In a Vase on Monday: Preparation for Hilary's Visit

So Southern California took a direct hit from Tropical Storm Hilary this weekend.  While gardeners on the east coast of the US and other parts of the world may be used to hurricanes and tropical storms, the Los Angeles Basin hasn't experienced one since 1939.  We've been brushed by the remnants of tropical storms on occasion (Tropical Storms Kay in 2022 and Nora in 1997) but even that's unusual.  I was initially excited about the prospect of rain, an anomaly here during the summer months, but constant alerts about the possible impacts - flash floods, landslides, wind damage, power outages and road closures among other things - put an edge on the event.  And on Sunday, about an hour after receiving a flash flood alert on my cell phone, I got an earthquake alert!  The 5.1 earthquake was in Ojai, about 112 miles north of us, and I didn't even feel it, although some of my friends did.  Of course, the convergence of the two events was almost immediately given its own name: Hurriquake.

The tropical storm started as a Category 4 hurricane off the coast of Mexico but it lost strength as it moved northward through Baja California, becoming a tropical storm before reaching San Diego, California about 150 miles to the south of us.  Rain preceded Hilary's arrival in my area, starting in the early morning hours on Sunday and getting steadier and progressively heavier in the afternoon.  I try to collect as much rainwater as I can, passively through three tanks linked to roof gutters, and also more actively using a rain chain to channel water into plastic barrels and tubs before moving it to one of my larger tanks.

Because the rain was coming down so fast, I used a plastic trash can left behind by a prior owner instead of my usual plastic tubs.  After it filled up 3 times, I gave up transferring the contents to my larger tanks in the middle of a continuous downpour.  I filled a second trash can and several tubs before giving up the effort Sunday evening.  It was still painful to watch all the water I couldn't catch flow down the pipes that shed the excess into the drainage system.

 

I'd taken advantage of calm conditions late Saturday afternoon to cut material for 'In a Vase on Monday'.   My first arrangement features two unexpected dahlia blooms.

I didn't plant any pale yellow dahlias this year, at least not intentionally.  One sprouted from a leftover tuber that never flowered last year, which I missed when I dug up the rest of them in the fall.  The other was supposed to be 'French Can Can', which it definitely is not.  (You can see what Dahlia 'French Can Can' should look like here.)

Back view, featuring assorted Zinnias and Abelias

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Abelia 'Hopley's Variegated' and 'A. Kaleidoscope', Cosmos bipinnatus, Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid', Dahlia 'Luna', Zinnia elegans 'Lemon Peach', Z. e. 'Benary's Giant Salmon Rose', and Dahlia NOT 'French Can Can'

 

My second arrangement was inspired by the Amaryllis belladonna that are currently blooming en masse in my back border.

The Amaryllis belladonna (aka naked ladies because they bloom after their foliage dies back) are more strongly scented than I remember.  They were flopping over on tall stems and, try as I might, I couldn't get them to straighten out to stand up properly in this vase.

Back view

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Dipladenia 'Sundenia Coral', Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', Leucadendron salignum 'Jester', Amaryllis belladonna, and Zinnia elegans 'Mazurkias'

 

The first bloom of Dahlia 'Lavender Ruffles' prompted a third arrangement.

This feels a bit like a repeat of one of last week's arrangements but I cut all 3 of these dahlias assuming that they wouldn't hold up against 1-2 days of steady rain

Back view

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: noID Pentas, Plectranthus scutellarioides 'Limewire' (previously known as coleus), Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Giant Purple', Dahlia 'Lavender Ruffles', and D. 'Mikayla Miranda'

 

 

Overnight and this morning we picked up more rain.  As of 8am our total for the storm is 1.99 inches.  That's a LOT for us within about a 24-hour period.  Other areas reportedly received almost a foot of rain and some have experienced mudslides.  There's a lot of leaf debris to clean up in my garden and more rainwater to move into my collection tanks but so far I haven't discovered any damage to trees or shrubs.  We didn't even lose power.  I'm very thankful.

 

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

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Maybe meadows aren't for me...

I visited South Coast Botanic Garden's "Phase One" Pollination Garden in late July when it was only just coming into bloom.  I'd planned to go back to see it in full bloom four to six weeks later but SCBG posted notice about the new garden's progress in a newsletter so I popped in again this week.  The garden is indeed in full bloom, with flowers in some areas stretching well above my head.

The photo on the left was taken on July 25th.  The photo of the same area on the right was taken on August 16th.

Although I arrived soon after the garden opened at 8am, it was already quite warm

Flowers that had been a foot high at the time of my earlier visit were chest high or taller

 

I could hear the water circulating in the pond but I could barely see it.

 

The bright pink shade sail covers are still in place. 

And they haven't faded yet

 

The pollinators were plentiful, even if I caught relatively few photos of them.

The bees were busy and easier to photograph than the butterflies

On the left is a monarch butterfly.  On the right is a truly tiny butterfly I think may be an arctic blue (Plebejus glandon).

NOT a pollinator, except perhaps by accident, but he was in the middle of things

 

I appreciated all the vibrant flowers but, linking back to the title of this post, if this is representative of a meadow, it's probably not something I'd want in my own garden.

Jumbled mix of flowers

Cosmos flowers were the most prevalant

Other flowers I was able to identify included, clockwise from the upper left: Amaranthus cruentus, Anethum graveolens (dill), Borago officianalis (borage), Helianthus annuus (sunflower), Mirabilis jalapa (four o'clocks), Tithonia rotundifolia (Mexican sunflower), and another Helianthus

 

I've always liked the idea of a meadow garden.  I envision drifts of flowers and grasses, with the mix changing subtly as the season progresses but always retaining a degree of cohesion.  (I may be obsessively tidy, even when it comes to garden settings.)  I prefer floral colors that coordinate with one another and, while I don't think low profile plants must always be sited in front of taller plants, I like to see a discernible flow of one type to another.  While I liked feeling enveloped by an abundance of blooms, the Phase One Pollination Garden was too visually chaotic for me.  To be fair, SCBG's objective was to create a space to attract pollinators, not the creation of a meadow garden.  I suspect that the staff was also in a hurry to fill the space so it could be reopened to visitors this summer before they embark on the more labor intensive Phase Two process that will require cooler fall temperatures and the promise of rain.  In the interim they simply spread a mass of mixed seed to cover the ground and let plants remain wherever they germinated.

 

Temperatures have been in the upper 80sF (31C) this week so I didn't hang around SCBG long.  I took just a few photos outside my tour of the Pollination Garden.

An Ocotillo (Fouquieria peninsularis) in bloom in the Desert Garden next to a noID agave

A couple of displays in the small greenhouse

A closer look at the tree in the parking lot I incorrectly identified as a noID Acacia in an earlier post.  A closeup photo of the flowers indicates that this is a Palo Verde tree (Parkinsonia).

 

Best wishes for a pleasant weekend.  There's a strong chance that a tropical rainstorm stemming from Hurricane Hilary, currently stirring things up to the south of us in Mexico, will reach Southern California this weekend.  According to local projections, we could get as much as one and a half inches of rain and even more is possible in surrounding areas.  As summer rain of any amount is an anomaly here, that's a lot!

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Bloom Day - August 2023, a day late and a dahlia short

Since 2018, I've depended upon dahlias as the backbone of my summer flower garden.  My tubers got a late start this year because the cool season flowers held on for an extended period, as did our cooler-than-usual temperatures.  In late April, when I finally pulled the tubers out of the garage where they're kept during their dormant season, I planted them in temporary pots to germinate but getting them moved into the raised planters of my cutting garden was also delayed because I held off on clearing the space of the cool season flowers until early June.  So here we are in mid-August with the dahlias just getting started.

Dahlia 'Catching Fire' is off to a good start, while soft lavender 'Mikayla Miranda' is only getting started.  Other dahlias have lots of fat buds, which are taking their time opening up.

 

Luckily, not all my flowering plants have been so slow to get their bloom on.  Here are some of the plants providing starring roles this month.

Amaryllis belladonna (aka naked ladies because the bulbs bloom well after their foliage dies back) started flowering in earnest before I even looked for them

Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' produced a massive flush of bloom last week

Succulent Crassula pubescens ssp radicans is blooming en masse in spots throughout my garden

I wouldn't usually give Lantana star status but the 'Lucky White' and 'Lucky Yellow' varieties I cut back a couple of months ago have put on a major effort to elevate this area of my front garden

Unlike the dahlias, Zinnia elegans, most of which were sown from seeds in early June, didn't dilly-dally about blooming.  The varieties here include 'Benary's Giant Purple', 'Queen Lime Orange', 'Giant Salmon Rose', 'Lemon Peach', 'Mazurkia', and an assortment from 'Candy Mix' 

 

Other plants may not deserve a starring role but they're great team players.

Planted last year, Cuphea 'Honeybells' took its time to develop but it's putting on a great show this year.  It's a trailing variety unlike my other Cupheas that have stems that stand upright.

Dipladenia, a relative of Mandevilla with a trailing habit, is new to my garden this year.  Both of these are growing in large containers mixed with other plants.

Gazania 'Otomi' has flowered more profusely than I'd expected.  The flowers vary in appearance as they develop.

I almost forgot about Globularia x indubia (aka globe daisy), which I cut back hard several months ago

I can't forget the reliable and ever-flowering Grevillea 'Superb'

This Helianthus 'Sunbelievable Brown-Eyed Girl' has been blooming for months now

 

Some plants are still providing splashes of color even as they're in the process of exiting the stage for the season.

I cut the last of the white Agapanthus in my garden on Sunday but there are still a handful of blue Agapanthus here and there.  The ink-blue colored flowers of Agapanthus 'Elaine' (left) got a late start, as was also the case last year.

The first flush of Leonotis leonurus is coming to an end but I've cut many of the stems back to see if I can get a second round

The paper-dry flowers of Limonium perezii are fading literally and figuratively

Magnolia grandiflora was dropping leaves by the bushel earlier this summer.  The leaf drop is now minimal but flower petals are littering the ground at a rapid rate.

I cut back Monarda hybrid 'Peter's Purple' earlier and got a second flush of flowers but I'm not sure it's got the energy for a third flush

Myrtus communis is an attractive but not particularly flashy plant.  I've found it isn't a great addition to floral arrangements either.

Just 10 days ago, Pandorea jasminoides (aka bower vine) was blanketed in white flowers but it seems to be about done now

This was the second flush of bloom from Salvia canariensis var candidissima, which is currently looking scruffy

 

As usual, my garden provided a few surprises, one of which isn't auspicious.

I tried Echinops ritro ruthenicus (aka globe thistle) a few years ago but it died without blooming.  It's doing better this time.

This is the second year I've gotten Medinilla myriantha (aka Malaysian orchid) to bloom

A friend gave me a Oxypetalum coeruleum (syn. Tweedia caerulea) a couple months ago.  This is another plant that I've tried and killed before but this one's made it to bloom stage.

The pretty flowers of Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' aren't a surprise as I've shown them often enough.  The plant blooms year-round, albeit not as heavily as Grevillea 'Superb'.  However, it's dropped a substantial portion of its leaves over the last 2-3 months, which has me concerned that it may be failing.  There was a gopher in the immediate area so that might have something to do with its decline, or maybe the heavy rainfall followed by a substantially drier period has something to do with it.  I lightly pruned the leaf-less stems and I'm monitoring it closely, while keeping my fingers crossed.

 

I'll end this post as I usually do with the best of the rest, lumped into collages organized by color.

Clockwise from the upper left: Alstroemeria 'Inca Sundance', noID Bacopa, Cuphea 'Vermillionaire', the dried remnants of Cynara cardunculus (aka artichoke), Gazania 'Gold Flash', and noID yellow-orange Lantana

Clockwise from the upper left: Abelia 'Kaleidoscope', Achillea ptarmica, Angelonia 'Archangel White', Asparagus densiflorus, Fuchsia 'Windchimes White', Helichrysum petiolare, Scabiosa columbaria, and Phyla nodiflora

Clockwise from the upper left: Digitalis purpurea 'Dalmatian Purple', Nemesia 'Honey Bicolor Orange Flame', noID Phalaenopsis, Polygala myrtifolia, Scabiosa columbaria 'Deep Blue', and Sollya heterophylla

Top row: Cistus x scanbergii, C. 'Sunset', and Cuphea 'Starfire Pink'
Middle: Pelargonium 'Dynamo Hot Pink', P. 'Dynamo Purple', and noID Pelargonium
Bottom: Pentas 'Graffiti Pink', noID Thymus, and Rosa 'Pink Meidiland'

Clockwise from the upper left: Daucus carota 'Dara', noID Hoya, Fuchsia 'Voodoo', and Pelargonium peltatum in red and burgundy

 

For more Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day posts published on or after August 15th, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party