As expected, the Hippeastrums have finally jumped into gear. I used two of them in my arrangements this week but four have blooms at present. The difficulty now is finding suitable companions to show them off. As California was forecast to take a punch from a second atmospheric river beginning late Saturday or early Sunday, I collected materials for my vases on Saturday afternoon, although I put them together on Sunday as usual.
The first one features Hippeastrum 'Zombie' (which deserves a better name).
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| 'Zombie' has fully double 5-inch blooms |
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| Back view: I added orange snapdragons for another jolt of color |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt', Leucadendron 'Jester', L. 'Summer Red', L. 'Safari Sunset', noID Antirrhinum majus, Hippeastrum 'Zombie', and Metrosideros collina 'Springfire' |
While I was relatively pleased with how the first arrangement came together, I struggled to find the right materials to fill out the second arrangement featuring Hippeastrum 'Exception'.
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| Hippeastrum 'Exception' has large (6-inch) single-petaled flowers. It's beautiful but I had very limited options to accent its pinkish-red tones or white background. |
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Back view: I made do with the stiff, prickly stems and rosy-red flowers of Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite'
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Alstroemeria 'Inca Vienna', Grevillea 'Scarlet Sprite', Hippeastrum 'Exception', Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', Leucadendron 'Blush', and Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata' |
I threw together a third small arrangement because the kitchen island needed fresh flowers and there was no point allowing all the anemones in bloom in my cutting garden to be pummeled by rain.
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| Clockwise from the left: Front view, Anemone coronaria, Antirrhinum majus, Felicia aethiopica, and Pyrethropsis hosmariense |
As it turned out, the storm took its time moving into coastal Southern California. We didn't see any measurable rain until early afternoon on Sunday and it didn't pick up force until late afternoon. The current forecast calls for "torrential rain" through Monday, tamping down a bit on Tuesday before slowly petering out by Thursday or Friday. It has the potential to cause more damage than last Thursday's atmospheric river did. On that occasion a rain cell got stuck in place directly over the area I live in, resulting in local flooding and temporary road closures (but no landslides which are a significant issue here). This time concerns are greater for the Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties north of us. It's just after 9pm now and I'm scheduling this post to publish automatically as there's no certainty we won't lose power overnight. At present, we've accumulated just under one-inch of rain in about nine hours and our rain year-to-date total (since October 1st) stands at 8.84 inches.
For more IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
