Once summer finally loosens its grip on us (which it was slow to do this year), the cooler temperatures deliver a spring-like rebirth to Southern California gardens. As I was making my rounds of the garden on Saturday, I caught sight of an unexpected flash of coral color and literally gasped when I realized that the
Metrosideros 'Springfire' I'd planted in February had blooms.
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| Although planted from a 3-gallon pot, the shrub is still only 2 feet tall. At maturity, it should reach 12 feet (or even taller) and offer many more blooms! |
There are lots of unopened buds on the
Metrosideros so I went ahead and cut 2 stems with flowers as the starting points for this week's first vase. There was no problem finding companions for those flowers, although I admit I went more than a little matchy-matchy.
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| I had in mind to add white or pink flowers with a coral bent to the arrangement but gave up those ideas when I realized I couldn't stuff anything more into the vase |
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| Back view: There are actually 2 Grevillea cultivars in this arrangement but my photos don't emphasize their tonal differences |
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| Top view |
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Top row: Metrosideros collina 'Springfire' flower and leaf. Most leaves are a medium green but a few show beautiful variegation.
Middle row: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Corokia x virgata 'Sunsplash' (reused from last week), and Grevillea 'Ned Kelly'
Bottom row: Grevillea 'Superb' and Nandina domestica foliage and berries |
I didn't give much thought to my second vase at all, other than thinking it would be nice to use some of the lavender colored blooms in my garden. After clipping a little of this and a little of that and dropping it all into the water-filled jar I carried with me, I was so disillusioned about my ability to turn the contents into something that I seriously considered dropping everything in the compost bin and starting all over with
Camellias. But, as I still feel contrite about every flower I remove from the garden, I couldn't bring myself to do that.
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| In the end, I was glad I persevered as the arrangement turned out better than I'd expected |
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| Back view, highlighting Hypoestes aristata (aka ribbon bush), Polygala myrtifolia (aka sweet pea bush), and the Pyrethropsis hosmariense (aka Moroccan daisy) |
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| The Osteospermum, added to my jar at the last minute after I noticed it was also enjoying our second spring, pulled this arrangement together. Planted years ago, I wasn't sure whether or not this was 'Berry White' as the petals aren't white so I surfed Google Images and found one photo that looked like a match, only to realize when I pulled up the detail that it was my very own photo from a 2016 post. |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Alternanthera 'Little Ruby', Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy', Lobularia maritima (Alyssum), Pyrethropsis hosmariense, Polygala myrtifolia 'Mariposa', Hypoestes aristata, and, in the middle, Osteospermum 'Berry White' |
The vases found their places in the usual spots.
I retained one of last week's vases, albeit with some edits.
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| Last week's vase with Tagetes lemmonii had to come inside after the wind knocked it over on the patio table (thankfully not breaking the vase). I kept it in my office most of the week but the strong scent of the yellow daisies in close proximity with the windows closed even got to me. I eventually tossed the daisies and moved the vase to the bedroom. |
Visit Cathy, our "In a Vase on Monday" host at Rambling in the Garden, to find more vases.
All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
