Critter captures

I've tried to get photos of the critters in my garden several times recently and mostly failed.  It's usually sheer luck on my part when I manage to get a shot under the best of circumstances, and luckier still when that photo is in focus.  Nonetheless, I thought I'd share a few.

 

It seems the resident Anna's hummingbirds are currently at war with the visiting rufous hummingbirds.  They never stop moving so capturing either is virtually impossible.  Out of about 20 shots, this was the only one close to in focus.

The mockingbirds appear to have nested in the area as they've been ever-present for months now.  This guy was sitting atop a favorite perch in one of the peppermint willow trees, talking to peers I couldn't get a fix on.

It seems the blueberries in these pots on our back patio were a major draw for at least one mockingbird.  This photo was taken in early May when the bushes still had berries.  I'd estimate he ate about 95% of them.

The western fence lizards are ever-present, except when I'm looking to photograph one.  I watch my feet when walking through the back garden to avoid stepping on one.  My cat, Pipig, has brought a few into the house when they dare to enter her screened catio.  I'm getting better at catching and releasing the captives outside (albeit often without their tails).

I caught a photo of this fellow last month as I was preparing to open the gate.  It's not a great photo but it shows the lizard's bright blue throat.

This was a more unusual sighting.  I was just in time to photograph the back of the snake before it disappeared.  I'm assuming it's a harmless garter snake...

This is another unusual sighting, caught from inside in the late afternoon on Monday.  Skunks are frequent visitors at night but I haven't seen one out in broad daylight in years. I wasn't going to chase it down for a better photo so this partial view is all I have to share.

We're not as hot as other parts of the country or parts of Europe for that matter but it's getting more uncomfortable to be outdoors anytime between 10am and 5pm, leaving little time time or interest in picture-taking, much less work in the garden.  I've got friends scheduled for lunch on our back patio tomorrow and I'm hoping the temperature will be more comfortable - and that neither snakes nor skunks will be anywhere nearby.

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: Dahlia season is on!

Nine of my dahlias are still in a holding pattern but five plants have produced blooms so I think I can officially declare dahlia season open.  The majority of my dahlias didn't show up until September last year so at least the season looks brighter this year, even though I lost several tubers along the way.

Dahlia 'Calin' was the first of my plants to produce buds but, as they began to open in late June, I found that the flowers were malformed.  After treating the ant and aphid infestation I discovered and discarding the distorted blooms, the plant has recovered.  

'Calin' is a bush-type dahlia with smaller blooms than most of those I grow but it's very floriferous

Back view: I used Corokia stems to support the rest of the plant material

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Abelia grandiflora 'Kaleidoscope', Alstroemeria 'Claire', Antirrhinum majus 'Double Azalea Bronze', Corokia x virgata 'Sunsplash', Dahlia 'Calin', and Grevillea 'Poorinda Leane'

'Enchantress' started blooming en masse at the end of last week, earning it a place in a second arrangement.

In a stroke of luck, the 'Benary's Giant Purple' Zinnias I grew from seed bloomed on the heels of Dahlia 'Enchantress'

I used a few short foxglove stems and 3 stems of the paler Daucus carota that self-seeded in my back border to dress up the back view

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Abelia grandiflora 'Edward Goucher', Daucus carota 'Dara' (aka wild carrot), Digitialis purpurea (foxglove), Dahlia 'Enchantress, and Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Giant Purple'

Last week's Delphinium stems held up surprisingly well.  The remnants of that arrangement ended up on our kitchen island.

The Delphinium florets are now tinged a lavender-pink rather than their original vivid cobalt blue.  The white Lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) is also a holdover from last week.

For more IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Bloom Day - July 2022

It's July.  One of my least favorite months, running neck-in-neck with August.  While temperatures in my area have been remarkably cooler than usual so far this month, especially by comparison to other parts of the US, it's still very dry.  Under current guidelines for our area, irrigation is limited to twice a week.  Some of my favorite plants usually at their peak in midsummer, like the shaggy Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum) a dear friend gave me years ago, never really got their bloom on.  Others, like Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' and Salvia clevelandii, looked so sad I didn't even bother to photograph them.  Although our rainfall in 2022 has been nearly double what we received in 2021, it's only about half our "normal" average.  Two bad rain years in a row is having an impact.

Even so, the garden offered gifts.

Although the first of my current crop of dahlias to flower, the earliest blooms of Dahlia 'Calin' were badly malformed and I almost gave up on the plant.  However, after treating it for ants and aphids, it came back.

The other Dahlias now blooming are: 'Enchantress', 'Southern Belle', and 'Summer's End'.  I lost 3 tubers to rot and a few others simply failed to sprout.  Trying to speed up the season, I think I may have planted my tubers in soil that was still too cold.  It's also possible some tubers were missing the eyes necessary to sprout.

Many of the Zinnias I sowed from seeds are still in bud but I planted others from 6-packs to fill empty spots in my cutting garden as I pulled other plants out

I failed to sow any wild carrot seeds this year but last year's Daucus carota 'Dara' did the work for me.  It's come up in 4 areas this year.  The flowers in one area (left) are nearly white while others (right) look more like the original flowers.

The white and blue Eustoma grandiflorum (aka Lisianthus) are doing well this year.  The pink variety isn't nearly as vigorous. 

I planted more Orienpet hybrid lilies last year but the rabbits stripped several plants of their leaves before I realized what they were up to and caged the remaining plants.  Clockwise from the upper left are Lilium Conca d'Or, L. 'Orange Planet', L. 'Pretty Woman', and a noID variety I received as a gift.

Warmer temperatures have prompted lots of flowers from Magnolia grandiflora

Pandorea jasminoides 'Alba' is still going strong too

I picked up Rudbeckia hirta 'Denver Daisy' a couple of weeks ago to fill an empty spot in one of my half barrels

The garden presented a few unexpected surprises.

Delphinium elatum 'Cobalt Dreams', cut back after its first flush in April, returned bigger and better with a second flush of blooms

I started sunflowers in small pots but I didn't keep them well watered and ended up with only a handful of transplants.  Helianthus annuus 'White Lite' is the first to bloom but, like my sunflowers last year, it has a very short stem and a relatively small flower.

Lantana 'Lucky Yellow' isn't an unusual plant but this one has woven itself through a Euphorbia 'Sticks on Fire', which drew my notice

The Lepismium cruciforme (aka hurricane cactus) I picked up my local botanic garden's spring plant sale just produced its first tiny blooms

The orchids in my lath (shade) house always surprise me when they bloom.  Clockwise from the upper left: Oncostele 'Wildcat' and 3 noID Phalaenopsis.

 

My old standbys continue to produce a steady stream of flowers (of floral substitutes).

The Grevilleas keep on giving.  Top: G. 'Peaches & Cream' and G. 'Poorinda 'Leane'
Middle: G. sericea and G. 'Scarlet Sprite'
Bottom: Grevillea 'Superb'

What looks like flowers on Leucadendrons are colorful bracts.  Clockwise from the upper left: L. 'Summer Red', L. 'Safari Sunset' and L. 'Blush', and L. 'Jester' (center) surrounded on both sides by L. 'Winter Red'.

 

Once again, I've thrown the best of the rest into color collages.

Top: noID Agapanthus, 'Agapanthus 'Elaine', and Ageratum houstonianum
Middle: Felicia aethiopica, Lavandula angustifolia, and Limonium perezii
Bottom: Platycodon grandiflorus, Salvia 'Black & Blue', and Scabiosa columbaria 'Flutter Deep Blue'

Clockwise from the upper left: Anthurium 'Maine', Cuphea 'Honeybells', Hoya carnosa, Centranthus ruber, Cistus 'Sunset', and Digitalis purpurea

 

 

 

Clockwise from upper left: Kalanchoe blossfeldiana, Osteospermum 'Berry White', Rosa 'Pink Meidiland', Salvia canariensis var candidissima, Scabiosa columbaria 'Flutter Rose Pink', and Stachys hybrid 'Lilac Falls'

Clockwise from upper left: Abelia grandiflora 'Edward Goucher', Alstroemeria 'Claire', Angelonia 'Archangel White', Centranthus ruber 'Alba', Crassula pubescens, Fuchsia magellanica 'Hawkshead', Myrtus communis, and Westringia fruticosa 'Morning Light'

Clockwise from the upper left: Berlandiera lyrata, noID Coreopsis, Gazania 'Gold Flame', Grindelia camporum, and Gaillardia 'Amazon Sunset'

Clockwise from the upper left: Aloe nobilis, Antirrhinum majus 'Double Azalea Bronze', Lobelia laxiflora, Digitalis 'Dalmatian Peach', and Hemerocallis 'Sammy Russell'

Top: Aeonium nobilis, Alstroemeria 'Inca Lucky', and Cyclamen 'Djix'
Middle: Echeveria 'New Black', Gomphrena 'Itsy Bitsy', and Hemerocallis 'Spacecoast Behavior Pattern'
Bottom: Pelargonium peltatum 'Burgundy', P. sidoides, and Penstemon 'Mini-bells Red'

 

That's a wrap for my July Bloom Day report.  Visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens to discover what's blooming elsewhere in the US and other parts of the world.

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

House Plants

As the weather gets warmer, I spend more time in the house, at least during the hottest part of the day.  At one time I had lots of indoor plants to keep me company.  I started collecting them when I was in high school, although my collection didn't explode until my future husband and I got our own apartment in West Los Angeles.  He built a floor to ceiling set of shelves to hold plants for me.  Unfortunately, I've no photos of it, or my former plant collection.  When we bought our first house after we'd both completed graduate school and were working full-time, the plant shelf unit was retired and I spread the plants I had throughout the house.  With the house I finally got my own garden and that shifted my attention to outdoor plants.  It was a tiny garden but, given that I was a certified (or certifiable) workaholic, it gave me a sufficient outlet for my growing plant addiction.  When we moved again two decades later, several months after I retired, we got a house roughly the size of our former townhouse sitting on a half acre lot, which is large by local standards.  At that point, my focus shifted almost exclusively to outdoor plants.

As as my house plant collection shrunk, I began cutting more flowers to bring inside than I ever had before.  

I featured this arrangement in my last In a Vase on Monday post but, since then, the second Lilium 'Pretty Woman' opened.  I usually have at least 3 fresh flower/foliage arrangements in the house each week.

Still, during the brutal peak of summer I wish I had a more robust collection of indoor plants.  I'll never have a collection anything like those compiled by many of the hard core house plant influencers but our home interior could certainly use a little more green.

Here's a look at my current, rather paltry, indoor plant collection.

The ever reliable Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema commutatum) on the fireplace hearth in the main bedroom

Velvet Calathea (Calathea 'Rufibarba') in the laundry room

A large spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum), also in the laundry room

Song of India (Dracaena reflexa) and neon pothos (Epipremnum 'Aureum') in the front entry

Another pothos in the main bathroom

Variegated Peperomia (Peperomia obustifolia) in my home office

Peperomia obustifolia 'Golden Gate' on the buffet cabinet in the dining room

My current favorite house plant, Philodendron 'Birkin', in the living room

Another Philodendron 'Birkin' and Fatsia japonica in a basket in the bedroom

My largest and possibly oldest indoor plant, Schefflera arboricola, in the front entry

A variegated peace lily (Spathiphyllum 'Domino') on a bedroom dresser

A dried arrangement of plant material from the garden on the living room mantle.  The contents include bunny tail grass (Lagurus ovatus), Cape rush (Chrondropetalum elephantinum), and seedheads of a South African lily (Aristea inaequalis).

Maybe I'll add a couple of large house plants during the course of our interminably long summer.  Do you have any favorite houseplants you can recommend?

 

All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party