The new year started with a relative deluge of rain. We got nearly an inch and a half of rain on Saturday before the clock tolled midnight. People attempting to launch fireworks probably weren't happy but I appreciated the pounding of rain on the roof more than the explosions that usually light up the sky over the harbor and beyond. New Year celebrations are second only to Independence Day when it comes to fireworks here. New Year's Day dawned with blue skies but high winds. That made cutting flowers something of a challenge but I managed.
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Flowers are still in short supply and I relied on Leucadendrons again fill the breach. The dwarf Hippeastrum 'Saffron' at the front of the vase, the first to bloom in my garden this season, was beaten up so I cut the one remaining presentable stem.
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Back view: I'd saved stems of the Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' I pruned earlier in the week so I had something of a head start pulling this arrangement together on Sunday. The stems I saved all sported seed pods.
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Top view
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Clockwise from the upper left: Hippeastrum 'Saffron', Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' with seed pods, Prunus ilicifolia, Leucadendron salignum 'Blush', and L. salignum 'Safari Sunset'
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One of my Christmas presents from my husband was an unusual vase I'd admired online. I cut some additional flower stems to fill it.
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The new vase is comprised of 2 pieces, constructed to link together. As the pieces are curved, flowers with more flexible stems than those I chose probably would have worked better.
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I'd intended this to be the rear view but in the end I liked this side better. Given where I placed it, it can be viewed from either side so it doesn't much matter.
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Top view
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Clockwise from the upper left: Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt', Calliandra haematocephala, Grevillea rosmarinifolia 'Dwarf form', Camellia sasanqua, and C. williamsii 'Taylor's Perfection'. I also used 3 stems of Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite'but I couldn't get either of 2 cameras to focus on its tiny flowers so there's no closeup to share.
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I hope you enjoyed the holidays. Here, we're looking forward to another round of rain starting this evening and running into Tuesday morning before another pause and then more rain on Wednesday and Thursday. Maybe Mother Nature hasn't abandoned Southern California after all.
For more IAVOM posts, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2023by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
