Sunday morning was beautiful but wet. We got rain for the second time within a week. In mid-May! I already had in mind what I wanted to cut for "In a Vase On Monday" so I quickly got to it. There are a lot of new blooms in my garden and it would have been easy to get distracted by this or that but the rain and the cold temperature kept me reasonably focused.
I hadn't even noticed the
Delphiniums were blooming until last week, when the top-heavy cilantro/coriander plants in the same raised beds toppled over following the storm that moved through Wednesday night into Thursday morning. The seed-sown larkspurs (
Consolida ambigua) have been slowly unfolding for the last couple of weeks.
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| I couldn't decide which side of the vase should represent the front and which the back. This side features a blue and white Aquilegia (aka columbine). |
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| This side features seed-grown Nigella (aka love-in-the-mist) |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Aquilegia 'Orgami Blue & White', Campanula portenschlagiana, Consolida ambigua 'Summer Skies Mix', Delphinium 'Pacific Giants', Salvia 'Mystic Spires', Prunus ilicifolia, noID Penstemon, Orlaya grandiflora, Lagurus ovata (aka bunny tail grass) and, in the middle, Nigella papillosa 'Starry Night Mix' |
The heavy bloom stalks of
Aeonium haworthii have been flopping over into paths for weeks now and the rain had exacerbated the problem so I went ahead and cut some of those too.
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| The stone vase was the only one I had heavy enough to hold the succulent stems without tipping over. Unfortunately, the stone sweats so I inserted the stems into few water-filled floral tubes. My experience is that the succulent flowers don't need much supplemental water but we'll see how this works. |
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| Most of the stems were cut from Aeonium haworthii 'Kiwi Verde' (right) but I also found a couple of flowering stems among the variegated 'Kiwi' plants. There's a noticable difference between the flower and stem colors of the 2 plants, at least at this stage. |
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| This is the small vase I created 4 weeks ago using small 'Kiwi Verde' stems. The flowers still look good but their color has faded dramatically over the weeks. |
Sunday afternoon brought bright blue skies and warmer temperatures near the mid-60sF. My garden now has the fresh, clean appearance that only rain can bring. The smog that normally blankets the harbor view cleared out with the storm and both the sky and the water were a beautiful blue.
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| View from the back garden looking at the entrance to the Los Angeles harbor, known as Angel's Gate |
While I was snapping photos of the harbor, I heard a familiar buzz and caught sight of a hummingbird sipping nectar. As soon as he rose above the foliage I pushed the button on my camera, hoping for the best, and for a change I got lucky.
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| Anna's hummingbirds (Calypte anna) are year-round residents here and, although they zip by constantly when I'm in the garden, I seldom get a decent photo. As soon as this fellow heard the click of the camera, he was off! |
All in all, Sunday was a great day.
For more Monday vases,
visit our "In a Vase on Monday" host, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
