Once summer's flowers are purged from my cutting garden to make way for the bulbs, seeds, and plugs that will thrive in winter and spring, it gets a lot harder to put together floral arrangements. Luckily, there are a few plants I can usually depend upon to help me out.
My first arrangement contains several stems of Grevillea 'Superb', which blooms year-round, but Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid' surprised me with a flush of peachy-pink blooms to support it. The Callistemon usually blooms during the summer months and I couldn't recall it ever blooming as late as November. I scanned my own blog to check that recollection and found evidence of one flush in November 2016, when it was still a small plant; however, coming on the heels of a heatwave in September and "extreme" Santa Ana winds last week, I think I'm still justified in describing the flowers as a surprise. As the shrub is on the list to be pruned by our tree service in just over a week, it was a given that I'd choose to make use of it this week.
![]() |
| The coleus was instrumental in pulling this arrangement together |
![]() |
| The back side looks a lot like the front except there are more dangly bits of Cuphea in the back |
![]() |
| Top view |
![]() |
| Clockwise from the upper left: Callistemon 'Cane's Hybrid', Cuphea 'Honeybells', Grevillea 'Superb', and Plectranthus scutellarioides 'Indian Summer' (aka coleus) |
Senna bicapsularis, a tall shrub, usually blooms in October or November and it came through for me this week. I had to scrounge to find materials to accompany those flowers, though.
![]() |
| Senna bicapsularis (aka winter cassia) is a host plant for cloudless sulphur butterflies (Phoebis sennae) |
![]() |
| Back view: As I'm ready to pull Dahlia 'Break Out' from its pot on my back patio, the last of the Zinnia 'Zinfandel Peach' had to go too |
![]() |
| Top view |
![]() |
| Clockwise from the upper left: Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt', Tanacetum parthenium, Zinnia elegans 'Zinfandel Peach', Helianthus 'Sunfinity', and Senna bicapsularis |
Last week's Santa Ana winds sparked three fires in Southern California, all north of us. Two of the fires were smaller and have been all or mostly contained but the Mountain Fire in Ventura County has been fierce, swallowing over one hundred homes and over 20,000 acres. It was only twenty-six percent contained when I checked its status yesterday afternoon. Forecasters are projecting another, more moderate Santa Ana wind event midweek. There are hints of the possibility of drizzle in the ten-day forecast but I'm not putting any trust in them yet.
On this Veterans' Day, best wishes to all US veterans and their families, past or present. Thank you for your service and your sacrifices!
All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
