Bloom Day - August 2020

Until this week, I'd been exclaiming over what a comfortable summer we've been enjoying in my area of coastal Southern California.  This week, the thermostat has been turned up and each day has been getting more toasty.  Forecasters say this heatwave is going to be with us for awhile.  With the heat on, I've confined my garden activity to early morning rounds delivering extra water to bolster sensitive plants - and taking photos for this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post.

I'll start with this month's star performers.

This is Amaryllis belladonna, also called the naked lady because the flowers bloom well after the foliage has died back.  Tammy of Casa Mariposa kindly sent me a couple dozen of these bulbs back in 2015 after she decided they weren't a good fit in her Virginia garden.  They're having their best year ever here.

This is a white Amaryllis belladonna from the same shipment.  They're somewhat more unusual it seems.

I got yet another flush of flowers from Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' this month.  As soon as the heat turned up this week, they started fading from this lovely peachy-pink to dusty beige.

This is Crassula pubescens.  It flowers later than the yellow-flowered variety with smaller leaves but it has almost as much impact in my succulent beds.  I've discovered that the flower stems are great in arrangements too.

Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' just keeps on flowering

Ditto for Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun'

This combination of orange and yellow Lantana has been blooming buoyantly for a good month

One border in my back garden is dominated by this variegated Lantana 'Samantha'

Symphyotrichum chilense, aka California aster, is something of an out-of-control monster, but it's pretty even so

I've come to love this hybrid of California's native woolly blue curls, Trichostema 'Midnight Magic'

Last year, Dahlias were the headliners of my August post but this year they're only just getting started.  This is entirely my fault, as I planted my tubers a good six weeks later on average than I did last year.  I'm including the few blooms I have thus far with the other recent arrivals.

The first and second Dahlias to bloom were 'Sellwood Glory' (left) and 'Mr Optimist' (right)

Dahlias 'Enchantress' (left) and 'Labyrinth' (right) didn't quite make full bloom status in time for their Bloom Day portraits yesterday but I expect they'll be in full flower later today

Most of my Agapanthus are early summer bloomers.  I added five bulbs of Agapanthus 'Stevie's Wonder' last year and two of those produced their first blooms this month.  The flowers are a deeper blue than any of those I inherited with the garden.

I didn't get around to sowing any Cosmos seeds until July but I bought a six-pack of white Cosmos bipinnatus to provide a supply of those blooms as the seedlings grow

I saw this plant out of the corner of my eye on my last trip to the garden center and found I couldn't leave without it.  This is Cuphea ramossima 'Pink Shimmer'.  The flowers are truly tiny.

I planted Gladiolus in my cutting garden this year after finding the corms on a last-chance sale.  These are 'Green Star' (left) and 'Vuvuzela' (right).

I've killed Grevillea 'Moonlight' twice before.  This one, planted in early March, seems happy.

Rudbeckia hirta 'Sahara' was purchased by mail order in July

Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum' came with the garden.  It's starting its summer/fall bloom phase.

I planted several packs of Zinnia plugs in July to provide a quick splash of color on the south end of my garden but the seed-sown plants in my cutting garden are finally starting to bloom too.  The large photo in this collage features Zinnia elegans 'Queen Lime Blush'.

I had a few surprises too, which deserve special notice.

I fell in love with Coreopsis 'Redshift' in 2012 and planted several in various areas of the garden.  This plant in the back border is the only one that survived.

This unnamed Crocosmia popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, belatedly reminding me that I'd planted a dozen bulbs a few years ago.  This is the first to ever make an appearance.

I planted  a huge bulb of Drimia maritima, aka sea squill, on our back slope last year.  The foliage died down in March and it's producing its first bloom spike now.  The bloom hasn't flushed out yet and I hope I don't miss it when it does.  Although I've never discovered their nest, there are fire ants down there and, when I checked on the Drimia earlier this week, I got stung (again).  I suited up in protective gear to get this photo yesterday morning.

As has become my practice, I'll close with the best of the rest, organized in collages by color.

Clockwise from upper left: Erigeron glaucus 'Wayne Broderick', blue and lavender Eustoma grandiflorum, Plectranthus neochilus, Salvia canariensis var candidissima, and Salvia x jamensis 'Ignition Purple'

From the upper left: Pandorea jasminoides, Achillea ptarmica 'Peter Cottontail', Coriandrum sativum, Eustoma grandiflorum, Magnolia grandiflora, Mimulus bifidus, and Tanacetum parthenium 'Aureum'

From the upper left: Achillea 'Moonshine', self-sown Gazania, noID Phalaenopsis, and Rudbeckia hirta 'Denver Daisy'

From the upper left: Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', G. 'Superb', Hemerocallis 'Persian Market', Hesperaloe parviflora 'Brakelights', Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit', Lantana 'Irene', and Russelia 'Flamingo Park'

From the upper left: Leucadendron 'Summer Red', self-sown Amaranthus, Grevillea 'Ned Kelly', Penstemon mexicali 'Mini-bells Red', and Pelargonium peltatum 'Burgundy'

Top row: Alstroemeria 'Inca Vienna', Bauhinia x blakeana, and Cuphea 'Starfire Pink'
Middle row: Eustoma grandiflorum, Gomphrena 'Itsy Bitsy', and Fuchsia 'Old Berkeley'
Bottom row: Osteospermum 'Berry White', Rosa 'Pink Meidiland, and Scabiosa columbaria

For more blooms, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.  

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

Bloom Day - August 2019

Following our plentiful winter rains, my spring garden was loaded with flowers.  I unrealistically expected that trend to continue into summer, especially as our daytime temperatures have been relatively mild by comparison to prior years.  Instead, the floral display is on par with last year's.  I probably should reevaluate the mix of plants in my garden to put more emphasis on heat and drought-tolerant summer-through-fall bloomers.  On the other hand, more flowers would require more maintenance and sweating under the summer sun isn't particularly enjoyable.  From that perspective, continuing to focus my summer flower fetish on the more manageable dimensions of my small cutting garden may make more sense.

The summer cutting garden got off to a slower start this year, mainly because the cooler temperatures that persisted throughout the spring months continued into June and July, allowing cool season plants like foxgloves and Delphinium to hang on.  The space they took up delayed sowing of summer annuals; however, I planted my Dahlia tubers on a timely basis and their flowers currently reign supreme.

Dahlia 'Bluetiful' is new to my garden this year.  Although more subdued than some of the others, I appreciate both its form and its blue-ish color.

'Enchantress', also new this year, undergoes the most dramatic changes as she matures

I wasn't enamored with this newbie, 'Hollyhill Karen Lee', when she first emerged but her incurved petal have grown on me (pun intended)

I knew 'Labyrinth' was a winner the first moment she began to unfurl her petals.  The tuber I planted last year rotted.  I'm happy to have 2 healthy plants this year.

'Otto's Thrill' is returning for his third season.  I planted 2 tubers, believing the second was 'Loverboy' because I'd messed up my labels.  The actual 'Loverboy' still hasn't produced a single bud but both 'Ottos' are going strong.  This variety has the largest flowers of any of this year's dahlia crop, followed by 'Labyrinth'.

'Punkin Spice' is also on her third run.  I've got one in a large pot and another in one of my raised planters.  The flower shown is in the pot, which sits in partial shade and isn't blooming as heavily as she has in the past.  The second one was belatedly moved from a plastic pot to the raised planter once room became available and is only now budding up.  My recollection is that, given enough sun, her flowers will show as much variability as those of 'Enchantress'.

'Terracotta' is a semi-cactus type, also on his third run in my cutting garden.  This one is also a prolific bloomer.  In addition to 'Loverboy', 2 other dahlias are missing from this line-up: 'Citron du Cap' and 'Diva'.  Both are new to my garden this year.  'Citron' produced a few blooms earlier but only has buds at the moment.  I'd thought 'Diva' was going to blow me off entirely but it seems she's just living up to her name.  She's now developing buds.

Although my sunflower seedlings are still spindly, my Zinnias are finally taking off and, after pulling several foxgloves, I've planted a few other summer annuals from small nursery pots too.

I planted 3 named varieties of Zinnia elegans and 3 mixes in my raised planters.  They're all mixed up and a good many were removed when I thinned the seedlings so which is which will be hard to say.  I think the two on top in this photo are 'Benary's Giant Salmon Rose' and 'Benary's Giant Wine'.  The bottom 3 came out of a 6-pack, purchased when I became frustrated by the slow progress of my seedlings.

I picked up 3 Amaranthus caudatus in small pots a month ago.  They're growing well and I love their unique flowers.

A few Cosmos bipinnatus have also migrated to the cutting garden in small nursery pots over the past month after I failed to sow the seeds I've had on hand for months.  That's 'Double Cranberry' on the left and 'Prom Dress' in the middle.  The white form came without a cultivar name.

  Outside the cutting garden the flowers are fewer but some are worthy of note.

Amaryllis belladonna (aka naked lady) is having a banner year.  Tammy of Casa Mariposa sent me about 2 dozen bulbs she'd dug out of her garden in 2015.  I promptly planted all of them and, although the foliage showed up in 2016 and every year thereafter, I'd previously only had one or 2 blooms each year.  This year closer to a dozen flower stalks have made an appearance.  That was undoubtedly a byproduct of our ample winter rainfall.

Among the succulents, Cotyledon orbiculata has one of the prettiest flowers

The Eustoma grandiflorum (aka lisianthus) have been a bit of a disappointment this year.  Last year's August post showed the broadest collection of the varieties within this species I've ever had, despite the truly terrible heat wave we had in July 2018.  Admittedly, I planted fewer plugs this year but I've also had more losses among the new plants and fewer returnees from prior years.  Could it be that they want more heat than they've had thus far?  More likely, I've simply paid them less attention this year.

Drought tolerant heat-lovers, the Lantanas are doing just fine this month.  The only one that's not blooming at the moment is the 'Lucky White' cultivar in my front garden but I suspect my delayed pruning set those plants back.

Symphyotrichum chilensis 'Purple Haze', a California native aster, has gone nuts.  I knew that it spreads by rhizomes but in "low water gardens" it was said to be manageable.  It was, while we were in a state of acute drought.  The heavier-than-usual winter rains set it running amok.

Trichostemma 'Midnight Magic', a hybrid of California's native woolly blue curls, is much more well behaved

My perpetual bloomers are still blooming as well.

Clockwise from the upper left: Gomphrena 'Itsy Bitsy', Grevilleas 'Ned Kelly', 'Peaches & Cream' and 'Superb', and Cuphea 'Starfire Pink' (with and without bee) are always in bloom.  The Cuphea and Grevilleas attract hordes of bees and hummingbirds.

Two of the largest blooming plants in last year's August garden burned out earlier than usual this year.  They peaked during the first few days of the month and look a good deal sorrier today than they did in the following photos.

Albizia julibrissin (aka mimosa) bloomed well this year despite literally being cut in half last year when surgery was performed to eliminate limbs infested by shot-hole borers

Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' surprised me with a mass of blooms in late July.  In my defense, I was distracted by the kick-off of our home remodel.  This tree-like shrub is also a bee and butterfly magnet.

As usual, I've assembled collages featuring the less dramatic blooms August has to offer.

Top row: one of the last Agapanthus, late-blooming Digitalis purpurea, and Platycodon grandiflorus
Middle row: Polygala fruticosa, Salvia canariensis, and Salvia clevelandii 'Winnefred Gilman', finishing out the season
Bottom row: a very purple Scaevola, Tibouchina urvilleana, and Tulbaghia violacea

Top row: late blooms on Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold', Daucus carota 'Dara', and stray flowers on Leptospermum 'Pink Pearl'
Middle row: Leptospermums 'Safari Sunset' and 'Summer Red' and Lotus jacobaeus
Bottom row: Lycoris squamigera, Pentas 'Graffiti Pink', and noID rose

Top row: Abelias 'Edward Goucher' and 'Hopley's Variegated' and Achillea ptarmica 'Peter Cottontail'
Second row: Aloysia citrodora, noID succulent flower, and Gaura lindheimeri's second flush
Third row: Leucanthemum x superbum, Mimulus 'Buttercream', and Myrtus communis
Bottom row: Pandorea jasminoides and Tanacetum parthenium

Top row: Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer' and Coreopsis 'Big Bang Redshift'
Middle row: Gaillardias 'Arizona Sun' and 'Fanfare Citronella' and Lonicera japonica
Bottom row: Sedum reflexum and Rosa 'Medallion'

That's it for my August 2019 Bloom Report.  For more Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day posts, check in with Carol at May Dreams Gardens.


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