In a Vase on Monday: The no rain blues

Southern California is officially back in a drought status.  We've had a trivial amount of rain during what is normally our one and only rainy season and there's very little chance of more showing in the 90-day forecast.  Rain, or the lack of it, is a big deal for the reasons explained here.  Although flowers are still blooming thanks to regular irrigation, the situation has me singing the blues.

Flowers appearing on the remaining section of Ceanothus hedge in the backyard set the tone for this vase

The vase didn't come together as well as I'd hoped, as the sloppy backside attests

Top view, highlighting the pretty flushed backs of the Osteospermum petals

Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: noID Ceanothus, no ID Freesia, Pelargonium 'Lady Plymouth', Globularia x indubia, and Osteospermum '4D Silver'

In an effort to cheer myself up, I also cut several of the luminescent yellow bloom stalks of my succulent Aeoniums for the dining room table.

Aeonium flower stalks have a long vase life.  One broken stalk I placed in a small vase 2 weeks ago still looks as fresh as it did when I brought it inside.

I retrieved the stems of Leucadendron 'Blush' I used in one of last week's vases and plopped them into the back of this vase

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Aeonium arboreum, Abelia 'Kaleidoscope', Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold', Leucadendron salignum 'Blush', Correa 'Wyn's Wonder', and Fatsia japonica 'Camouflage'

The brightest spot in the water picture is that Northern California, from which much of our water flows, is not currently in drought.  No new water restrictions have been announced but Californians are being reminded that water conservation must be a way of life here.  Hopefully, the situation in Cape Town, South Africa will serve as a cautionary tale.

For vases not weighed down by environmental woes, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.




All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party