Bloom Day - November 2016

The heat has been running on high here in Southern California for the past week.  It peaked at 92F last Wednesday but it's remained in the mid-to-upper 80sF since.  We're expecting a dramatic cool-down by Wednesday and, possibly, rain next Monday.  However, in the meantime, the garden is struggling.  The fall-blooming plants here aren't adapted to extended heat in mid-November and the ongoing drought is getting downright tiresome.

The blooms of Senna bicapsularis, which made the biggest splash in my garden in October, have withered and dropped to the ground, although sulphur butterflies (Phoebis sennae) are still flitting about their host plant.  However, Barleria obtusa, which was just beginning its bloom cycle last month, is providing swaths of blue color in the garden, seemingly oblivious to the heat.

I was told that this plant blooms off and on most of the year in some gardens but, for me, it's a reliable fall bloomer

Polygala myrtifolia 'Mariposa' joined in this month, producing a healthy crop of small sweet pea-like blooms.

These shrubs are smaller than the more common Polygala fruticosa but have the same flowers

Camellia sasanqua began blooming on schedule in late October but it hasn't appreciated the heat spell at all.

I picked off all the dead blooms before snapping this photo.  I have 3 other C. sasanqua, all struggling with the heat like this one, despite their location in a shady, protected area

My four Arbutus 'Marina' trees are laden with flower clusters, although spent flowers also litter the ground.

Some fruits are beginning to form on the trees but the flowers are still more prominent

The large-flowered Grevilleas keep on giving, as do the ornamental grasses.

Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' (left) got a boost this month when removal of a nearby hedge increased its sun exposure on the west side - the number of flowers tripled almost immediately.  G. 'Superb' (right) never seems to stop blooming.

All the Pennisetums are still blooming but I caught P. advena 'Rubrum' lit from behind so it's standing up for all of them this month

While the blue, green and white forms of Eustoma grandiflorum (Lisianthus) have given up, at least for now, the pink and yellow varieties continue to produce a small but steady supply of blooms.

I've become very dependent on these blooms to fill my vases every week and will miss them when the remaining plants shut down.  It remains to be seen whether they'll return for me next year.  The pink varieties returned in large numbers this year but the varieties in other colors did not.

Meanwhile the Gazanias appear to have gained a boost from the return of summer-like heat.

The left and middle photos feature Gazania 'Strawberry Shortcake'.  The Gazania on the right is a gray-leafed 'Yellow Flame'.

There are traces of color elsewhere in the garden but no big splashes of color.

Clockwise from the upper left, blue and purple color is offered by Symphyotrichum chiliensis, Duranta erecta 'Sapphire Showers', Eremophila hygrophana, Erigeron 'Wayne Roderick', Felicia aethiopica 'Tight & Tidy', Globularia x indubia, Hypoestes aristata (shown here next to Cuphea 'Starfire Pink'), and Verbena bonariensis

The pinks include Bauhinia x blakeana, Argyranthemum frutescens 'Angelic Giant Pink', Correa pulchella 'Pink Eyre', Crowea 'Parry's Hybrid', Cuphea 'Starfire Pink', Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard', and Pentas 'Kaleidoscope Appleblossom'

And others of significance include Papaver nudicaule, Alstroemeria 'Claire', A. 'Inca Husky', Gaillaria 'Arizona Sun', Russelia equisetiformis 'Flamingo Park', Salvia elegans, Tagetes lemmonii, and Zinnia 'Profusion White'

I'll close this Bloom Day post with one last photo of the plant providing the biggest surprise, defying the odds to bloom a second season despite exposure to heat and drought.

This hybrid Pericallis from the 'Senetti' series was planted late last fall.  It's sold as an annual but this one has returned for a repeat performance this year.

Visit Carol of May Dreams Gardens for other Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day posts.


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

In a Vase on Monday: A blast of color

I've been running on empty this past week and had an outing planned with a friend on Sunday but I didn't want to break my streak of "IaVoM" posts so I got moving early Sunday morning and, in a short flurry of activity, threw together the ingredients of a colorful bouquet.  I was literally clicking photos as my friend arrived.

Front view (I didn't bother with a rear view this week)

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Grevillea 'Ned Kelly', Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun', Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder', Papaver nudicaule, Salvia elegans (aka pineapple sage), and Tagetes lemmonii

The pineapple sage doesn't show well in today's vase as the 2 plants in my cutting garden are still relatively small and the flower stems are accordingly short.  To give you a better idea of just how beautiful this plant can be, here are photos taken at the garden center where I purchased my plants:

Lest you wonder, Eustoma grandiflorum (Lisianthus) is still blooming in my garden on a small scale.  The wind or a critter had broken a stem and, rather than leaving the flowers hanging, I clipped it as well.

The small vase sits at my desk.  The larger vase sits in the front entry.

The succulent-topped pumpkin I featured 2 weeks ago is back on the dining room table.  I don't dare leave it outside as the squirrels find pumpkins too tempting.

When my friend and I left the house Sunday morning, this pumpkin, then up by the front door in a pot, showed signs of nibbling.  When we returned several hours later, it was but an empty shell.

I moved the tunneled carcass of the pumpkin to the backyard as I did last year when this happened.  Maybe I'll get another photo like this one, snapped in 2015:

Visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to find what she and others have used in their vases this week.

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

Wednesday Vignette: Sunrise Above the Clouds

Our house sits about 750 feet above sea level overlooking the Los Angeles Harbor, San Pedro, Long Beach and the cities beyond.  Sometimes, while skies are clear at our level, clouds and marine conditions lay a thick white blanket over the area below us.  We awoke to just such conditions last Saturday morning.  I'm sharing a sequence of photos beginning with the sunrise as my Wednesday Vignette.

My cat Pipig was crying for her breakfast so I didn't get out the back door before the sun had mostly surfaced above the cloud cover

I took this photo with the sun hidden behind the Agonis flexuosa's trunk in an effort to block some of the glare.  The cloud blanket always brings snow to mind for me.

The clouds often have interesting shapes when viewed from up top.  That brownish pink color is created by smog - we haven't had sufficient rain to scrub the horizon clean.  The red color in the foreground are the bracts of a Bougainvillea planted on the upper slope just beyond our Xylosma hedge. 

This  photo was taken just a few paces north of the prior one as the sun continued to rise.  Here the folds of the clouds looked almost like ocean waves.

My garden is more fully revealed here but the cloud cover is still intact

Once the sun had risen, the cloud cover below us slowly began to dissipate.  It was gone before noon.

I wrote this post yesterday morning, a bright day, filled with sunshine.  I'm shocked by yesterday's election results, which I'm not yet able to process.  I'll make no attempt to mine these images for meaning.  The clouds in my photos are just clouds - they clear out and we can see what's in front of us clearly again.

Visit Anna at Flutter & Hum for other Wednesday Vignettes.


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

In a Vase on Monday: Three for Cathy

Cathy of Rambling in the Garden is celebrating the third anniversary of "In a Vase on Monday," a popular meme that encourages gardeners to put together arrangements from materials they have on hand.  I joined in for the first time at the end of March 2014.  I've been impressed by Cathy's commitment to the weekly exercise and the congeniality she's inspired among participants.  Cathy suggested a theme, "three," for this week's post so, unable to think of a more creative angle, I have 3 vases this week, each featuring my favorite flower, Eustoma grandiflorum (aka Lisianthus).

Vase #1 is the most ambitious:

This could be either the front or the back but this side of the arrangement highlights Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream'

While this side gives the pale yellow Eustoma greater opportunity to flaunt her stuff

Top view

Clockwise from the left, the vase contains: Eustoma grandiflorum, Abelia 'Kaleidoscope', Achillea 'Appleblossom', Correa 'Wyn's Wonder', Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', Nandina domestica berries, and Tanacetum parthenium

Vase #2 is the simplest:

It may not be immediately evident but this vase contains 3 different tonal variations of pink Eustoma

Back view

Top view

Clockwise from the left, the vase contains: 3 variations of pink Eustoma grandiflorum (only 2 of which are shown in close-up), Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey', Gomphrena globosa 'Fireworks', and Helichrysum petiolare minus 'Silver Mist'

Vase #3 features the last of the purplish blue Eustoma:

The blue Eustoma are looking a trifle ragged but I thought them worthy of one last hurrah

The plant I call "hairy blue eyeballs" was moved to the back of the vase as its dusty white color doesn't show to advantage next to the bright white of the daisies I included

Top view

This final vase contains: Eustoma grandiflorum, Barleria obtusa, Globularia x indubia, Leucadendron 'Pisa', and Salvia chamaedryoides 'Marine Blue'

Last week's succulent-topped pumpkin has been moved aside for the time being to give me sufficient space to scatter this week's vases throughout the house.

To see how Cathy is celebrating her third "IaVoM" anniversary, visit her at Rambling in the Garden.


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

Current Project: Addressing the Hedge Conundrum

I inherited a LOT of hedges with our current garden, including hedges next to other hedges as in the case of the Ceanothus and Xylosma planted in the front and back gardens.

Photo of the side-by-side Ceanothus and Xylosma hedges in April 2013, when the former was in far better shape.  The space between the two was just over 3 feet wide.

As discussed in a post in October 2015, the Ceanothus shrubs throughout the garden began to fail in 2015.  I can't entirely explain this.  They have a reputation for being short-lived when grown in areas receiving regular irrigation but, if anything, the irrigation in the area decreased after we moved in, especially once the adjacent lawn was removed and water restrictions were implemented in response to our drought.  Perhaps the shrubs weren't as deeply rooted as they should have been after years of more intensive irrigation, or perhaps they couldn't handle the regular shearing they received to keep them within the space designated for them.  In any case, they died off one after another in the front garden, leading me to wonder if I should just pull out the remainder.  But I hung on to the last of them until I could stand their ugly appearance no longer.

Photo of the remaining section of Ceanothus hedge in the front garden taken last month

This is a closer look at the worst area of the remaining hedge.  At this point, I was convinced that the shrubs weren't going to mount a comeback.

I asked my mow-and-blow gardeners if they could take out the remaining shrubs but, when they made minimal progress during two of their 20-minute weekly visits, my husband and I tackled the job.  My husband deserves most of the credit - I served mainly as the clean-up crew.  We made quick work of the job and, voilà, in less than 2 hours we were done!

The pathway parallel to the street is now far less claustrophobic and I have a new area to plant.

The plants behind the old Ceanothus hedge may also get more sun and better air circulation.

The "new" area is roughly half shade and half sun.  I'm still working out what to plant there.  The ground above the stacked stone wall is sloped so I think I need another supply of rock to stabilize it before I get too carried away buying new plants.  Having new space to plant is a great mood booster, though.


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

Succulents and Grasses

On a recent trip to Roger's Gardens in Orange County I took a stroll of the demonstration garden that borders the busy streets on the far corner of the property.  I've yet to get any of my friends to take the brief hike up that way but I've walked the area twice when visiting the garden center on my own.  The first visit was in early January this year and my second visit was just over a week ago.  The mixture of succulents and grasses appeals to me as I've been considering doing something similar with my miserable back slope.  All plant names provided in the captions below represent my best guesses rather than definitive identifications.

The largest succulents here appear to be Agave americana 'Variegata' are Agave vilmoriniana 'Stained Glass' (thanks for the ID Hoover Boo!), accompanied by Agave attenuata and Aloe dorotheae

The scale many not be evident but those Agave ovatifolia are huge (at least by comparison to the 2 in my garden)

I didn't recognize the grass in the middle of the photo here as Muhlenbergia capillaris back in January but the pink color here gives it away.  The large clumping "grass" in the foreground on the left may be Lomandra and the low-growing grass on the right may be a species of Carex, possibly C. praegracilis (aka California field sedge).

Chondropetalum tectorum and Yucca, shown in the foreground here, mimic the grasses in form

I also took some photos of the large borders along the sidewalk and the narrower strip along the street.

In addition to succulents like Aeonium and Aloe, the sidewalk borders used Leucadendron, Westringia 'Morning Light' and Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite'

The parking strip (not actually permitted for parking by my recollection) is lined in what I believe are Chondropetalum tectorum and Aloe 'Rooikappie'

I took few photos of the garden center's interior area on this visit but the area surrounding the new Farmhouse restaurant at the back of the property was an exception.  Like the front area of the property, this area made extensive use of succulents and grasses.

I've yet to eat at the Farmhouse but my understanding is that it's run by the chef who previously operated Sage, which was one of my favorite restaurants when I worked in the Orange County years ago

I like the contrast between the color and sculptural forms of the succulents and the wispy grasses, including the grass-like substitutes Roger's has used in its landscaping.  Succulents benefit from the softening effect of grasses.  With the right selections, both can get along with minimal care once established, making them good prospects for my ugly back slope.

The upper portion of the slope above the concrete stairway, planted with ivy and honeysuckle by prior owners, hasn't recovered from the devastation caused by the untimely June heatwaves despite increased irrigation

My husband is amenable to hiring help to renovate the back slope, although he might be less so once he sees a quote.  I think the area needs terracing to make it more usable and, as it's accessible only by a steep narrow path, I don't think it'll be easy to get material and equipment down there.  But I can dream.  We agreed to hold off a while to see if the plants on the upper portion of the slope miraculously recover with the winter rains.  As the season-to-date rain total is just over one-third of an inch, I have my doubts that'll happen but I have other projects to keep me busy in the interim.


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