Wednesday Vignette: Our rain is cut off

The last couple of rainstorms that hit Northern California didn't quite make it our way.  Last week, forecasts showed a 50% chance of light rain Monday night but Monday night the clouds looked like this:

Isn't that cloud weird?  It looked like a huge scissor to me.

Here's a broader view

And here's a close-up showing the "blades" of the scissor just off shore

While the lighthouse at Angel's Gate, the entrance to the Los Angeles Harbor, may have received a little rain, we didn't.  Clouds reappeared on Tuesday, flirting with us, but the romance never moved beyond that.  Fog moved in late Tuesday afternoon, but it too pooled over the harbor, leaving the sky clear at our level, some 800 feet above sea level.

The fog covered the harbor like a blanket, leaving just a few shipping cranes barely visible

As night fell, the fog thickened and the lights of the harbor, our usual nighttime view, blinked out.  In the end, we got one one-hundredth of an inch of rain according to our roof-top weather station.  Our luck with rain has run out, I think.  Although the local extended AccuWeather forecast shows two possible light rain events in May, the earlier predictions for April weren't realized so I'm not counting on it.  That scissor-shaped cloud looked like a sign to me.

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


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

In a Vase on Monday: A tad simpler

I tried to stop my vase stuffing ways this week by being more selective about what I cut during my stroll through the garden in pursuit of plants for "In a Vase on Monday."  That's hard to do with spring in full swing!  I'd nothing specific in mind when I headed out with my clippers and, somewhat to my own surprise, the first plant I focused on was Festuca californica, a native California bunch grass.  It's been in my garden for almost 4 years but I don't remember ever seeing it in bloom prior to this year, another side-effect of ample winter rain perhaps.  In any case, use of the delicate grass required that I stick to the plan to allow my plant materials space to breathe in their vase so the grass wouldn't be lost.

While I limited the types of flowers for this vase, I think I should have used fewer stems of each

or trimmed the foliage a bit more

The grass didn't photograph well from above

Clockwise from the left, the vase contains: Phlomis fruticosa, noID Alstroemeria, Festuca californica, Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard', and Prunus laurocerasus

The inspiration for the second vase was one of my favorite Pelargoniums, 'Oldbury Duet', which made its appearance in the front garden several weeks ago.  I've been wanting to do something with it ever since.

Front view, showing the rippled side of the small crystal vase

Back view, showing the vase's clear side

Top view with the sweet peas hogging the scene

Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Hebe 'Wiri Blush', Lathyrus odoratus, Pelargonium 'Oldbury Duet', and Stachys 'Lilac Falls'

There are more flowering plants in the wings.  My Gaura lindheimeri began to open the moment my Bloom Day post was in the can and it appears that Centaurea 'Silver Feather' may bloom for the first time this year.  The pleasures of spring continue to unfold but warmer weather is in the offing so it remains to be seen which plants will realize their potential.  You'll probably see whichever do in future vases but here are this week's efforts in their places:

The first vase sits on the dining room table and the second in the front entry

Visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to see what she and other bloggers have "In a Vase on Monday."


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

Foliage Follow-up - April 2017

I usually try to link my Foliage Follow-up selections together with some kind of theme but, after the intensity of my Bloom Day post, I'm just too dazzled by the glory of spring at the moment to bother with anything more than a hodge-podge series of photos of what caught my fancy on recent spins through the garden.

Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku', one of only 2 Japanese maples in my garden, was late to leaf out this year so I was very pleased when it suddenly sprang to life

I'm also happy to see that at least 3 of my Artemisia versicolor 'Seafoam' are doing well (A few others, purchased as plugs, are struggling)

I continue to be tickled by the artichoke growing below a fig tree on the steep back slope.  It disappears during the height of summer but comes back with the winter rains and this year it's huge.  And now it has 2 chokes!

I'm also pleased with this Origanum 'Norton Gold', which I prefer out of rather than in bloom

Fuzzy gray seedlings grew up through the gravel and in other obscure places in the garden and, once I determined that they probably weren't weeds, I moved them to the cutting garden.  I'm fairly certain these are Stachys byzantina, although the leaves are thinner than those I've previously grown.  I'm not sure where the seedlings came from as the only place I've had Lamb's Ear for years is at the bottom of the back slope.

This is a mix of succulents growing in the sandiest soil in the garden, located next to the back patio.  Although the Agave colorata (right foreground) is still very small, I like how the rest of the plants, grown from cuttings and plugs, have filled in. The mix includes Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi Verde', Crassula mesembryanthemodies, Graptosedum 'California Sunset', Kalanchoe orgyalis and Senecio scaposus.  The Kalanchoe was intended to complement Cordyline 'Electric Flash' but it perished.  They'll eventually be too big for this area but I'm enjoying them now.

For more foliage photos, visit our Foliage Follow-up host, Pam at Digging.  Best wishes for a happy spring!


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

Bloom Day - April 2017

I thought that my blooms were plentiful in March but April is really ridiculous!  It's amazing to see what a difference real winter rain can mean to a garden.  I took a ludicrous number of photos in advance of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day but I've done my utmost to winnow them down.  This month, I organized my photos by garden area, focusing on the plants that had the biggest impact in each.

I'll start in the front garden with a humble plant that one might even call a weed.

Erigeron karvinskianus (aka Santa Barbara Daisy and Mexican Daisy) blooms all year here but it goes crazy in spring.  Most of these planted themselves.  I probably couldn't get rid of them if I tried.  They're everywhere but I thought they looked particularly photogenic here.

Gazania 'White Flame' self-seeds freely but I can't call it a weed, unlike the sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) surrounding it.  I vaguely recall transplanting an Alstroemeria division here years ago but this is the first time I recall seeing it flower.  Rosa 'Pink Meidiland' is just beginning to flower behind the Gazanias.

Lavandula stoechas 'Silver Anouk' is happy here, tucked behind Euphorbia charcacias 'Black Pearl' and Arctotis 'Pink Sugar'

Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' also blooms year-round but not so profusely as it's doing now (Grevillea 'Superb' can be seen blooming in the background)

Here's a closer look at Grevillea 'Superb'.  If I had to give an award to one plant for continuous flowering, it would be this one.

Echium candicans 'Star of Madiera' is just now starting its annual bloom cycle

Surrounding the front driveway, some of the few roses I have left are also coming into bloom.

From left to right are: 'California Dreamin', 'Joseph's Coat', and 'Medallion'

Past the driveway, in what used to be the vegetable garden, the raised planters now used as a cutting garden have produced a generous supply of poppies and, more recently, sweet peas.

I should have thinned my sweet peas (mixed cultivars of Lathyrus odoratus) more than I did, as they're now tumbling all over the place.  The high winds we've experienced for several nights now have loosened their hold on the metal grid intended to support them and also turned the Coriandrum sativum plants on their side.  However, somehow, the Iceland poppies (Papaver nudicaule) continue to produce more and more flowers despite the wind.

The dry garden on the north east side of the house is subdued now that the Grevillea there have bloomed out and I've cut the Osteospermum back.  The biggest splash of color there comes from the New Zealand tea trees that recently produced a new flush of bloom.

Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', planted a little too close to a guava tree but making the best of things

A gravel path through the dry garden leads down a cement block stairway to the back slope, which is looking remarkably good at the moment, even if the upper section of the slope remains scarred by the damage caused by last year's horrific first-day-of-summer heatwave.

Clockwise from the upper left, April bloomers include: Euphorbia 'Dean's Hybrid', mingling with Pelargonium 'White Lady'; the uncontrollable Bignonia capreolata inherited with the garden; hard-to-photograph Carpenteria californica; self-seeding Centranthus ruber; Eschscholzia californica 'White Linen', grown from seed; and Oenothera speciosa, just stepping onto the stage

Back on the main level of the backyard garden, there's plenty in bloom.

Leucadendron 'Pisa' with its luminescent flower-like bracts

Cotula lineariloba 'Big Yellow Moon' is moving in to surround Echium webbii.  Felicia aethiopica echoes the blue color of the Echium on its other side.

Here the violet color of Polygala myrtifolia 'Mariposa' (left) echoes the more vibrant tone of Pelargonium cullatum 'Flore Pleno' (right).  Alyogyne huegelii adds a bluer note in the background.

Alstroemeria are blooming all over the back garden at the moment.  The white form (left) is 'Claire' and the red variety (upper right) is 'Inca Husky'.  The others are unnamed varieties that came with the garden.

Ozothamnus diosmifolius has small but plentiful white flowers

Arctotis 'Pink Sugar' isn't blooming as heartily as it did last month but Anagallis 'Wildcat Mandarin' is making up for the deficit

Ageratum corymbosum, an evergreen (or ever-purple) shrub, is at the peak of its bloom cycle

The garden on the south side of the house has a large number of succulents, none of which are delivering much in the way of floral color at the moment but there are a few blooming plants.

From left to right: Cistus x scanbergii, Phlomis fruticosa, and the delicate flowers of Wahlenbergia 'Blue Cloud' (in front of a second Echium 'Star of Madiera')

Moving back down to the partially shaded area at street level on the southwest side of the property, there are still blooms to be found.

Clockwise from the left: Pelargonium peltatum 'Pink Blizzard', backed up by Prostanthera ovalifolia and Limonium perezii; Prunus laurocerasus; noID lavender Pelargonium peltatum; and Rosa chinense 'Mutabilis'

And, along the street, masses of noID Delosperma

Finally, as the photos above didn't capture all the flowers I'm proud to flaunt this April, here are a few more I couldn't bear to leave on the cutting room floor.

Top row: Grevillea 'Ned Kelly', Heleborus 'Anna's Red', and Iochroma 'Mr. Plum'
Middle row: Ixia, Lotus berthelotii 'Amazon Sunset', and Mimulus 'Jelly Beans Crimson'
Bottom row: Pelargonium 'Oldbury Duet', Pelargonium 'Tweedle Dee', and Salvia lanceolata

Are you still in need of a floral color fix?  Visit Carol of May Dreams Gardens, our Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day host to find what's blooming elsewhere in the US and around the world this April.


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

Can one have too many succulent plants?

In the last few years, I've greatly expanded my collection of succulent plants.  I'd very few in my former, shady garden but the sunnier, drier garden I inherited with the purchase of our current home 6 years ago seemed to call out for succulents, even before the drought became a significant issue here.  Other than a few Agave attenuata and some ragged Delosperma, this garden had no succulent plants when we moved in but today I can't even venture a guess as to how many succulent genera I have, much less muster a count of the sheer number of plants I've accumulated since our move-in date.  Every time I go to a garden center or nursery, I usually come back with at least one, and often several, succulents.  It's on the verge of becoming an addiction.

So, was it a good idea for me to spend last Saturday morning at the South Bay Cactus & Succulent Society's Show & Sale?  I didn't have any specific purchases in mind.  I went just to look...I admit that I spent most of my time scouring the sale tables but let's start with the show plants, shall we?  Here's a small selection of what was on display:

Among other things, this table featured: Aeonium 'Velour', a crested Euphorbia lactea, Mangave 'Pineapple Express' and Mangave 'Kaleidoscope'

My favorites on this table included: Aloe 'David Verity Hybrid', Hydnophytum formicarum (a plant I also recall admiring at last year's show), and Peperomia kimnachii

The plants that drew my attention on this table included: Cyphostemma juttae x cirrhosum, Echeveria 'Etna', Fockea edulis, and Gastrolea 'Green Ice'.  The second and the fourth aren't all that unusual, but aren't the specimens perfect?

Clockwise from the upper left, other plants I liked included: Agave victoriae-reginae 'Compacta' (another perfect specimen), Echeveria 'Dick Wright Hybrid', Echinocereus triglochidiatus, Lithops aucampiae, Lithops olivacae, and Neochilenia napina

One of my favorite displays involved some relatively ordinary but stylishly displayed succulents:

Through inadvertent eavesdropping, I learned that this contributor is a local TV weather forecaster.  As I recall, I enjoyed some of her creative presentations in prior years too.

This piece featuring Sansevieria and Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi' was entitled "Lift Off: Fly Me to the Moon"

This one, constructed using noID Aeonium and what I think may be Senecio barbertonicus, was called "The Eagle Has Landed: One Small Step for Man..."

This one, featuring Kalanchoe luciae and noID Tillandsia, was entitled "Succulent Galaxy: Does Anyone Out There Hear Us?"

And finally, this one with Aeonium 'Sunburst' and Euphorbia tirucalli 'Sticks on Fire' was entitled "Houston: We Have a Problem"

The sale areas were packed and just about impossible to photograph.  Here's one display that particularly intrigued me:

EMT Design Studios had numerous succulent displays in both the show and sale areas but I was particularly attracted to these succulent kokedama.  I don't like most kokedama but I liked these and, after-the-fact, regretted that I didn't bring one home with me.

Even though I passed up on the kokedama succulents, I certainly didn't leave empty-handed.  In fact, when my sale was tallied by the cashier, I actually blinked.  Here's my haul:

Back row, left to right: Sedum oxypetalum, Senecio macroglossus, Aeonium nobile, and Aloe cameronii
Middle row: Crassula platyphylla, Rosularia murtagadhensis, noID Echeveria, and Agave macroacantha
Front: Albuca spiralis

Two plants were tucked into pots but the rest found homes in the garden.  Now, if I could just clear out some of that ivy and honeysuckle on the back slope, maybe I could find myself some more room...


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