepeta 'Blue Prelude' had given up last month but it came back to life this month.  Even more miraculous, the neighborhood cat that spends a lot of time here hasn't eaten it to the ground as he's done with every other catmint I've planted.

I was late in cutting back the ornamental grasses this year but Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum' is getting its bloom on now

I've tried growing Plectranthus ecklonii twice before without success but it looks as though I finally found a spot it likes.  Planted in March, it's still well shy of the 6 foot plant it's supposed to become but it's alive and flowering.

Vitex trifolia 'Purpurea' (aka Arabian lilac) is also difficult to photograph but it produces a lot of these delicate flowers and the leaves are also attractive

As usual, the dependable Grevilleas continue to deliver.

Grevillea 'Superb' (left and top right) and G. 'Peaches & Cream' flower year round in my climate and both bees and hummingbirds love them as much as I do

I'll close with my usual color collages showing blooms found here and there in my garden.

Top row: Centranthus ruber, Cuphea 'Starfire Pink', and Eustoma grandiflorum
Second row: noID Gladiolus, Rosa 'Pink Meidiland', and Pentas lanceolata
Third row: Scabiosa columbaria 'Flutter Rose Pink', Daucus carota 'Dara', and Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy'

Top row: Duranta repens, Leucophyllum laevigatum, and Lycianthes ratonnetii
Second row: Pelargonium peltatum, noID Scaevola, and Symphyotrichum chilense
Third row: Trichostemma 'Midnight Magic', Verbena bonariensis 'Lollipop', and Wahlenbergia 'Blue Cloud'

Top row: Amaryllis belladonna, Angelonia 'Archangel White', and Cosmos bipinnatus
Second row: Crassula pubescens radicans 'Large Red', noID Gazania, and Globularia x indubia
Third row: Lantana 'Lucky White', Pandorea jasminoides, and Zephyranthes candida

Top row: Achillea 'Moonshine' Helianthus 'Lemon Queen', and Lantana 'Lucky Yellow'
Second row: Gazania 'Red Stripe' and Lantana 'Irene'
Third row: Xerochrysum bracteatum in red and orange

To see what's blooming elsewhere in the country and the world, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

My favorite plant this week: Campanula primulifolia

I have a tendency to get excited about plants early in our acquaintanceship, bubbling over with enthusiasm about a plant when we're really still just getting acquainted.  For that reason, I was hesitant to present Campanula primulifolia as my favorite plant this week.  But, even if I don't yet know whether it harbors a darker side than it's currently exhibiting in my garden, I can't help the fact that it's the plant I'm fixated on at the moment.  It's only just started to bloom too - I expect it may look a lot flashier in another week or two; however, I've been watching and waiting for this plant to bloom for a good 6-8 weeks now so, when I walked through the front garden and saw that it was blooming (finally!), it was settled.  It's my favorite plant this week.

This clump is comprised of 3 plants, situated in partial shade under the peppermint willow trees (Agonis flexuosa) in the front garden

More flowers opened overnight

I purchased these plants by mail order in January.  I love Campanulas but the only one that has bloomed reliably for me has been the diminutive C. poscharskyana.  Although perennial here, I can't claim that it makes a statement.

Campanula poscharskyana, a groundcover plant, is only just beginning to bloom as well

In contrast, C. primulifolia grows 3 feet (0.91 meters) tall and about half as wide.  It produces relatively large (2 inch/5cm) flowers over an extended period (or so on-line sources tell me).

It appears that the flowers generally open along the lower stem first but that doesn't seem to be entirely consistent.

Moreover, the plant is adaptable.  It's reported to grow in sun or shade and, although drought tolerant, it can take regular water as well.  It's perennial in USDA zones 4-10, according to the grower.  Mine produced flower spikes in June and I half expected it to flower for Bloom Day in June.  I was surprised, and moderately annoyed, when it didn't flower in time for Bloom Day in July either.  Perhaps our recent rain tipped the scales as the first flowers showed up soon after last weekend's unexpected thunderstorms.

Campanula primulifolia is my favorite plant this week.  Loree of danger garden hosts a monthly wrap-up of her favorite plants on the last Friday of each month so be sure to check in with her next week.

Quite a few flowers have appeared since Bloom Day in mid-July.  I can only assume that the rain prompted this as July is usually a pretty low-key (if not downright sad) month for blooms in my Southern California garden.  I'll post photos of some of these recent blooms soon but, for now, I'll leave you with a photo of my first ever Plumeria bloom, another big surprise I discovered this week.

A friend gave me 2 Plumeria cuttings earlier this year.  I didn't expect much as I've killed them off before but I followed her advice and left them confined in a relatively small nursery pot and I was rewarded with a bloom. (The other cutting is leafing out too.)

All material © 2012-2015 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party