After a stretch of summer-like temperatures last week, peaking at 96F (35C) in our location but hitting records of 102F (39C) in other local areas, our temperatures dropped back into the 60s yesterday and are expected to remain in the vicinity of 64F (17C) until next weekend. Given the circumstances, the mix of spring and summer blooms in my garden shouldn't be surprising. While the sudden temperature shift fried some of my favorite spring blooms, it prompted others to hustle to get their bloom on.
I'd been watching a giant Delphinium 'Cobalt Dreams' in my cutting garden unfurl ever so slowly over the past several weeks but the heat caused it to explode, seemingly overnight. When an unidentified critter broke two stems, cutting three for a vase was an obvious decision.
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I used one of my larger crystal vases but still had to cut the Delphinium blooms substantially
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Back view: I stuck mostly to a blue and white color scheme as all the other blue flowers in my garden would've been overshadowed by the bright blue of the Delphinium. I cut long sprays of the flowering branches of my peppermint willows (Agonis flexuosa) as a foliage accent.
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Top view: This is probably the widest wingspan of any of the arrangements I've photographed from above
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Clockwise from the upper left: Agonis flexuosa, Centranthus ruber 'Albus', Iris hollandica 'Oriental Beauty', Delphinium elatum 'Cobalt Dreams', and Pandorea jasminoides 'Alba'
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Easter being just around the corner, I couldn't help preparing an arrangement in colors that evoke that holiday for me.
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So far, at least 5 of the "mixed" foxglove plugs I planted in my cutting garden have turned out to be 'Dalmatian Peach' but it now appears that I've also got 2 pink- and one white-flowered variety as well. This time, I added 2 stems of my favorite Leucospermum and some of the Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' flowers that appeared en masse last week.
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Back view: I also used 2 varieties of the snapdragons in my cutting garden,'Chantilly Bronze' and 'Double Azalea Bronze', but they look so much alike at this stage of bloom, I can't really tell them apart
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Top view: I threw in some Aeonium flowers too. They're also blooming all over my garden now.
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Clockwise from upper left: Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi', Anagallis 'Wildcat Mandarin', Antirrhinum majus ('Chantilly Bronze' and 'Double Azalea Bronze'), Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid', Digitalis purpurea 'Dalmation Peach', Leucadendron 'Cloudbank Ginny' (foliage), and Leucospermum 'Hybrid Spider'
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As I was preparing this post, movement outside my office window attracted my eye. Another reminder of the Easter holiday hopped on by.
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Pulling a possum maneuver, he froze in place for a time as I crept up to him with my camera until I got within 2 feet, when he took off. We played hide and seek for awhile and I'm still not sure he exited the area before I gave up chasing him. If only they would eat weeds and leave my ornamental plants intact, I'd be a lot more tolerant.
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For more IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2022by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
