We got rain last week and there's more coming this week! The air is fresh and clear and my plants have been thoroughly cleaned of dust and grime. Everything looks prettier, even the usually smog-infused horizon.
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| This was my view of the Port of Los Angeles Saturday afternoon once last week's storm passed |
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| Late afternoon brought a rainbow |
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| And this was the sky as evening fell on Saturday |
The rain hasn't instantly produced much in the way of new blooms but I still found enough to inspire me to fill 2 vases. My
Grevillea 'Superb', a year-round bloomer, is simply loaded with flowers at the moment and the availability of a single rose in a similar hue clinched the color scheme for my first vase.
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| We could get as much as 4 inches of rain between Monday and Thursday (more than we received in total last year) and I doubt the rose could make it through those storms unscathed. I need to get started on pruning my roses in any case. (The sunset showing on the TV screen in the background when I took this photo was a complete fluke.) |
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| Back view |
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| Top view, showing off the flower-like bracts of the Leucadendron |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Grevillea 'Superb', Agonis flexuosa 'Nana' (my go-to foliage filler), berries of Nandina domestica, Rosa 'Joseph's Coat', noID Leucadendron (probably 'Blush'), and my first bloom of Papaver nudicaule (aka Iceland poppy), recently planted from plugs |
The pink
Alstroemeria in the backyard border have already produced a few flowers but they were past their prime before I noticed them. When I saw two more flowering stems plastered against the ground by the last rainstorm, I decided to use them as the starting point for a second vase.
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| I sought out plants with touches of pink and yellow to complement the Alstroemeria |
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| I almost prefer this back view without the Alstroemeria |
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| Top view: Many of the paperwhite Narcissus were also plastered to the ground by the last storm so they got cut |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: noID Alstroemeria, Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold', Leucadendron salignum 'Chief', noID Narcissus, and Pyrethropsis hosmariense (aka Moroccan daisy) |
For more Monday vases,
visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
