Bloom Day - August 2020

Until this week, I'd been exclaiming over what a comfortable summer we've been enjoying in my area of coastal Southern California.  This week, the thermostat has been turned up and each day has been getting more toasty.  Forecasters say this heatwave is going to be with us for awhile.  With the heat on, I've confined my garden activity to early morning rounds delivering extra water to bolster sensitive plants - and taking photos for this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post.

I'll start with this month's star performers.

This is Amaryllis belladonna, also called the naked lady because the flowers bloom well after the foliage has died back.  Tammy of Casa Mariposa kindly sent me a couple dozen of these bulbs back in 2015 after she decided they weren't a good fit in her Virginia garden.  They're having their best year ever here.

This is a white Amaryllis belladonna from the same shipment.  They're somewhat more unusual it seems.

I got yet another flush of flowers from Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' this month.  As soon as the heat turned up this week, they started fading from this lovely peachy-pink to dusty beige.

This is Crassula pubescens.  It flowers later than the yellow-flowered variety with smaller leaves but it has almost as much impact in my succulent beds.  I've discovered that the flower stems are great in arrangements too.

Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' just keeps on flowering

Ditto for Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun'

This combination of orange and yellow Lantana has been blooming buoyantly for a good month

One border in my back garden is dominated by this variegated Lantana 'Samantha'

Symphyotrichum chilense, aka California aster, is something of an out-of-control monster, but it's pretty even so

I've come to love this hybrid of California's native woolly blue curls, Trichostema 'Midnight Magic'

Last year, Dahlias were the headliners of my August post but this year they're only just getting started.  This is entirely my fault, as I planted my tubers a good six weeks later on average than I did last year.  I'm including the few blooms I have thus far with the other recent arrivals.

The first and second Dahlias to bloom were 'Sellwood Glory' (left) and 'Mr Optimist' (right)

Dahlias 'Enchantress' (left) and 'Labyrinth' (right) didn't quite make full bloom status in time for their Bloom Day portraits yesterday but I expect they'll be in full flower later today

Most of my Agapanthus are early summer bloomers.  I added five bulbs of Agapanthus 'Stevie's Wonder' last year and two of those produced their first blooms this month.  The flowers are a deeper blue than any of those I inherited with the garden.

I didn't get around to sowing any Cosmos seeds until July but I bought a six-pack of white Cosmos bipinnatus to provide a supply of those blooms as the seedlings grow

I saw this plant out of the corner of my eye on my last trip to the garden center and found I couldn't leave without it.  This is Cuphea ramossima 'Pink Shimmer'.  The flowers are truly tiny.

I planted Gladiolus in my cutting garden this year after finding the corms on a last-chance sale.  These are 'Green Star' (left) and 'Vuvuzela' (right).

I've killed Grevillea 'Moonlight' twice before.  This one, planted in early March, seems happy.

Rudbeckia hirta 'Sahara' was purchased by mail order in July

Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum' came with the garden.  It's starting its summer/fall bloom phase.

I planted several packs of Zinnia plugs in July to provide a quick splash of color on the south end of my garden but the seed-sown plants in my cutting garden are finally starting to bloom too.  The large photo in this collage features Zinnia elegans 'Queen Lime Blush'.

I had a few surprises too, which deserve special notice.

I fell in love with Coreopsis 'Redshift' in 2012 and planted several in various areas of the garden.  This plant in the back border is the only one that survived.

This unnamed Crocosmia popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, belatedly reminding me that I'd planted a dozen bulbs a few years ago.  This is the first to ever make an appearance.

I planted  a huge bulb of Drimia maritima, aka sea squill, on our back slope last year.  The foliage died down in March and it's producing its first bloom spike now.  The bloom hasn't flushed out yet and I hope I don't miss it when it does.  Although I've never discovered their nest, there are fire ants down there and, when I checked on the Drimia earlier this week, I got stung (again).  I suited up in protective gear to get this photo yesterday morning.

As has become my practice, I'll close with the best of the rest, organized in collages by color.

Clockwise from upper left: Erigeron glaucus 'Wayne Broderick', blue and lavender Eustoma grandiflorum, Plectranthus neochilus, Salvia canariensis var candidissima, and Salvia x jamensis 'Ignition Purple'

From the upper left: Pandorea jasminoides, Achillea ptarmica 'Peter Cottontail', Coriandrum sativum, Eustoma grandiflorum, Magnolia grandiflora, Mimulus bifidus, and Tanacetum parthenium 'Aureum'

From the upper left: Achillea 'Moonshine', self-sown Gazania, noID Phalaenopsis, and Rudbeckia hirta 'Denver Daisy'

From the upper left: Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', G. 'Superb', Hemerocallis 'Persian Market', Hesperaloe parviflora 'Brakelights', Echinacea 'Cheyenne Spirit', Lantana 'Irene', and Russelia 'Flamingo Park'

From the upper left: Leucadendron 'Summer Red', self-sown Amaranthus, Grevillea 'Ned Kelly', Penstemon mexicali 'Mini-bells Red', and Pelargonium peltatum 'Burgundy'

Top row: Alstroemeria 'Inca Vienna', Bauhinia x blakeana, and Cuphea 'Starfire Pink' Middle row: Eustoma grandiflorum, Gomphrena 'Itsy Bitsy', and Fuchsia 'Old Berkeley' Bottom row: Osteospermum 'Berry White', Rosa 'Pink Meidiland, and Scabiosa columbaria

For more blooms, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.  

All material © 2012-2020 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party