Bloom Day - October 2020

Last month on Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day we'd just put our worst heatwave of the season behind us but California and a good part of the Pacific Northwest were dealing with catastrophic wildfires and truly terrible air quality.  We've had more heatwaves since, including this week, and our air quality has been up and down but at least things are better than in mid-September.  We enjoyed a brief flirtation with fall last week and I'm hoping that, when the current heatwave passes, cooler temperatures will stick around for the long haul.

This month I'll start my bloom review with the newest arrivals.

These Anemone hupehensis (Japanese anemones) came with the garden but it still startles me when they return despite our generally dry conditions.  The pink variety in the front garden has yet to appear but I'm not about to count them out.

I invested in a flower-less one gallon container of Barleria obtusa (bush violet) at the local botanic garden's fall plant sale in 2014 and the plant now occupies several areas in my garden.  If I hadn't been vigilant, it probably would've taken over by now.  It certainly keeps trying but I can forgive a lot for those blue blooms.

The Australian fuchsias (Correa) are off to their usual slow, measured start.  From left to right are: Correa 'Ivory Bells', 'Sister Dawn', and 'Wyn's Wonder'.  Correa pulchella 'Pink Eyre' is covered in buds but appears to be waiting out the heatwave before it flowers.

This Hibiscus trionum (flower-of-an-hour) is a recent gift from a friend.  I grew it previously but it died out, while she's blessed with more seedlings than she can use.  Like daylilies, the blooms don't last long.

Plumbago auriculata 'Imperial Blue' is a virtual weed in this climate and I've never planted it in the ground but I have two plants in pots that take off at this time of year.  I love the color of the flowers if not their stickiness.

Zauschneria californica (California fuchsia) is making a big splash this year, although it's battling for space with a Grevillea I'd forgotten was planted just behind it

I planted rain lilies (Zephyranthes candida) here in 2014 but never remember they're there until they appear each fall, rain or not

While the new blooms have added flashes of color here and there, the old summer stalwarts still dominate the stage.

The dahlias went crazy during the last heatwave.  I photographed these last weekend before the current heatwave set in.  The blooms are steadily decreasing in size and their foliage is getting grungy so I suspect this is their last Bloom Day appearance of the year.
Top row: Dahlias 'Belle of Barmera', 'Labyrinth', and 'Candlelight'
Middle row: 'Enchantress', 'Iceberg', and 'Sellwood Glory'
Bottom row: 'Loverboy', 'Mr Optimist', and 'Rip City'

This is one of 15 buds on Dahlia 'Gitts Crazy'.  I planted it in late April and it sprouted less than three weeks later.  As all the other dahlias are finishing up, it's only just now preparing to bloom.

The large-flowered Grevillea bloom all year but they're really floriferous right now.  The closeups in the top row are, left to right: Grevillea 'Ned Kelly', 'Peaches & Cream', and 'Superb'.  Photos of the last two shrubs are shown below.  When grooming the shrubs, I'm surrounded by a constant buzz of bees, none of which have ever stung me.

These Lantana are blooming especially well this year.  The orange and yellow varieties (left), planted in a half barrel container three years ago, may have gotten a boost from the fertilizer I've been adding to get another dahlia, planted late in the season, to bloom, but the variegated Lantana 'Samantha' (right) never received any fertilizer and it's going strong after being cut to the ground last winter.

I can always count on Pennisetum to put on a show starting in late summer.  On the left is Pennisetum 'Fireworks' and on the right is P. advena 'Rubrum'.

Salvia leucantha is also having a good year

This is probably the last hurrah for the Zinnia elegans this year too.  The foliage is developing a bad case of mildew due to the mixed influence of our damp morning marine layer and the continuing high temperatures.

The Lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) that had burned out earlier this summer also staged a recovery, or two varieties did anyway.

I'm always happy to have them back

There were several other surprises as well.

A friend gave me this Iris germanica 'Autumn Circus' in late May.  I didn't expect any blooms until next year but I got this one earlier this month.  Another bud followed but it was incinerated by the last heatwave.

I planted Lessingia filaginifolia 'Silver Carpet' (carpet beach aster), a groundcover, in 2015.  It's persisted but I seldom notice it until it flowers, partly because Helichrysum petiolare 'Petite Licorice', a weed here, is constantly seeking to overwhelm it, as shown.

Stapelia grandiflora made another appearance.  Its bud, shown on the left, opened a couple of days after I discovered it.  I took the photo on the right before its characteristic odor began attracting flies.

This isn't quite a bloom yet but it's the first time I've ever seen a bloom stalk on Vriesea ospinae cv gruberi (now classified as Goudaea ospinae)

This Yucca 'Bright Star' bloomed earlier this year but it unexpectedly developed a side bloom I only just noticed last week

That brings me to the the usual color collages I end my Bloom Day posts with, featuring the best of the rest.

Clockwise from the upper left: Trichostemma 'Midnight Magic', Brachyscome 'Brasco Violet', Lavandula multifida, Plectranthus neochilus, Polygala myrtifolia, Oxalis triangularis, and Wahlenbergia 'Blue Cloud'

Clockwise from the upper left: Cuphea 'Honeybells', Rosa 'Pink Meidiland', Cuphea 'Starfire Pink', Pentas lanceolata, noID rose, noID Phalaeonopsis, and Bauhinia x blakeana

Clockwise from the upper left: Alstroemeria 'Inca Sundance', Abelia grandiflora 'Edward Goucher', A. 'Kaleidoscope', Euryops chrysanthemoides, Hemerocallis 'For Pete's Sake', Oncostele 'Wildcat', noID self-seeded Osteospermum, and noID Phalaeonopsis

Clockwise from top left: Rosa 'Medallion', Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', noID Amaranthus, Cuphea 'Vermillionaire', Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun', Pelargonium peltatum, Penstemon mexicali, and Rosa 'Joseph's Coat'

For more on what's blooming in other parts of the country and around the world, visit our bloom-fest host, Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

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

September Favorites

I'm once again joining Loree of danger garden in identifying the plants that earned my favor this month.  The exercise, which has me making the rounds of my garden to see what's doing well, is always useful in providing perspective.  This time, it also led to the discovery that my adversaries, the raccoons, had made their own extensive examination of my garden, in the process of which, among other things, I discovered that they'd dug up some of the bulbs I'd planted only days ago.  But they also left me empty snail shells here and there so I'm trying to see the yin and the yang of my relationship with them.  Everything's been tidied up again and, hopefully, they'll employ their skills elsewhere for a time and give me a break.

On to this month's favorites!

I've presented the large mass of Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt' that grows under the peppermint willow in my back border on other occasions but this time I'm sharing the 'Cousin Itt' growing elsewhere in my garden.  All took their time to beef up but I think I can now say they've reached a mature size.  The plant on the left, which sits underneath the Leucadendron 'Pisa' outside my home office window, is almost too enthusiastic and I fear it may someday swallow the plants surrounding it.  The plants in the middle and right-hand photos sit on opposite sides of a flagstone path that extends through the front garden.  If you look closely at the middle photo, you can see an exposed branch, which we were able to attribute to breakage resulting from a battle between 2 of my raccoon friends after viewing video from our security cameras.

As I've recently spent considerable time working on the succulent bed in front of our garage (described here), I'd plenty of time to admire the large, multi-trunked Agave attenuata I inherited with the garden.  Not only is it a beautiful specimen of its species, it's also the source of many of the pups I've cut and relocated to other parts of the garden.  As the photo on the right shows, there are more good sized pups available now, which I may soon move elsewhere.

I planted the 3 Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' pictured here just over a year ago.  They also took their time bulking up but, despite the hot, dry summer, they've finally taken off.  This is the first of the orange-flowered Cupheas I've tried that's done well.

Erigeron glaucus 'Wayne Roderick' wins a spot on this month's list just because it's so darn pretty.  It blooms intermittently throughout the year.

I featured Gaura lindheimeri as a favorite sometime this past spring but, as it sprung back this month after a severe haircut in June, it deserves another mention.  Its flowers are among the most noticeable in my front garden at the moment.  In the late afternoon, the flowers tend to look sad but every morning the plants shine once more.

Leonotis leonurus is another plant that I cut back in June only to have it bounce back with a new flush of flowers in September.  The taller of the 2 plants shown here was inherited with the garden but it never before looked as good as it does this year.  I don't know if I can credit the hard pruning I gave it last year for its revival or our heavier-than-usual winter rains but I'm pleased by its rebirth (especially as I'd been close to digging it up and tossing it out).  The shorter plant was added last fall.

I featured Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum' last month and warned that the plant would probably be even better looking in September.  It is so I'm showing it again.  There are 4 of these plants spaced at intervals along the moderate slope facing the street in the front garden.  You can see 2 in this photo.

Plectranthus ciliatus 'Zulu Wonder' is just now coming into bloom.  While I grow the plant mainly for its quilted green leaves with purplish undersides, I love the graceful flowers too.  The mass planted by the back door grew from cuttings I brought from my former garden.  Although I've planted cuttings elsewhere, this is the only spot in which it's done really well; however, I'm trying it once again in a shady spot in the front garden. 

Pseuderanthemum 'Texas Tri-star' always looks its best at this time of year.  I think it responds to the increased humidity we often get in late August and September as a by-product of the monsoonal rains in the desert areas to the east.  The plants do bloom but the flowers aren't nearly as colorful as the variegated foliage.

Salvia elegans, commonly known as pineapple sage, produced only a smattering of flowers all through the summer months but now it's finally blooming heavily.  I wonder if that's because I left the hose running there too long a couple of weeks ago?  In any case, both the bees and the hummingbirds love it.

Trichostema 'Midnight Magic' is a hybrid form of our native wooly blue curls.  The latter is an extremely finicky plant that I've killed twice.  This one is much more at home in a garden setting.  It flowers sporadically.

The 3 clumps of Zephyranthes candida (aka rain lilies) I planted years ago surprised me by blooming earlier this month without any rain.  Since then we've received light rain twice (tallying a whopping 0.15/inch) and the rain lilies have just kept producing new flowers.  Despite the common name linking their flowering to rainfall, it seems more likely that flowering is triggered by seasonal weather or light shifts as a review of old blog posts indicates they also bloomed in September last year.

That's it for this month's favorites.  Visit Loree at danger garden to find her picks.  And, if you'd like to see what's looking good across the pond right now, visit Chloris at The Blooming Garden.


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

Bloom Day - September 2016

Despite the rough start with a horrific plant-killing heatwave, the rest of the summer in my area of Southern California has been relatively mild, not that I'm counting summer quite over yet - another warm-up is expected next week.  Still, the generally cooler temperatures over the past month, combined with an easing of our water restrictions (now set at a 10% reduction of 2013 water use levels as opposed to 36%), have produced a number of surprises, the biggest of which were these:

Although we've had no rain, perhaps high levels of humidity and increased irrigation finally prompted these blooms from the 3 clumps of Zephyranthes candida (rain lilies) I planted in 2014

I was about to replace this Clematis terniflora (aka Sweet Autumn Clematis), planted in 2013, when it bloomed

Last month, I had a few blooms here and there from my roses but this month Rosa 'Medallion' surprised me by producing a dozen large blooms

Brugmansia 'Charles Grimaldi', planted in a pot in 2013, was another plant living on borrowed time when it bloomed.  To be fair, increased water again probably made the difference.

I grow Correa 'Wyn's Wonder' mainly for its foliage but it's currently sporting off-season flowers rose-pink flowers

The timing of other blooms was more to be expected but were pleasant to discover nonetheless:

Bauhinia x blakeana (aka Hong Kong orchid tree) produced a few blooms last month but it's loaded with them now

The Osteospermums are blooming again in response to cooler weather.  Osteospermum '4D Silver' is shown on the left and O. 'Berry White' on the right.

Two of the small Hebes sported blooms.  I've noID for the one on the left.  The one on the right is Hebe 'Purple Shamrock'.

A berry-colored Angelonia, planted last year, burst into bloom alongside burgundy Pelargonium peltatum, mixing nicely with the variegated Pseuderanthemum 'Texas Tri-star' in the same area.  The classification of the latter plant has always posed an issue.  It was labeled as Pseuderanthemum when I bought it but I've also found it labeled as Strobilanthes.  Things were complicated further this week when I found Australian growers calling it a variegated Barleria obtusa 'Purple Gem'.

No, these aren't flowers but their pretty color makes them just as compelling in the garden (even with the raggedy foliage).  These are 'Hachiya' persimmons.

There are also a couple of oddities:

This Duranta was purchased as D. repens 'Gold Mound'.  Not only did it significantly exceed its forecasted 2x2 foot size but it's also producing far more pale blue flowers than anticipated.

I came across this bloom on succulent Faucaria tigrina (aka Tiger's Jaw) by accident

And then there are the garden stalwarts:

The Abelias are STILL blooming

While the Eustoma grandiflorum (Lisianthus) planted in prior years are mostly bloomed out, those planted this spring are now throwing up blooms.  Clockwise from the left are a pale yellow form tinged with pink, a white form, a blue variety and one of the pale green ones. 

Gomphrenas continue to produce masses of bloom.  From left to right: Gomphrena globosa 'Fireworks', G, decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy', and G. hybrid 'Pinball Snow-tip Lavender'.

Some Grevilleas bloom for a season.  Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' (left) and G. 'Superb' (right) bloom all year.

Ornamental grasses are the stars of my late summer and fall garden.  Pennisetum 'Fireworks', shown here in 2 different areas of the garden, are making a big splash.

Blue Salvias of various species are all in bloom, to the delight of the bumble bees.  From left to right here are: Salvia greggii 'Mesa Azure', S. chamaedryoides 'Marine Blue' and S. hybrid 'Mystic Spires'.

I'll close with some honorable mentions:

Top row: Cuphea vermillionaire (newish), Gaillaridia 'Goblin' (self-seeded), and Gaura lindheimeri (refreshed after a trim)
Middle row: Leucanthemum x superbum (2nd flowering), Limonium perezii (2nd flowering), and Liriope muscari
Bottom row: Nierembergia caerulea, Pentas 'Nova', and Trichostema 'Midnight Magic' (easier to grow than most Blue Curls)

Visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens to find Bloom Day posts from all over the world.


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