As the last of my blue-flowered Dutch Iris faded, I thought their season was over until 'Lion King' appeared. My records show that I planted a dozen 'Lion King' bulbs in a semi-shady area underneath my now tree-sized peach-flowered Callistemon in the backyard border in October 2021. I might have missed the flowers entirely except that I noticed a reference to them when I was updating my bulb-planting record last week, leading me to scavenge my own garden looking for them. The color of the flowers posed a challenge but I eventually came up with a mix that pleased me.
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| I tried combining the bronze and burgundy Iris with the brown and terracotta-colored flowers of Salvia africana-lutea but the mix wasn't quite right. The green and burgundy flowers of Salvia lanceolata, another South African native, worked better. |
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| Back view: I also swapped Leucospermum 'High Gold' for Phlomis fruticosa |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Abelia 'Kaleidoscope', Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey', Leucospermum 'High Gold', Iris hollandica 'Lion King', and Salvia lanceolata |
A particularly vigorous clump of pink Alstroemeria inspired my second arrangement. This Alstroemeria came with the garden. Its pink color leans in the blue direction so it didn't mesh with many of the pink flowers in my garden but I found some flowers that worked. I also took advantage of a few new arrivals in my cutting garden to flesh out the arrangement.
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| As the Alstroemeria, foxglove, and snapdragon stems were tall, I used a relatively tall vase, one my mother brought back as a gift from Finland on her one and only trip to her parents' home country. The snapdragon looks redder in this photo than it looks to my eyes. |
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| Back view: I actually like this side of the arrangement better than the one I selected as the front because it's less busy |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Anemone coronaria (not'Rarity'), Antirrhinum majus 'Purple Chantilly', Argyranthemum 'Grandaisy Red', Coriandrum sativum (aka cilantro), Digitalis purpurea 'Dalmatian White', Nigella papillosa, Orlaya grandiflora, Pelargonium cucculatum, and, in the middle, noID Alstroemeria |
Last week's vase containing the peach foxgloves got trimmed down in size. I replaced the faded blooms of Grevillea 'Superb' I used last week with two stems of the peach snapdragons that have finally started to bloom and returned the refurbished arrangement to the dining room table in a smaller vase.
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| I kept the Digitalis 'Dalmatian Peach', Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi Verde', and Xylosma congestum stems, just giving them fresh cuts |
We had two days of warm weather again last week but the morning marine layer kept temperatures down even then, at least by comparison to our inland areas. The marine layer yesterday was thick and never lifted at all. Cool temperatures (60-63F/15-17C) are expected to continue through this week and there are possibilities for rain on Monday and Thursday, which is unusual for May here. My cutting garden is starting to bloom but progress is slow and may continue to be so until we get more sunny days.
For more IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party