After several very warm days last week, my garden seems to be moving into a sprint to get its spring blooms out before summer-like temperatures put an end to them. My guess is that the calla lilies won't bloom at all this year but I made a last ditch effort to encourage them by hand-watering the back slope last week. It remains to be seen whether that'll make any difference. In the meantime, I cut many of the stars of my spring garden while they're still looking good.
The first arrangement is all about the blues.
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| I featured Iris 'Sapphire Beauty' in an arrangement three weeks ago but this is Iris 'Mystic Beauty'. The striped falls of the flower look almost green in color. |
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| The tree-sized Ceanothus (aka California lilac) on the back slope is already shedding its tiny flowers with every shake of a stem |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Anemone coronaria 'Lord Lieutenant', Campanula portenschlagiana, Ceanothus arboreus 'Cliff Schmidt', Freesia, Iris hollandica 'Mystic Beauty', and noID Primula polyanthus |
As a counterpoint to the first arrangement, my second is all about pink flowers.
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| I overstuffed this vase but I couldn't help myself |
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| Back view: Snapdragons launched this particular arrangement but it's really an ensemble cast |
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| Top view |
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Top row: noID Alstroemeria, Anemone coronaria 'Rosa Chiaro', and Coleonema 'Album'
Middle row: noID pink and white Antirrhinum majus
Bottom row: Xylosma congestum, noID Prunus persica, and noID Primula polyanthus |
The stems of Leucospermum 'Brandi' I used last week were still in perfect condition so I tucked them into a vase for the kitchen island, adding a few stems of another plant that recently made an unexpected appearance. I planted a hybrid orange-flowered Anagallis back in 2014. It hasn't reappeared in my garden for a few years and I haven't seen it in garden centers for at least six years. I looked it up online and was surprised to find one of my own posts published in June 2014 on the first page of references. The post was so old that the photos showed some lawn still in place in my back garden. You can find that blast from the past here.
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| As you can see, hybrid Anagallis 'Wildcat Mandarin' complements Leucospermum 'Brandi' quite well |
For more IAVOM creations from other contributors to this lovely meme, visit our host, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
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| Another leftover, a flower of Hippeastrum 'Aphrodite' with a very short stem, has been placed in a small glass bowl at the base of the arrangement on the right |
All material © 2012-2021 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
