Wednesday Vignette: Sweet and Sour

Critters in the garden are a mixed bag.  They add an extra element of surprise and liveliness but they can wreak havoc as well.  This week I've had demonstrations of both.

I wish all my visitors were this pleasant.

The birds have been having regular pool parties in the fountain

although they've been hard to catch on camera even from inside the house

Unfortunately, not all my visitors are so pleasant.  The raccoons have returned and are no longer confining their activities to messing with the backyard fountain.  On Sunday morning, I discovered they'd rampaged through just about every bed in my garden but I was pleased that they hadn't actually damaged any plants.  On Monday morning, I discovered that they'd dug up 3 plants I'd installed only 2 days before but none of these were damaged so I took their digging in stride.  However, on Tuesday morning, I found evidence they'd paid me another visit.

A series of muddy paw prints was the first clue 

But there was no evidence of their carousing around the backyard fountain or in the backyard or front yard beds and I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that perhaps the sprinklers, which ran in the wee hours of the morning, sent them packing.  I strolled through the area in front of the garage to see if they'd made a ruckus there.  Everything was as I'd left it the night before.  Then, while heading back to the house via the cutting garden, I discovered that I wasn't so lucky after all.

The drip irrigation system apparently isn't as intimidating as the sprinkler system

The raised planters didn't put them off either and, even though the dahlias and zinnias in those planters are packed in pretty closely, they didn't have a problem rummaging in among the plants

They even tore out a couple of the zinnias, most notably this plant that was about 3 feet tall

I briefly considered replanting it but this one was grown from a plug and clearly not deeply rooted.  It also showed the first signs of mildew, which usually signals the end of the zinnias' run, so I dropped it in the green bin.  I expect to pull out the dahlia tubers and zinnias by the end of the month anyway to clear the way for winter bloomers.

When it comes to nature, I guess gardeners must accept the bitter with the sweet.  But I can't help wishing those raccoons would take their business elsewhere, preferably before I replant my cutting beds.

For more Wednesday Vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.


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

In a Vase on Monday: Floppy Dahlias

The dahlias are still blooming like gangbusters but lots of the newer blooms are on side buds with weaker stems and, as the flowers develop, the stems flop over with their weight.  It hasn't helped that, after a good start at the beginning of the season, I neglected to tie the stems to their supports as the plants grew larger.

My first vase features Dahlia 'Punkin Spice', the flashiest variety in this year's dahlia crop.

I left one of the side bud flowers dangling from a central flower's stronger stem to illustrate the floppiness of these flowers

Back view

Top view, showing something of the color variations among the 'Punkin Spice' flowers

Clockwise from the upper left:  Dahlia 'Punkin Spice', Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Cuphea 'Vermillionaire', variegated Lantana 'Samantha', Leucadendron 'Jester', and Phylica pubescens (aka featherhead)

I ignored rambunctious Dahlia 'Terracotta' even though it's sporting a ridiculous number of blooms in favor of 'Loverboy' for my second arrangement.  I looked far and wide throughout my garden to find companions for 'Loverboy' I hadn't used before but I was only nominally successful.  However, my search provided evidence that the raccoons, who I'd thought were focused on tearing up the fountain and the drip irrigation system surrounding it, are now wandering further afield.  I discovered that there were few areas they'd left untouched in their relentless nighttime pursuit of grubs.  I spent a good deal of time filling in the holes they dug.  The only positive was that no plants seem to have been destroyed as a result of their extensive activity (this time).

I used the dark burgundy flowers of one of my ivy geraniums to pick up the dark center of  'Loverboy's' blooms and pristine white lisianthus flowers for contrast

Back view, showing off the red-toned foliage I used as filler material.  Also, Abelia 'Edward Goucher' once again helped pull everything together.

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Dahlia 'Loverboy', Abelia x grandiflora 'Edward Goucher', Eustoma grandiflorum (aka lisianthus), noID Pelargonium peltatum (aka ivy geranium), Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', Alternanthera 'Little Ruby', and noID Zinnia elegans

My vases found their usual places.  This week I even found a "new" prop to accompany the first arrangement.

While I've often used a mouse flying on a butterfly's wings as a prop, I'd all but forgotten about these little fellows, apparently charged with painting green leaves orange to celebrate fall.  In coastal Southern California, this would be pretty much the only way we'd get fall color at this time of year.

For more "In a Vase on Monday' arrangements, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.


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

Wide Shots - October 2018

I've often mentioned that I lack "before" shots of my garden.  After years of relying on a few photos taken by my brother during a Christmas visit in 2011, a post by another blogger prompted me to look for photos in old real estate listings for our property.  The photos I found probably date back to 2008 or 2009.  They appear to have been posted, not by the party that sold to us in late 2010, but rather by the parties that sold the property to our seller in 2009.  In any case, I've used those real estate photos in comparisons at intervals throughout this post.

I'll start as usual with the back garden.

The real estate photo on the left shows the mimosa tree in its summer glory (probably in 2008).  My photo on the right is a current view of the same area of the back garden taken from the south end looking north.  All that lawn is long gone.  Sadly, several limbs of the mimosa (Albizia julibrissin) never leafed out at all this year.  An arborist's review is pending.

This is the same area looking back in the other direction

This is the view from the patio looking out at the entrance to the Los Angeles Harbor

The photo on the right is my attempt to duplicate the 2009 real estate photo on the left.  I was confused by the foliage of the peppermint willow (Agonis flexuosa) showing on the right edge of the 2009 photo until I realized that was the vestige of the tree we removed at the behest of a neighbor who claimed it interfered with her view.  I replaced it with a Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid', just visible in the distance in the photo on the right (next to the remaining peppermint willow).

This is the view of the back garden area beyond the mimosa tree.  With the exception of the Arbutus 'Marina' in the background, most of this area was originally covered in lawn.

Turning on our heels and proceeding around the house in a clockwise fashion takes us to the garden on the south side.

View of the porch area on the south side.  That telescope is inside our living room.

The 2008 photo on the left shows the view looking through the arbor to the northwest.  My photo on the right is taken from a little further back as the shrubs on the right (Agonis flexuosa 'Nana')  prevented me from more closely duplicating the angle of the 2008 photo.  We screened in about 25 square feet of the south side patio area (shown on the right side of both photos) for our cats, Ming and Pipig.  Succulents and other drought tolerant plants replaced the lawn.

The 2008 photo on the left shows the same area from the opposite direction.  The 60-foot Eucalyptus tree on the right in that shot was removed in February 2013 in response to the same neighbor mentioned earlier.  The crew we hired to remove it ground down the stump but I've had difficulty getting anything established in that area.  I've currently got a smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple') in there but it's still small.

Just beyond the arbor, the garden path branches off into two different directions.  We'll continue on the same level into the main area of the front garden and circle back to the lower level later.

This is the view from the south end of the front garden looking north.  I recently added a second Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt' alongside the one in the bed on the left. 

To the right of the Acacias, I've also added Leucadendron 'Jubilee Crown' and Grevillea 'Ned Kelly'.  The latter is intended to mirror the established Grevillea 'Superb' on the other side of the path.  I haven't decided what to plant to fill in the bed.

Here are 2009 and current views of the front of the house.  Unfortunately, I don't have a nice dog to pose in the middle of the driveway and Pipig wasn't cooperative about filling in.

Comparisons of the south side of the front garden

Comparisons of the north side of the house

View of the west side of the driveway, not shown in any of the available 2008/2009 photos.  This area was almost entirely lawn when we moved in, although the trees and Pittosporum shrubs were in place.

Current view of the front of the house looking southwest from the north end

Passing the chimney shown in the prior photo takes us into what is now my cutting garden, originally conceived as a vegetable garden.

The citrus trees planted along the back fence look small in the 2008 photo (left).  The dahlias and zinnias in my cutting beds are still going strong (right).

The garden areas beyond the fence on the far end of the vegetable/cutting garden weren't featured in any real estate photos.

When we moved in about two-thirds of this area was grass.  The guava and persimmon trees were in place, along with 3 grape vines.  Plastic sheeting had been laid below a mix of soil and gravel.  We took out 2 of the grape vines and my husband built an arbor to support the third.  I dug out the plastic and sifted the gravel from the soil, using it to fill the winding path that leads to the back slope, then planted a variety of shrubs and succulents.  I've got some additional plans for this area I'm still fleshing out.  

The back slope is my holy grail.  Other than installation of the concrete stairway and replacing an out-of-control Yucca elephantipes with 3 Pittosporum along the property line, we haven't accomplished much in this area.  It suffered severely when the heat climbed to 110F in July and I neglected it most of the summer.  I'd just started to clean it up a week ago when I was badly stung by fire ants down there.  I haven't been back there since, which is why you're seeing it only from the top of the stairway.

Returning to the front of the property, I pick up with views taken from the street.

This 2008-current day comparison of the street-side hedge isn't all that interesting but it does give you a sense of how much the trees along the western side of the property have grown.  It also provides another view of the former Eucalyptus tree (left photo) and reflects the addition of our lath house (right photo).

This is the street-side succulent bed on the southwest side of the property.  The Xylosma congestum shrubs we planted in 2015 to replace the Auranticarpa shrubs that were in decline are slowly filling out but 2 of the 3 remaining Auranticarpa look awful.  I'll treat them for chlorosis again but in the long run I'm not sure they're worth saving.

We'll end with the area behind the street-side succulent bed surrounding the lath (shade) house constructed by my husband as my Christmas present last year.

View of the area looking east with the lath house on the right

View of the same area from the main level of the garden looking down (west)

That's it for this quarterly wide shots post.  Thanks for joining this look at my garden's past.  Enjoy your weekend!


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

Wednesday Vignette: Anticipation

Weather forecasters have been predicting rain for SoCal for several days now.  I originally tuned the reports out, not wanting to get my hopes up.  We haven't had any real rain since late March and, when I initially reviewed the extended forecasts, rain appeared improbable until December.  As reports of rain continued into this week, I became more invested in the possibility.

Yesterday, I watched as clouds associated with Tropical Storm Rosa passed us by.

View of Angel's Gate, the entrance to the Los Angeles Harbor, from my back garden late yesterday afternoon

Rosa dropped lots of rain on northwestern Mexico and Arizona with nothing left for us but the forecasters said that a separate system had a 70% chance of delivering rain to Southern California on Wednesday.  This morning's sky was full of promising clouds.

According to the early morning weather reports, it was raining in Santa Barbara to the north of us and rain was expected to reach us around 10am.  It didn't.  I checked updated reports by two different weather services, both of which then showed rain arriving around 2pm.  It didn't.  Both services now show rain after 5pm.

Carly Simon's song captures my current feelings.

For more Wednesday Vignettes, visit Anna at Flutter & Hum.


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

In a Vase on Monday: The dahlias and zinnias keep on coming

Last week I featured dahlias but skipped the zinnias in my cutting garden.  This week I have a bit of both.  A couple of my traditional fall blooming plants also joined the party.

Dahlias 'Punkin Spice', 'Terracotta' and 'Loverboy' are still going strong but this week it was 'Strawberry Ice' that grabbed my attention.  A couple stems of a Japanese anemone that came with the garden produced pale pink blooms for the perfect accent.

I used a stem of Dahlia 'Otto's Thrill' to dress up the back of the vase along with cream and pale yellow zinnias

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Abelia grandiflora 'Hopley's Variegated', noID Anemone hupehensis (aka Japanese anemone), Dahlia 'Otto's Thrill', Plectranthus scutellarioides 'Electric Lime' (aka coleus), noID cream and yellow Zinnia elegans, and, in the middle, Dahlia 'Strawberry Ice'

Blue and purple flowers have been in short supply in my garden for a few weeks now so I was happy to see that Plectranthus ciliatus 'Zulu Wonder' has produced its first flowers right on schedule.  This is one of my favorite plants and one of the few I brought with me as cuttings from my former garden when we moved 7+ years ago.

In addition to producing graceful lavender flowers, Plectranthus 'Zulu Wonder' has lovely quilted leaves with burgundy undersides, although as I didn't bait for snails and slugs when I should have, the foliage is a bit war-torn this season

Back view: cooler temperatures have prompted some of the Osteospermums to bloom too

Top view showing off the single stem of a white Japanese anemone I found blooming in the back garden and a stem of white lisianthus blooms touched with lavender

Clockwise from the upper left: Anemone hupehensis (Japanese anemone), Aloysia citodora (aka lemon verbena), Eustoma grandiflorum (aka lisianthus), Plectranthus ciliatus 'Zulu Wonder', Osteospermum hybrids 'Violet Ice' and '4D Silver', and Symphyotrichum chilense 'Purple Haze'

I wasn't planning 3 vases this week but Zinnia 'Benary's Giant Wine', grown from seed, demanded attention so I cut several stems.

The zinnia's color doesn't show up on camera the same way as it does to my eye.  It's a delicious merlot color.

I recycled some of the Alternanthera I used last week for this vase

The vase is the vintage piece I picked up at a second-hand store last year featuring a woman's clasped hands.  The zinnias are almost a perfect match for her painted fingernails, which you can see best in this side view.

Top view

Clockwise from the left: thickly petaled Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Giant Wine', Abelia grandiflora 'Edward Goucher', Alternanthera dentata 'Little Ruby', and Plectranthus scutellarioides 'Chili Pepper' (aka coleus)

For more "In a Vase on Monday" creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to see what she and other contributors have assembled this week.

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