Late Arrivals

Given the name of my blog, it seems entirely appropriate for me to follow up Friday's Bloom Day post with another one featuring stragglers that appeared following last week's deadline and those I simply missed in the course of my earlier survey.

The late arrivals are too pretty not to share, and as summer delivers warmer temperatures, I can't guarantee that they'll be around in mid-July.

By process of elimination, I've concluded that this is Epiphyllum 'King Midas', which I found in my lath house shortly after I'd published my Bloom Day post.  It should be more peach than pink but I suspect it'd already faded by the time I photographed it.

More daylilies have bloomed.  Hemerocallis 'Cordon Rouge' is on the left and H. 'Sammy Russell' is on the right.  The latter came with the garden.

The true lilies have been taking their time about blooming.  I've been watching Lilium 'Orange Planet' from my office window for weeks.  It finally opened its first blooms yesterday morning.

I didn't even notice the Lilium 'Montego Bay' below and behind 'Orange Planet' was blooming until I leaned in to get a closeup of 'Orange Planet'

This is Rosa 'Golden Celebration'.  It's heavy flowers tend to take a nose dive, hiding themselves in its foliage.

There were other flowers I just overlooked.

The small flowers of Oscularia deltoides seem to open all at once when I'm not looking, almost completely covering the plant's foliage.  This plant also managed to swamp the Agave 'Mateo' in a large pot alongside it before trailing down into the street side succulent bed below.

I noticed the silver foliage of this Helichrysum retortum before I noticed its papery flowers

Despite the vivid maroon color of the flowers of Pelargonium sidoides, they're easy to miss due to their small size

Low-growing Pennisetum orientale (aka Chinese fountain grass) is dormant during the winter months and always manages to surprise me when it reappears

I planted this intergeneric hybrid of Stachys and Lamium, called Stachys 'Lilac Falls', in 2016 and subsequently believed it'd died off but 2 good years of rain brought it back.  It only grows a few inches tall but it can spread 2-3 feet wide.

I've spent much of the past week in garden clean-up mode, pulling endless weeds, cutting back dead bulb foliage, deadheading flowers, pruning - you get the drift.  Some plants are committed to world domination so I've also spent a lot of time thinning those out.  None of that was worth photographing but I thought I'd show you an updated view of the area on the south-side of the house I addressed when we removed an overgrown 'Blue Flame' Agave.

This is the view from the dirt path behind the bed.  The Aeonium cuttings are filling out and coloring up nicely and the dark Aeonium arboreum 'Zwartkop' in the background is looking its very best.  I cleared a LOT of weeds around the Dasylirion longissima to the left of 'Zwartkop'.  I think that tiny Agave ovatifolia in the middle of the bed may have grown a smidgen larger..  There were some California poppies in the bare area but most of those have already died back.  I can still walk into the bed but I'm not sure how long that will last.

Salvia clevelandii 'Winnifred Gilman' is in full bloom, filling much of the previously open space

The Acanthus mollis I've tried to remove several times is blooming in the middle of a Vitex trifolia.  Note the 2-headed Acanthus flower stalk - that's the first time I've seen that.

Metrosideros collina 'Springfire' is done blooming for the season but it's gaining girth rapidly, which may become an issue

As temperatures continue to climb, further garden cleanup activities are likely to be confined to the early morning hours.  The insect population appears to have already upped its game as I'm now covered in bites from something or another.  But the birds and the lizards are keeping me company while I work.

The western fence lizards have come out in droves

I found ravens having a conference in my cutting garden yesterday morning.  Most immediately flew away but these 2 continued their conversation from a distance atop a peppermint willow.

Best wishes for a happy hump day!

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wednesday Vignette: Some chores have to be put off

While my garden came through the heatwaves in late April and early May relatively unscathed overall, a few plants didn't fare well at all.  Those in the latter category included the two Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl' in the dry garden on the northeast side.  They usually produce sporadic blooms during the winter months, reserving their heaviest showing for spring; however, they bloomed more heavily than usual this winter.

These photos were taken in January

They flushed out again in April following the rain but the first heatwave in late April left them looking sad and May's follow-up made things worse.

They were sticking out like sore thumbs against rest of the greenery here

I decided I couldn't stand looking at them like that and started cutting the prickly foliage back on Monday.  I noticed that a couple of birds seemed especially agitated by my presence.  I guessed they might have a nest nearby but I hadn't expected to find it buried in the interior of the dense, needle-like foliage of the Leptospermum, until I came close to cutting into it.

This is the best photo I was able to manage.  The nest is crammed in among the dried foliage and dead flowers and I had difficulty getting the camera to focus.  I also didn't want to disturb any inhabitants by moving branches that might dislodge it.

Here are the worried parents, California Towhees I think

I believe there's at least one nestling in it as I'm sure I saw an open beak.  Much as I'd have liked to confirm that with a closer look, I gave up the effort to get a better shot as my presence so distressed the adult birds.  At least California Towhees aren't as fierce as the local mockingbirds.  The mockingbirds don't hesitate to attack intruders threatening their nests; I see them go after both hawks and crows daily and I've no doubt they'd swoop at a human intruder as well.  Needless to say, I decided the task of trimming the Leptospermum could wait a few weeks.

I may have a hard time photographing the birds in my garden but lizards are much easier.  I can't walk a foot without a lizard zipping across my path.  And, when they're happily baking on a warm rock, they don't hustle to seek cover either.

This is a western fence lizard, aka the blue-belly.  That blue glow you see here on the lizard's stomach and neck isn't an optical illusion.

That's my Wednesday Vignette this week.  For more, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.


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

What season is it???

The current pandemic and the stay-at-home order that followed it have upended my usual activities and thrown my schedule into total disarray.  Like many people I know, I find myself struggling to remember what day it is sometimes.  Rapid changes in the weather have also left me wondering what season it is.  The calendar says it's spring but, in the middle of our second heatwave of the year, it feels like summer.  Meanwhile, some of my trees are making it look like fall.

This is the Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia x blakeana) in our front garden.  After blooming for months, it dropped all its flowers and, since this photo was taken following our first heatwave, most of its leaves.

The ornamental pear (Pyrus calleryana) also went into fall mode but it still held onto two-thirds of its leaves despite creating a fall-like mess of leaf litter

The noID Guava also lost a lot of its leaves in response to the heat but managed to quickly sprout replacement leaves since this photo was taken last week.  Cleaning leaf litter covering the spiky agaves below hasn't been a lot of fun, though.

The Auranticarpa rhombifolium in the middle here has been showing signs of decline for some time but the last heatwave sealed the deal.  Although the tall shrub on its right is the same species and looks fantastic (if perhaps in need of pruning), these shrubs in general haven't done well here.  A neighbor told me that these shrubs originally formed a hedge along the street but quickly began dying and were replaced by Xylosma except for one stretch in this area.  We've pulled 3 of them since we moved in and now I'm planning to take out both the dead one and the other one on its left.

Sudden heat stress probably accounts for the behavior of the trees shown above but some trees in my garden are still firmly in spring mode.

Dwarf Acer palmatum 'Mikawa Yatsubusa' is looking great in partial shade

Acer palmatum 'Sango Kuku'  is also doing fine with morning sun and afternoon shade

The persimmons also look great.  'Hachiya' is on the left and 'Fuyu' is on the right.

However, the mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) says it's clearly early summer, time to leaf out those bare limbs at last.

It'll probably be several weeks yet before it has a full canopy

A lizard I met in my cutting garden this morning, as the temperature reached into the 80s, said the answer to my question is obvious: "It's lizard season!"

As oracles are known to do, he ignored me for awhile

Before turning in my direction, giving me an answer and suggesting I leave the garden to those that can really take the heat

I hope you're doing better than I am keeping the days of the week - and your seasons - straight!  At one o'clock, we've just passed the 90F mark.  Tomorrow is expected to be hotter still.


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

Wednesday Vignette: Rescue Operation

I was wandering the back garden with my camera on Saturday sometime near noon.  I saw a wire cloche I'd left sitting along the flagstone path after removing it from a plant I'd been trying to protect from my bunny visitors.  As I went to pick it up, I immediately noted something odd stuck in the wire framework.

The lizard's head was down when I first saw him.  My first reaction was a sense of wonder that he'd turned a metallic bluish color, blending in with the color of the wire.  I've seen the western fence lizards that populate my garden turn from striped brown to almost black but never blue.  Then I saw he was seriously stuck.  I jiggled the cloche a bit to see if I could help him get loose.  He didn't budge and that's when he looked up at me, his mouth open with an expression I interpreted as extreme distress.  Whether he was crying for help or expressing abject terror that this human looming above him was going to finish him off, I don't know.  I ran and got my garden snips and, as gently and carefully as I could, I snipped the wire clamped around his hind legs.  He was still unable to move so I clipped a little more.  Then he was away like a flash without a backward glance.

This is my Wednesday Vignette.  For more, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wednesday Vignette: Full moon over the Los Angeles Harbor

Last week, on September 5th, I caught sight of the full moon hanging low over the Los Angeles Harbor just after twilight's end.  Usually, any photos I take of the harbor at night are blurry at best.  But I thought this photo put the harbor in a particularly nice light.  (Pun intended.)  I'm presenting this as my Wednesday Vignette.  Visit Anna of Flutter & Hum to see what her camera caught this week and to find images shared by others.

I also took a couple shots of my cat this week that made me laugh, although the source of my amusement requires explanation.

Has Pipig been given a "time out" for some transgression?

Or is this simply an example of the usual feline narcolepsy?

Neither of those theories explain Pipig's behavior.  As it turns out, she was intently focused on a very narrow space at the bottom of the door, a spot about a quarter of an inch wide and less than an inch tall, where the weather-stripping running the length of the door stopped short of the threshold.  For over a week, my husband and I'd been perplexed about how teeny-tiny baby lizards were getting into the house.  Pipig is usually my husband's favorite scapegoat when something goes awry in the house but even he didn't think she was bringing in the tiny lizards.  Her behavior at the door provided the final clue.  As my husband searched for a temporary solution to stop the small lizards from entering through the gap, Pipig stood watch.  However, she eventually got bored and left her station, leaving us to chase down one more baby lizard before the hole was patched.

Frustrated house-loving lizards continue to hang out by the front door.

This is an adult lizard, approximately 3 or 4 times the size of the invading baby lizards.  Of course, the larger lizards do have another way into the house.  It they're foolish and enter Pipig's screened porch, she'll catch them and bring them in to lay at my feet, as she did yesterday.  Catching that one took my husband and I a good half hour and required moving several pieces of furniture.  He was relocated to the back slope, far from Pipig and her porch.

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

Wednesday Vignette: Full Moon in the Morning

Early last Friday morning, I cracked open my eyes and glanced out the window beyond my husband's sleeping form.  I saw the bright light of the full moon on the west side of the house, framed by red bracts of Bougainvillea and Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder'.   It was huge and beautiful but I didn't expect my husband would appreciate me clambering over him with a camera before 6am and I figured the window screen would mar a photo anyway.  I turned over and closed my eyes but the moon had cast its spell so I got up, threw on a robe, and wandered outside with my camera.

The moon was preparing to set behind the hills and I couldn't recreate the colorful framing our bedroom window had provided but I did the best I could to capture a little of its magic.

It looked much bigger when viewed next to the Bougainvillea and Leucadendron!

Perspective is everything when it comes to photography as a photo of a recent visitor demonstrated.

I found this little fellow sitting in the sill of the dining room window looking outside.  He was less than 2 inches long from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail, as the leaves of the Plectranthus 'Zulu Warrior' growing outside help to show.  How he got in is anybody's guess.  My husband admitted he'd seen him the day before but he'd scrambled behind the buffet before he could be caught.  I managed to catch him and deposit him outside, where I hope he's enjoying life with the gazillion other lizards who occupy our garden.

Anna, the host of Wednesday Vignette, is a much better photographer than I am.  Visit her at Flutter & Hum to find the images she and other gardeners found intriguing this week.


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

Wednesday Vignette: King of the World!

While dashing into the backyard in connection with garden chores this past weekend, I caught sight of something out the corner of my eye.  Quickly collecting my camera, I got a photo of this fellow:

A western fence lizard playing king of the world, owning everything he surveyed from his perch atop Graptosedum 'California Sunset' in a pot of assorted succulents

I slowly moved in closer for a better shot.

He sees me but all I get is a disdainful stare

He ignores me, after all I'm just the caretaker

Oops!  Too close for comfort.  The king beat a less than graceful retreat, of which I got a fuzzy photo.

It's a good shot of the Graptosedum, though

I offer this as my Wednesday Vignette.  The Wednesday Vignette meme is hosted by Anna of Flutter & Hum.  You can find other interesting images on Anna's site here.


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

Legos, Succulents & a Wednesday Vignette

What could Legos, succulents and a Wednesday Vignette possibly share in common?  Well, they all came together in a visit to the South Coast Botanic Garden earlier this week.  The botanic garden is sponsoring a nature-themed Lego exhibit.  Seeking to avoid visiting the garden when there might be hoards of children towing parents, my husband and I paid a visit early on a Monday morning.  We had the garden almost to ourselves - that is, if you discount the presence of a TV crew filming an episode of Scorpion, which my husband described to me as a "nerds save the world" series.

The Lego exhibits were scattered all over the garden, which spans 87 acres.  Of the 15 exhibits, we found 13.  It turns out that Lego sculptures aren't particularly easy to photograph so I'll show you only a few of my favorites.  In addition to these there was a butterfly, a dragonfly, goldfinches at a feeder, a koi fish, a lawnmower, lily pads with a frog and a flower, an orchid, and a rose.  Each exhibit was accompanied by a informational placard.

The bee stood sentry near the entrance

The bison (complete with a bird on its back) and its calf were my favorites and the largest of the exhibits we saw, comprised of 61,372 Legos in total

One can hope the rabbit might escape the fox here (although the placard showed a photo of a real fox with a real rabbit in its jaws)

The gardener is inexplicably hoeing rocks but he did have a nice backdrop in the succulent garden

The hummingbird, consisting of 31,555 Legos, is shown in most of the exhibit's promotional materials

The best part of the exhibit was that it provided an excuse to spend a few hours in the garden.  I've posted on the garden before (see photos of my spring 2014 visit here) but, each time, I see something different.  It's not The Huntington by any means but it's still a nice place to visit and just 5 miles from home as the crow flies.  The highlights of Monday's visit include lots and lots of succulents.

The cat's tail aloe (Aloe castanea) at top was hard to miss in full bloom.  Bottom row, left to right: Aloe cryptpoda x arborescens, A. maculata?, and A. marlothii.

Clockwise from upper left: Kalanchoe beharensis in full bloom, Agave potatorum?, Beschorneria yuccoides with bloom spikes, Euphorbia ammak, Euphorbia xanti in bloom, and Stenocereus griseus (with wild lupine)

The trees were putting on a good show too.

Clockwise from top left: Cercis canadensis, a noID flowering fruit tree (possibly apricot), Prunus serrulata, and a noID pine

The trumpet trees, formerly classified as Tabebuia but most recently reclassified as Handroanthos, were in glorious color.  (See Hoover Boo's post on these trees at Piece of Eden.)  From right to left are: H. impetiginosus, H. chrysostricha (next to a coral tree), and H. chrysostricha x impeteginosus.

I might have missed this tree if my husband hadn't plunked down on the bench beneath it.  This is Kigelia africana, also known as the sausage tree.

I didn't take too many other garden photos but a couple of shrubs stood out.

A beautiful noID Ceanothus grown as Ceanothus should be grown (unlike the sad specimens I inherited with my own garden, which are shorn mercilessly to maintain them as hedges)

This is a new-to-me Salvia.  I couldn't find a label but my best guess based on an on-line search is that its Salvia africana-lutea.  Those flower clusters were huge and just a little scary.

And, finally, there's the photo that represents my contribution to the Wednesday Vignette, hosted by Anna of Flutter & Hum:

This western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) was nearly invisible of the trunk of the giant Yucca elephantipes which forms the centerpiece of South Coast Botanic Garden's succulent section

Best wishes for a great week in your own garden!


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