This past weekend was warm (upper 80sF) but not miserable, which is the best that can be said of any summer days here. However, excessive heat warnings are back in effect for today through Tuesday. According to
Sunday's Los Angeles Times' cover story, California's current hot, dry conditions aren't a fluke but the result of fundamental climate change. In California and other western states the fire season is now a year-round phenomenon. Other parts of the US face greater extremes in the form of floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, rising sea levels, and longer, more vicious winters. Yet our nation's leadership calls the climate shift a
hoax, or maintains that it's a natural phenomenon for which mankind has no responsibility. It continues to amaze me that a nation that prides itself on its technical prowess and a President that speaks of
explorations of Mars insistently ignore the importance of addressing the impact of events on our doorstep. I wonder how long we'll be able to provide emergency services to communities beset by one form of disaster or another?
Putting that rant aside, my vases this week are a study in contrasts. The first invokes the feeling of summer's fiery heat.
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| Dahlia 'Punkin Spice' sets the tone |
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| The zinnias blooming in increasing numbers bring up the rear (view) |
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| Top view, featuring the first feathery blooms of Pennisetum 'Rubrum' |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana'; Corokia x virgata 'Sunsplash'; Cuphea 'Vermillionaire'; noID Origanum; Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum'; Zinnia elegans in shades of coral, red, and yellow; and, in the center, Dahlia 'Punkin Spice' |
While my garden is dominated by hot colors at the moment, there are blooms in icy colors too and I collected some of those for a second vase.
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| A late blooming spike of Delphinium got things rolling |
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| Cool-colored lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) fit the scheme |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Artemisia ludoviciana, Catananche caerulea, Delphinium x elatum 'Magic Fountain', bicolor Eustoma grandiflorum (and blooms of the 'Black Pearl' variety held over from last week's vase), Symphyotrichum chilense, Tanacetum parthenium, and, in the center, another cluster of Eustoma grandiflorum in deep blue |
For more Monday vases,
visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
