My cutting garden is on a slow roll

I cleared my cutting garden in late October and, after replenishing the soil in the raised beds, planted it in early November.  I sowed seeds and planted plugs and bulbs, envisioning a late winter/early spring extravaganza.  However, along with the unexpected and much appreciated rainfall, we've had temperatures that were persistently lower than usual from winter into spring.  While I prefer temperatures on the lower end of coastal Southern California's spectrum, even I'm tired to daytime temperatures in the 50s and 60sF.  We've only had a handful of days with temperatures in the 70s and just one that reached into the upper 80s.  We even had rain in May!

View from my backyard garden yesterday morning following a storm that reportedly originated in Alaska.  It brought cooler temperatures back just as we were starting to warm up

We got a little less than one-quarter of an inch of rain but that refilled my empty 50-gallon tank and topped off my 160-gallon tank, which was a boon

I've been expecting blooms from many of the plants in my cutting garden since early March but the garden remained in near-stasis throughout April.  My sweet peas have yet to produce their first flowers and the larkspur (Consolida ajacis) and love-in-the-mist (Nigella) plants I sowed from seed in early November are just now sporting their first blooms.

View of the cutting garden looking northeast

View from the other direction looking northwest

I thinned the sweet pea seedlings early in their development but they took so long to get going after that I started to ignore them so, once again, the vines are far more crowded than they should be - and there are still no flowers

I thinned the Nigella seedlings at least 3 times.  They've had buds for over a month but so far I've seen just one bloom.  They look like they're ready to burst open en masse but they haven't.

The foxgloves shot up at last in response to one 2-day warm spell a week ago

The Anemone coronaria have produced flowers now and then over the last 2 months but they've been disappointing overall - and now they're being swamped by sweet pea vines

I ordered snapdragons in the 'Chantilly' series from Annie's Annuals in February and March, as they became available.  Last year, I was able to get them in December so I imagine that Annie's production line must also have been impacted by weather conditions.

For a long time, the only blooms in my cutting garden came from these noID Calendulas I picked up at my local garden center.  The return of our morning marine layer, combined with somewhat higher temperatures, has caused mildew to develop on Calendulas in other parts of my garden but these 2 plants aren't looking too bad (yet).

The larkspur (Consolida ajacis) sown from seed are taller than any I've grown before and they've been covered in buds for weeks but the first flowers didn't show up until 2 days ago

All my foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea) are plants in the 'Dalmation' series

Orlaya grandiflora, sown from seed in November, and self-sown Coriandrum sativum (cilantro) also grew sky-high this year.  They started blooming late last week.

My container plants got a quicker start, primarily because I planted them up with larger plants.

I cut the 'Dalmatian Peach' Digitalis in the barrel on the left 2 weeks ago but the plant should produce more flower stalks give a little time.  I recently replanted the barrel in the middle with a Helianthus 'Sunbelievable Brown-Eyed Girl' after finding it in my local garden center a week ago.  The third barrel on the right contains Antirrhinum 'Chantilly Peach', planted in February.  The snapdragons are under-planted with Viola 'Penny Peach' and noID Nemesia.  I had 2 Ranunculus in there too but they've already finished up.

These pots containing Alstroemeria 'Inca Lucky', Argyranthemum 'Grandaisy Red' and A. 'Pink Comet' have been going strong since last year

In the absence of flowers, the foliage plants in my cutting garden have helped liven up the space.

Acer palmatum 'Sango Kaku' (left) and Diospyros 'Fuyu' (persimmon) have fully leafed out

The succulent plantings at the base of 2 of the 3 raised beds loved all the rain.  The bed on the left contains Aeonium arboreum and the bed on the right contains Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi' (plus a bulbil of Agave vilmoriniana 'Stained Glass' (in the pot).  Unfortunately, the Didelta 'Silver Strand'cuttings I planted at the base of the third planter (not shown) haven't done much of anything.

Aeonium arboreum also lines the bed containing 3 citrus trees (left).  More Aeonium and a dwarf Japanese maple share a bed along the fence with the persimmon tree and a couple of ivy geraniums (Pelargonium peltatum).

As my larger garden has provided lots of material to fill my vases, I probably wouldn't feel any urgency about getting the cool season blooms off and running were I not well aware that summer will soon by nipping at our heels.  The local garden centers are already selling dahlias in full bloom in large containers.  I finally decided I couldn't wait for space to open up in the raised planters in my cutting garden so I've once again resorted to getting the tubers started in temporary pots.

I've potted up 21 dahlia tubers thus far (not all shown here)

There's a slim chance of a bit more rain overnight but, even if it happens, it's unlikely to amount to much.  Next week is expected to be warmer but then I keep hearing that.  How warm it will get here will depend on whether the marine layer creeps back in as the current storm system heads east.

Best wishes for a wonderful weekend.  I'll close with a pretty bloom from my backyard border that, despite our cooler-than-usual temperatures, is likely to be gone by Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

This is Iris germanica 'City Lights'

All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party