Bloom Day - February 2020

Coastal Southern California really only has two seasons - a cool season during which we get rain (if we're lucky) and a warm-to-hot season, which seems to be getting longer with each passing year.  While our nights are still definitely on the chilly side, we're getting more and more days with temperatures in the upper 60s and lower 70s (Fahrenheit).  I can't say Spring has exploded into being yet but it's slowly creeping in.  More rain might push floral production along more quickly but it's not clear we're going to get much more of that.  In fact, yesterday I heard that California's snowpack is currently sitting at 59% of average with no rain or snow in sight, which doesn't bode well.

Despite the lower than desired rainfall, my usual February blooms appear to be right on schedule.

Ceanothus arboreous 'Cliff Schmidt' on my back slope is putting on its best display yet

Echium handiense 'Pride of Fuerteventura', a native of the Canary Islands and always the first of my Echiums to bloom, is putting on a good show

Euryops chrysanthemoides 'Sonnenschein' (left) and Euryops x virgineus 'Tali' (right) are pumping out blooms in the same color but different sizes

Pyrethropsis hosmariense (aka Moroccan daisy) is pretty in both bud and bloom

Pyrus calleryana (aka ornamental pear) is a messy tree with funky smelling flowers but it stands out at this time of year

The flowers of Ribes viburnifolium 'Catalina Perfume' are tiny but plentiful

My prostrate rosemary have been blooming for some time but the flowers are now too profuse to ignore

Cooler temperatures have given the African daisies their usual seasonal boost.

The photos on the left and the top right are Arctotis 'Opera Pink' and the one on the lower right is my favorite Arctotis 'Pink Sugar'.  I went overboard this fall pulling up scruffy 'Pink Sugar', assuming that I could get more with little problem but, despite the fact that my remaining plants are blooming, I've yet to be able to find more in my local garden centers (even though I've submitted 2 special orders for them).

Gazanias are popping up all over, although the progeny of many of the self-seeded plants haven't replicated their parental stock

Osteospermums definitely prefer temperatures on the cooler side

I was particularly delighted by the appearance of a couple of early blooms.

Anemones don't do well here, seldom surviving more than one season, and I don't plant them every year but this year I ordered some special tubers and planted them in my cutting garden in early November.  This is Anemone 'Mistral Rarity', the first to bloom.  

I often complain that hellebores are slow to bloom here.  This year Helleborus 'Blue Lady (left) and 'Phoebe' (right) are a month or so ahead of schedule.  'Phoebe's' foliage also seems to have taken on some variegation.

Certain plants can always be depended on to show up.

Bauhinia x blakeana (aka Hong Kong orchid tree) has been blooming for months

Camellia williamsii 'Taylor's Perfection' produced its first blooms before Bloom Day last month, peaked in late January, and is now on the decline

Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold' has also been blooming for months but the flowers blanket the shrubs now 

Gomphreana decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy' has recovered from the hard pruning it received in November

The large-flowered Grevilleas bloom year-round.  Clockwise from the left: Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' in a wide shot and a close-up, 'Ned Kelly', and 'Superb'

The small-flowered  Grevilleas join in at this time of year to produce a profusion of blooms.  Clockwise from the upper left: Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite', G. lavandulacea 'Penola', G. alpina x rosmarinifolious, G. sericea, and G. rosmarinifolious.

Leucadendrons (aka conebush) don't have flowers in the conventional sense but their bracts take on the appearance of flowers this time of year.  Clockwise from the upper left: Leucadendron 'Safari Goldstrike' in a wide shot and close-up, 'Wilson's Wonder', 'Blush', and 'Safari Sunset'.

I picked up a couple of new flowering plants this month.

In pots by the front door: Boronia crenulata 'Sharks Bay' (left) and hybrid Pericallis 'Magic Salmon' (right)

I've organized the best of the rest of the blooming plants by color for the record.

Top row: Brachyscome angustifolia 'Brasco Violet', Campanula poscharskyana, Felicia aethiopica, and Freesia
Middle row: Iris germanica in bud, Lepechinia bella, noID Muscari, and noID Violas
Bottom row: trailing Lantana and Polygala fruticosa

Clockwise from the upper left: Cyclamen, Cuphea ignea 'Starfire Pink', Eustoma grandiflorum, Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', and Lotus jacobaeus

Clockwise from the upper left: Argyranthemum fruticosa 'Everest', Cymbidium Sussex Court 'Not Peace', Hippeastrum 'Moon Scene', Digitalis purpurea 'Dalmatian White', and Westringia 'Morning Light'

Clockwise from the upper left: Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', Euphorbia rigida, Phylica pubescens, noID Narcissus, and Rudbeckia hirta 'Denver Daisy'

Succulent blooms, top row: Aeonium arbroeum, Aloe 'Johnson's Hybrid', and A. 'Safari Rose'
Bottom row: Crassula multicava 'Red', C. orbicularis var rosularis, and C. rupestris 'Springtime'

That's a wrap until next month.  To see what's blooming in other parts of the US and elsewhere in the world, visit the host of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, Carol at May Dreams Gardens.


All material © 2012-2020 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: Subtle color variations

After almost a solid week of rain, my garden is saturated.  That may bode well for my spring blooms but at present there's not much more in flower than there was last week.  I couldn't think of anything new to do with my large-flowered Grevilleas so I checked my back slope on the off-chance that the calla lilies might have made an appearance.  They haven't, but while I was down there I cut a few stems of Ribes viburnifolium, aka Catalina Perfume Currant, challenging myself to come up with something to bring out the color of the currant's tiny flowers.  I'm not at all satisfied with my results.  The color variations are too subtle and there's no real focal point to the arrangement but the high winds that kicked up in the afternoon tabled whatever thoughts I may have had about a re-do.

In retrospect, I should have traded the greener Leucadendron "flowers" for more red and yellow-tinged specimens.  After reviewing my photos for this post, I pulled one stem of green bracts out of the vase but the light required for passable photos was gone so I won't be showing the impact here.

Back view, showing off the variegated foliage of Hebe 'Purple Shamrock'

Top view, dominated by the more colorful bracts of Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset'

Clockwise from the upper left: Grevillea rosmarinifolia, Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey', Hebe 'Purple Shamrock', Leucadendron 'Blush', L. 'Summer Red', L, 'Safari Sunset', and Ribes viburnifolium

Last week's vases stood up relatively well.  After a little tweaking, I shifted them to different spots with the new vase stationed in the front entry.

All the middle vase needed were new stems of paperwhite Narcissus while the vase on the right was simplified, stripped of its rose, poppy and Grevillea stems

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

There are positive signs on the horizon in my garden.  My Freesias, Ceanothus, Calliandra, and one Echium all have buds and Camellia 'Taylor's Perfection' produced its first bloom on Saturday.  How long it'll take for the buds to bloom isn't clear to me but they have me looking forward to the days ahead.  I participated in a local "sister march" associated with the third Women's March this past Saturday and found positive signs for the future there too.

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

January Favorites

After 4 inches of rain on Sunday, the sun reappeared on Monday, offering an opportunity to give the garden a thorough once over.  With heavy rains at intervals over the past 2 months, the season-to-date rain total in my area is more than twice what we got during the entirety of the October 2015-September 2016 season.  According to the US Drought Portal, my area now is now classified as in "severe drought."  Does that sound bad?  Well, maybe it's not exactly great but it's MUCH better than the "exceptional drought" designation we had when our winter rainy season began in October.

I spied a rainbow peeking out below the exiting rain clouds earlier this week

There are weeds popping up all over.  (I had remarkably few issues with weeds last year - apparently, even weeds didn't like our drought.)  But, in addition to weeds, California poppy seedlings are popping up in several locations, mere weeks after I complained about the difficulties I've had growing those flowers from seed.  It also wasn't hard to find plants to get excited about for the monthly favorite plants post hosted by Loree at danger garden.  Instead I had to winnow my list down so as not to be obnoxious.

So here's what made this month's cut, starting in the back garden:

Agonis cognata 'Cousin Itt' probably gets more than it's fair share of attention in this blog but doesn't it look good here under the tree?  Maybe I'm imagining things but I swear it grew a few inches in height in the past month.  This mass is comprised of just 3 shrubs, all planted in fall 2012.  I have plants in a few other areas but none have done quite as well as these.

Directly opposite the Acacia on the other side of the flagstone path, Rosmarinus officinalis 'Gold Dust' is coming into its own.  I planted 5 4-inch plants here in March 2014.  Variegated leaves are responsible for the gold cast to its foliage.

Agonis flexuosa 'Nana' is a dwarf version of the peppermint willow trees I have elsewhere in the garden.  The foliage has the same light peppermint scent and new growth emerges in a pretty reddish-orange.  The growth spurt visible here is attributable to the rain.  I used 3 shrubs to screen the small patio on the south side of the garden, a job it's done effectively.

This is Westringia fruticosa 'Morning Light' (aka coast rosemary).  Like the Acacia and the Agonis, this plant hails from Australia.  I planted 4 of these last year to add some sparkle to the backyard border.

The steep upper section of the back slope still looks awful and now weeds punctuate the empty spaces between dead ivy and honeysuckle vines but there are some stars to be found in the lower section:

The 3 Ribes viburnifolium (aka Catalina Perfume), planted in 2011, are in full bloom.  It isn't a flashy plant most of the year but it holds the slope and it tolerates dry shade conditions.  The leaves are glossy now that they've been cleaned by the rain.

This is one of 3 Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Silver Magic' we planted at the boundary line of the property after we took out the invasive Yucca elephantipes forest that had previously grown there.  These plants, which are outside our irrigation zone, have struggled, in part because the massive Yucca roots continue to decay and the ground here has slowly sunken in response.  However, this shrub looks as though it nearly doubled in breadth overnight in response to January's heavy rain.

Out in the front garden, I found a couple more plants to crow about:

Agave impressa, a solitary growing species, bore the red stripes of a bad sunburn during the summer but it's a healthy green now, surrounded by Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' and other  happy succulents.  The raccoons have been digging in this bed, even through the gravel cover, but they haven't bothered the agaves.

Rhodanthemum hosmariensis (aka Moroccan daisy) is producing loads of white flowers.  Although I love daisies, I almost prefer the pretty buds that stand out against the silvery foliage.  Formerly classified as Chrysanthemum and more recently reclassified as Pyrethropsis hosmariense, the former genus Rhodanthemum is what's still stuck in my head.

Finally, although it already featured prominently in my January Bloom Day post, I have to mention Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' as January is its month to glow - literally.

I have 2 of these plants now.  The first, shown at the top of this collage, is one of the few shrubs I brought with me from our old house, where it'd been confined in a pot.  I put it in the ground in the front garden shortly after we moved in 6 years ago and it exploded in size.  I haven't properly measured it but I'd guess it's about 6 feet tall and wide now.  It's bracts turn red in summer but winter is all about the yellow cone flowers.  I added a second shrub, shown on the lower right, in November 2014.

I'll cut the list there this month but visit Loree at danger garden to discover what she and other gardeners have pulled out of the hat during what's been a very difficult winter in many regions.


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

In a Vase on Monday: Going Pink

I got a new vase from a friend for Christmas so I had to use it but, between holiday festivities and the cold temperatures outside, I didn't spend a lot of time collecting materials to fill it.  The celadon green of the vase called out for a pink complement so I headed to the Leptospermum in full flower in the dry garden and clipped away.

Front view

Back view

Top view

From left to right, the vase contains: the stiff stems of Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', the truly tiny flowers of Ribes viburnifolium (aka Catalina Perfume), and the foliage of Salvia lanceolata (aka Rocky Mountain Sage)

I overestimated just how much I could cram down the throat of the new vase so out came vase #2 to contain the rest of what I'd cut.

This vase contains more of all 3 of the elements contained in the first vase as well as blooms of: a noID Camellia sasanqua, Camellia williamsii 'Taylor's Perfection', and noID Narcissi

My biggest problem this week was finding spots for 2 fresh vases.  Christmas decorations take up a lot of room!  Last week's second vase wasn't long-lived but the other one was still in pretty good shape; however, I tossed out its contents anyway.  The vase on the dining room table, the one containing the orchid stem I constructed 2 weeks ago, was moved to my office.  The new vases ended up on the bedroom mantle and the dining table respectively.

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

Enjoy the remainder of your holiday, however long that may be.  Our daytime temperatures are expected to warm from the mid-50sF into the mid-to-upper 60s by mid-week so I hope to get outside to do some gardening.  We have another good chance of rain on Friday.  Last week's storms have already given Los Angeles the wettest December in 6 years so another storm is icing on the cake.  Speaking of icing, here's a view of the mountains to the east from our back garden on Christmas morning.

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