In a Vase on Monday: I had an orange arrangement in mind...

I'd been thinking of using Grevillea 'Superb" with orange accents when I stepped into the garden to pick flowers for "In a Vase on Monday."  Why I came back with blue and pink flowers is impossible to explain but that's what happened.

There's no orange here, where the dark blue Eustoma grandiflorum (Lisianthus) is front and center

Nor here in the back, where Leucanthemum x superbum shows off

Nope, it looks like blue and yellow with a touch of white

Clockwise from the left, the vase contains: Eustoma grandiflorum, Achillea 'Moonshine', Barleria obtusa, the ruffled form of Leucanthemum x superbum, Senna bicapsularis, Symphyotrichum chilensis, and Vitex trifolia purpurea

Maybe I can blame it on the Eustoma grandiflorum.  The flowers practically beg to be picked and even I believe they'll tucker out and pack it in any day.

Front view of the pink and white ensemble

Back view

Top view

Clockwise from the upper right, this vase contains: cherry, pink and white forms of Eustoma grandiflorum, Abelia x grandiflora; Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy', and Pentas 'Kaleidoscope Appleblossom'

There was one surprise as I passed through the garden in my flower-cutting frenzy.  I saw the first bloom on my noID Camellia sasanqua.  With the vicious Santa Ana winds expected to return tomorrow and temperatures forecast to zoom back up into the low 90sF (32+C), I thought there'd be no point in leaving the Camellia in place to wither so I clipped it too.

The Camellia was tucked into a tiny vase with a few leftover stems of Abelia and Leucadendron 'Pisa'

The 3 vases found spots in the usual places.

For more vases, visit our "IaVoM" host, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.


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

Foliage Follow-up: The Old & the New

I had just a little time for a Foliage Follow-up post so this one will be shorter than usual.

The bed on the north side of  front door grabbed my attention as it's come together as I originally envisioned it (which isn't the norm).  It was planted in December 2014.

The bed's centerpiece is Leptosperman 'Copper Glow'.  The brightest spots of color in this view are provided by Phormium 'Maori Queen', Coprosma repens 'Evening Glow' and Lomandra 'Lime Tuff'.  The gray foliage plants are Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' (which won't bloom again until late winter or early spring), Lavandula stoechas 'Silver Anouk' and Artemisia 'Powis Castle'.

I haven't gone through all the photos I took on last week's fall plant shopping expedition but I thought I'd also share the foliage plants I purchased.  Not surprisingly perhaps, they're all succulents.

All these succulents were purchased on my trip to Ventura Cactus & Succulents without labels.  I can identify 3 of them with a degree of confidence but the best I can do is guess at the genera of the other 2.  Clockwise from the upper left, we have: Aeonium 'Sundrops', a noID Crassula (maybe a C. pubescens of some variety), a noID Euphorbia (I'm really unsure of this one), Dyckia 'Naked Lady', and Gasteria bicolor var. liliputana.

Aeonium 'Velour', purchased at Seaside Gardens Nursery in Carpinteria

Synadenium grantii 'Rubra' (aka African Milk Bush), picked up at Deep Roots in Manhattan Beach.  I'd admired this plant for some time but had forgotten how big it can get (and the label omitted that information).  I decided it would be safest for me to grow it in a large pot for now.

Visit Pam at Digging for more Foliage Follow-up posts.


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

Bloom Day - October 2016

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, hosted by Carol of May Dreams Gardens, is always a highlight of the month, although I admit I'm having difficulty getting excited about my garden at the moment. However, perhaps my outlook has just been blighted by excessive exposure to the political news.  I look forward to both the promise of rain (possibly as early as tonight!), as well as the conclusion of the US presidential campaign.

October is a transitional period.  Nighttime temperatures are consistently cooler and we also get some of what we define as fall-like daytime temperatures, which generally means readings in the low 70s and high 60s Fahrenheit (19 to 23 Celsius).  However, cooler days are periodically broken by warm spells generated by our notorious Santa Ana winds.  Next week, for example, we expect temperatures to soar back up near 90F (32C).

But to focus on the positive, here's what's looking good at the moment, starting with the plants that began their annual bloom cycle just this month:

On the left, the yellow blooms of Senna bicapsularis, a host plant for sulphur butterflies, can be seen growing against the fence dividing our property from that of our neighbor on the north side.  (The yellow Brugmansia next to it is growing on the neighbor's side.)  A closer view of the Senna's flowers can be seen on the right.

Blooms began appearing on Barleria obtusa (aka bush violet) just this week

I added this Symphyotrichum chilensis (aka Pacific aster or California aster) to the garden last month in the hope that it'll fare better in my garden than other asters have

Verbena bonariensis surfaced in the local garden center last month and I added 2 plants to my garden.  The plant has a reputation for self-seeding but, when I previously planted it in the driest area of my garden, that didn't happen.  I'm hoping my backyard border is more hospitable.

Plectranthus ecklonii (left) started blooming late last month and is still going strong, although the plant is only a fraction of the 6 foot height it should reach at maturity.  Plectranthus ciliatus 'Zulu Wonder' (which I've previously mislabeled as 'Zulu Warrior') had a tough summer but it's still producing flowers on schedule this month.

Following these are the dependable plants that just keep on giving:

The pale pink Eustoma grandiflorum dominated my backyard border this summer but, while those plants have mostly faded away, the cherry pink, yellow and blue varieties are still producing flowers

Grevillea 'Superb' is by far the bloomiest Grevillea in my garden.  The largest of my plants, shown here, has produced flowers all year but it's particularly flowerful this month.

Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' runs a distant second in flower production.  It always has at least a couple of flowers but hasn't produced the generous bounty that 'Superb' does.

The Pennisetums consistently bloom from late summer through fall.  Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum' is on the left and P. 'Fireworks' is on the right.

The bloom stalks on Achillea 'Moonshine' are shorter than those the plants produced in late spring and summer but the flowers keep on coming.  A few stems of A. 'Moon Dust' can be seen behind 'Moonshine' on the upper left.

The 'Profusion' Zinnias I planted from plugs never got very tall but they're still going strong.  I've seeded sweet peas along the wire supports in this raised planter and I'm hoping that the Zinnias will offer protection from the raccoons until the seedlings have gotten a good start.  The raccoons destroyed the seedlings from 2 sowings of sweet pea seeds last year.

Other stalwart performers in my garden include, from the left, Cuphea ignea 'Starfire Pink', Gaura lindheimeri 'Snow Fountain', and Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard'

Next up are the plants that took me by surprise:

I've bemoaned the fact that the Anemone hupehensis var. japonica that came with my garden have failed to make an appearance for years but a few stems of white and pink flowers appeared this month to surprise me - the pink form is shown on the left.  Pentas 'Kaleidoscope Appleblossom' (middle photo) made a surprise reappearance after a lackluster spring showing.  Salvia lanceolata (aka Rocky Mountain Sage, right) also unexpectedly produced another round of blooms.

I'll end with a collage of the best of the rest:

Clockwise from the upper left are: Osteospermum '4D Silver', Aloe 'Rooikappie', Gaillardia aristata 'Gallo Peach', Gomphrena globosa 'Fireworks', Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy', Grevillea 'Pink Midget', Lobelia valida, and Trichostema 'Midnight Magic'

Visit Carol for a view of what's flowering elsewhere in the country and around the world.


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

Wednesday Vignette: Weekend Views

I spent Saturday trawling nurseries in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties with a friend.  I'll provide a run-down in a later post but, for now, I wanted to share one display garden I photographed at Ventura Cactus & Succulents.

Bougainvillea covers a chain-link fence, providing a pretty backdrop for a wide variety of succulents and a few barrel cactus

Left is one of the prettiest Kalanchoe luciae I've ever seen.  At right is an interesting crested something-or-other.

At risk that you may be a little tired of my sunrise and sunset views, I couldn't resist sharing this sunset scene from Sunday night.

Unlike most sunsets that set clouds afire, this one took advantage of moisture in the surrounding area to lay a filmy pink blanket over the mountains to the northeast

These photos are my contributions to the Wednesday Vignette meme hosted by Anna at Flutter & Hum.  Visit Anna for more.


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

In a Vase on Monday: Shades of Yellow

I spent the weekend gallivanting (aka crawling nurseries or plant shopping), which left me scrambling to cut, arrange and photograph arrangements for "In a Vase on Monday" late on Sunday afternoon.  I prefer to do this early in the morning as plant materials are fresher and the light is much better.  I'd hoped to cut flowers and foliage before my friend arrived Sunday morning but, upon stepping outside, discovered that my garden had been thoroughly trounced overnight by what must have been an entire legion of raccoons so, instead of cutting flowers, I spent half an hour trying to restore a semblance of order.  This is a long-winded way of explaining the poor quality of the photos in this week's post.

The Senna bicapsularis I used in one of last week's vases is now in full bloom so I cut more of that, which set me on a yellow theme.

Front view

Top view

From the left, the vase contains: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Senna bicapsularis, and Gaillardia aristata 'Gallo Peach'.  (Tanacetum parthenium was also included.)

What didn't fit in the first vase filled 2 others, the first of which is an eclectic mix.

A single stem of Anemone hupehensis japonica bloomed in our backyard border, a relic of the garden's past when water was more plentiful.  I brought it inside so I could more thoroughly appreciate its fleeting beauty.

In addition to the anemone, this vase contains Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' and Phylica pubescens

I had only cream-colored Zinnias left after outfitting the second vase so I recycled the silvery Leucadendron stems from last week's arrangements and added 2 stems of pale yellow Eustoma grandiflorum to complete a third arrangement, using a decorative teapot that formerly belonged to my mother-in-law as a vase.  This one is my personal favorite this week.

Front view

Back view

Top view

This vase contains: Pale yellow Eustoma grandiflorum (one stem bearing flowers with a slight pink blush), Leucadendron 'Pisa', and Zinnia 'Profusion White'

The 3 vases assumed positions in the usual spots.

This is the best photo I could manage of the first vase in the front entryway.  The glare of the setting sun streamed through the glass inserts in our front door making a clearer photo impossible.

The second arrangement sits on the mantle in the master bedroom (where hopefully the cat will not knock it down)

And the teapot arrangement sits on the dining room table

Visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to find what she and other "IaVoM" participants have put together this week.


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

Wide Shots - October 2016

My last wide shots post on my quarterly schedule was in July.  The garden never fully recovered from the horrible heatwave that hit in late June and, although I ignored my better judgement and did some planting over the summer months, there are still plenty of holes in the landscape.  I'm looking forward to moving plants around and filling the empty spaces this fall.  I wish I could count on rain but most pundits contend that we should expect below normal levels of precipitation again this season.  As the experts were totally off-base in predicting a deluge for Southern California last year, I hope they're wrong again this year; however, at present, the earliest rain I could find in forecasts for our area is expected in mid-November.

Here's what the backyard looked like October 1st as our latest heatwave finally backed off.

View from the back door looking toward the harbor.  The Lupinus propinquus that formerly occupied a prominent space near the fountain succumbed to tent caterpillars before I could get the problem under control; however, the dwarf Echium webbii I'd planted nearby appears to appreciate the additional root space resulting from the lupine's removal.

View from the north end of the backyard looking north.  That green rain barrel on the right and my 2 larger barrels have been empty for a long time.

View of the backyard from the south end looking north.  The mimosa tree (Albizia julibrissin) in the distance didn't leaf out or flower as well as in prior years.  That meant less litter but the tree really looks sad.

Next up is the south side garden:

View of the south side garden looking west.  The arbor next to the house fit the space better when the area alongside it was occupied by the 60 foot eucalyptus tree we removed at a neighbor's request in 2013.  I'd like to put in a large shrub or small tree there but the wind that tears through the area and the shade of the Arbutus 'Marina' just beyond the bed complicate the selection process.  I tried a Japanese maple there but it succumbed to the wind.  I'd like to try a smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria) but I worry the spot may not get enough sun.

View of the south side garden from the small patio next to the house.  The Arbutus on the right and the shrubs and trees along the property line are all scheduled for trimming before year end (part of my ongoing effort to placate a neighbor's view concerns).  

View of the side garden from the front garden looking east toward the harbor.  The tree trimming I've scheduled may at least increase the sun available to anything a plant in the bed next to the arbor.

Moving through the arbor and down a dirt path takes us to a lower level of the garden facing the street.

View of the area looking back up to the main level of the garden.  We extended the rock wall in this area in early September.  So far, the new succulents are doing fine.

This photo shows where the area connects to the street side succulent bed.  The 5 Xylosma congestum shrubs we added in spring to extend the existing hedge are doing fine, although they haven't grown much.  I fear it will be years yet before the hedge fills in.

View of the succulent bed from across the street

If we continue north along either the street or the dirt path behind the succulent bed, we reach the front of the house.

View from the driveway

View from the area formerly occupied by lawn looking across the driveway to the house.  Many of the plants I put in this area in late winter struggled during the course of the summer despite receiving extra water.  With the trees thinned, the sun exposure was greater than I'd factored into my planting plan so I'll be looking to change out some of those that are still struggling this fall.

View of the front garden looking from the north end of the house toward the south.  The 'Pink Meidiland' shrub roses that came with the house are looking awful but the rest of the area is generally doing well.

For the purposes of contrast, this is a photo of the front garden my brother took in December 2011 from a similar angle

Turning our backs on the front garden leads us into the vegetable garden.

The vegetable garden has some herbs but no vegetables.  I'm planning to use the raised planters mainly for cut flowers next year.  Since this photo was taken, with my husband's help, I've removed those 2 ginormus rosemary shrubs in the middle planter and the Westringia fruticosa in the third (distant) planter.

The photo above was taken at the garden gate that separates the vegetable garden from the dry garden on the northeast so next we move into the dry garden.

The persimmon tree and the grape vine in the distance are rapidly losing their leaves, while the 2 guava trees are loaded with unripe fruit.  I pulled out a large Dorycnium hirsutum (Hairy Canary Clover) that had seen better days, revealing the Agave ovatifolia I planted in 2012.  The clover has freely self-seeded elsewhere.

That gravel path through the dry garden leads us to the back slope, which is thankfully hidden from general view as it looks AWFUL.

Top of the slope's stairway looking down.  With the removal of the giant Yucca elephantipes at the bottom of the slope just beyond the lemon tree in December 2014, what was a fairly shady area was exposed to full sun.  The drought, water restrictions and June's horrific heatwave combined to lay the area low.

The area looks even worse viewed from the bottom looking up.  The upper portion of the slope above the cement block stairs, which was covered in ivy and honeysuckle, hasn't come back since the heatwave in June decimated it.  It's very steep and I'm not sure I can/should try to replant it on my own, although with my husband's help I might be able to do something with the area below the stairs.  (The orthopedist who says I'm destined for a knee replacement someday would be horrified.)  I'm inclined to see if the winter rains help the area recover but in this case hiring help may be the ticket.

That's it for my quarterly wide shots.  Hopefully, things will be greener by the time I post my next photo tour in January.


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