Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day snuck up on me this month. Caught up in the midterm elections and the events that followed, another mass shooting, and a spate of horrific wildfires, my garden has taken a back seat this month. It's also a lot less colorful now that I've pulled apart my warm season cutting garden in order to make room for cool season bloomers. It's been much cooler here, despite the Santa Ana winds that triggered so many fires here in Southern California, but rain has remained elusive and our humidity levels have been stuck in the single digits so I count myself lucky that I found as much in bloom as I did.
The Osteospermums, one of numerous genera referred to as African daisies, usually revive when the temperatures fall. Although I can't yet say they're plentiful, I captured one flower at just the right time of day and the right stage of bloom, and decided that I'd kick off this Bloom Day post with its beautiful close-up.
And here's a mixed collection of plants enjoying the start of our second spring.
Only a few plants are producing a multitude of blooms this month.
The Camellia sasanqua shrubs are covered in buds and ready to bloom but the strong winds we've experienced off and on for weeks now have prevented them from appearing en masse.
The ornamental grasses are still going strong and some of the Leucadendrons are still sporting flower-like blooms..
The Australian fuchsias are all producing light sprays of flowers, as are the Pentas and ivy geraniums.
The large-flowered Grevilleas bloom year-round.
One Gomphrena with tiny flowers also blooms year-round.
A handful of new plants have produced blooms as well.
As is my custom, here's the best of the rest of the blooms in my garden, organized in collages by color.
For more Bloom Day posts, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
The Osteospermums, one of numerous genera referred to as African daisies, usually revive when the temperatures fall. Although I can't yet say they're plentiful, I captured one flower at just the right time of day and the right stage of bloom, and decided that I'd kick off this Bloom Day post with its beautiful close-up.
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| Osteospermum '4D Silver' |
And here's a mixed collection of plants enjoying the start of our second spring.
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| Achillea 'Moonshine', Erigeron glaucus 'Wayne Roderick' and a self-seeded clear yellow Gazania are mingling comfortably here. The yarrow flower stalks are far shorter than those the plants produced earlier in the year but their return is appreciated nonetheless. |
Only a few plants are producing a multitude of blooms this month.
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| Barleria obtusa (aka bush violet) is a prolific bloomer and an equally prolific self-seeder. I've moved seedlings to various locations within my garden and hope I don't someday regret doing so. |
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| The two Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl' shrubs shown here are producing nearly the number of flowers they did last spring |
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| Even though planted in the partial shade of a large Magnolia, Tagetes lemmonii has been pumping out a steady steam of flowers this month |
The Camellia sasanqua shrubs are covered in buds and ready to bloom but the strong winds we've experienced off and on for weeks now have prevented them from appearing en masse.
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| NoID Camellia sasanqua |
The ornamental grasses are still going strong and some of the Leucadendrons are still sporting flower-like blooms..
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| Left to right: Pennisetum 'Fireworks', P. advena 'Rubrum', and P. 'Skyrocket' |
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| Although not true flowers, the colorful bracts of Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset' (shown with another noID variety, left) and 'Devil's Blush' (right) look a lot like rosebuds |
The Australian fuchsias are all producing light sprays of flowers, as are the Pentas and ivy geraniums.
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Correa 'Dusky Bells', 'Ivory Bells', 'Sister Dawn' (new), and 'Wyn's Wonder' |
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| Pentas lanceolata 'Nova' (left) and 'Kaleidoscope Appleblossom' (right) |
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| Pelargonium peltatum (aka ivy geraniums) in shades of burgundy, dark pink, and lavender |
The large-flowered Grevilleas bloom year-round.
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| Clockwise from the left: Grevilleas 'Superb', 'Ned Kelly', and 'Peaches & Cream' |
One Gomphrena with tiny flowers also blooms year-round.
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| Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy' is in bloom continuously unless I hack it back, as I do at least once a year |
A handful of new plants have produced blooms as well.
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| Hemizygia 'Candy Kisses', purchased on a recent plant shopping trip |
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| Mimulus 'Jelly Bean Buttercream' (aka monkeyflower), purchased on the same trip |
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| New-to-me Plectranthus lanuginosa, acquired by mail order a couple of months ago (and very hard to photograph) |
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| Rosa 'Lady Emma Hamilton', received in February as a raffle prize won at the 2017 Garden Blogger's Fling. These are the first blooms the shrub's produced. They opened within one day of one another this week on the same plant but vary quite a bit in color and form. The blooms are also smaller than I'd expected but perhaps all these things are due to receiving too little water. |
As is my custom, here's the best of the rest of the blooms in my garden, organized in collages by color.
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| Top row: noID lavender, Lotus jacobaeus, and Osteospermum 'Violet Ice' Middle row: Plumbago auriculata 'Imperial Blue', Polygala myrtifolia 'Mariposa', and Tibouchina urvilleana Bottom row: Trichostema 'Midnight Magic', Wahlenbergia 'Blue Cloud', and Dendrobium 'Samurai' |
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| Clockwise from top left: Arbutus 'Marina', Cistus x skanbergii, Cuphea 'Starfire Pink', noID Pelargonium, noID lavender-pink rose, and Rosa 'California Dreamin' |
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| Left to right: Lantana 'Lucky White', Leucanthemum x superbum, Nemesia caerulea, and Westringia 'Morning Light' |
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| Left to right: self-seeded Gazania, Lantana 'Lucky Yellow', and Oncostele 'Wildcat' (orchid) |
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| Left to right: Aloe 'Rooikappie', Echeveria 'Afterglow', Lotus berthelotii 'Amazon Sunset', and Rosa 'Joseph's Coat' |
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| Left to right: Bauhinia x blakeana, Celosia 'Intenz', red Eustoma grandiflorum (aka lisianthus, new), and Fuchsia 'Mendonome Belle' |
For more Bloom Day posts, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party