The rain - or maybe just the progress of time - has brought a few new arrivals to the garden and I've taken advantage of some of them this week. More rain is on the horizon. Three more storms, the first set to arrive in Southern California tonight, are stacked up to hit the state. Northern California is once again expected to get the brunt of it. However, even my sandy soil is already saturated.
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The first foxglove bloom made an appearance in my cutting garden last week. I accented it with stems of Grevillea sericea, which prior to last week had no flowers at all.
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| I cut several stems of Gomphrena 'Itsy Bitsy', which I ended up relegating to the back of the arrangement. 'Itsy Bitsy' has decided to behave like a vine, currently winding its way through the Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' above it. |
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Top view
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Clockwise from the upper left: Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt', Argyranthemum frutescens 'White Butterfly', Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy', Digitalis purpurea 'Dalmatian Purple', and Grevillea sericea
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The Camellia sasanqua that have been blooming for months were pulverized by last week's storms, leaving behind little but petals on the ground below them. However, Camellia williamsii 'Taylor's Perfection' has stepped up with a minor flurry of blooms. The shrub lost a lot of its buds in the fall heatwaves so I don't expect it'll have its best year but I decided to use a few of the blooms before the coming storms knock them out. I kept the palette very simple so as not to detract attention from the shapely Camellias but I accented them with stems of another recent arrival, Boronia crenulata 'Shark Bay'.
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I cut 3 stems of the Camellia, sacrificing several buds in the process
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Back view
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Top view
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| Clockwise from the left: Camellia williamsii 'Taylor's Perfection', Boronia crenulata 'Shark Bay', and Grevillea 'Jubilee Crown', now sporting tiny brown cones in the midst of feathery foliage |
For more IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
I'll close this week's post with some pretty pictures of snow in the mountains to the east of us.
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| I took this and the next 2 photos Saturday afternoon from my back garden during a sunny pause between rainstorms |
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| I used a telephoto lens |
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| The view was remarkably clear for a change. The mountains are often hidden behind clouds and smog but the view was relatively unimpaired on this occasion. |
Best wishes for a pleasant week.
All material © 2012-2023by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
