Leaking Irrigation Valve Bloom Day

The utterly reliable 'Prospero'
Oh boy.  This months Bloom Day does look like the above, but my eyes have been focused on this beauty:
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A leaking irrigation valve.  I replaced the broken diaphram inside the valve, but after putting the cap back on the valve, the cap leaks.  I've been muddy and angry for two days.  Fortunately, a short while ago some landscape guys came to fix something across the street.  They installed the irrigation at our house over a decade ago, and were kind enough to say they'd come have a look at it a little later.  So, a chance to take a break from mud and misery to look around at flowers.  

These are bracts, not the actual flower, but the Leucadendrons appear to be forming flowers.
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'Iceberg' is doing its usual wonderful thing:
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After raging heat for weeks, the suddenly cooler weather is producing beautiful roses.
"Most Improved This Year" award to 'Cinco de Mayo'.  
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Another big improvement after nearly a decade of malingering is the sole surviving 'Abraham Darby'.  I discovered, after removing the monster Phormium in front of it, that what 'Abe' lacked for nearly a decade was sufficient water.  Oopsie.
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The dainty and delicate 'Samaritan', toasted for the past couple of months, is now beautiful again.
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'Souvenir de la Malmaison' I'd never figure for a heat lover.  Wrong.
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Clematis are unbothered by heat.  Another round of bloom from a few of them.  'Wisley', of course:
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I've never figured out which one this beauty is:
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The first appearance of the actual flowers on Agave 'Joe Hoak'.  The flower stem looks pretty dessicated--note the ribbing--but there's no use watering it, because by the time the flower stem shoots up on an agave, the roots have nearly vanished.  The plant absorbs them as it uses every bit of its energy to produce that flower stem.  
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Big surprise, one of the A. desmetianas that was an offset from an original is beginning to bloom also.
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Agave blooms last almost a year or more.  Yucca 'Bright Star' is done in two weeks. 
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The Dahlias near this year's end, but still some beauties.
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The last few flowers from the Japanese Anenome hybrid.
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The volunteer Begonias germinated by a pond leak this summer have their first.  All that heat--they loved it.
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A single gallon of water splashed onto a dessicated clump of Aloe ellenbeckii, and it gives thanks with a stem:
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A single Zephryanthes candida flower, but sweet:
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Lastly, "Rabbit Tracks", Maranta leuconeura 'Kerchoviana', a houseplant in most places, gives a single stem after those many weeks of heat. I got this plant from my Mom.  My Mom got this from her neighbor Lori who died a long, slow, tortuous death from breast cancer.  

Lori wasn't yet forty.  In memory of Lori, and a curt reminder of how a leaking irrigation valve isn't the biggest tragedy in the world. Relish your Bloom Day, even if one sad little flower is all you have.  I will relax about that %^(!#@%# stupid valve and remember what is important in life, and I too will relish another precious and beautiful Bloom Day.      
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Comments

  1. No matter how many wonderful photos you post, my scrolling always screeches to a halt when I see that Dasylirion in the background. (Of course maybe I'm wrong about the ID because I can't grow it, whatever it is.)

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    1. Dasylirion longissimum. Hardy to 15F...could live in a pot for many years...tempted? The other common one is good to 0F...

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  2. Nice post about keeping it all in perspective. Happy Bloom Day to you.

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  3. It's amazing how the little irritations of daily life can grab - and hold - our attention. Perhaps that's just because most of those trials and tribulations can be resolved, while life's big challenges, like the loss of friends to cancer, can't - the daily annoyances divert us. In any case, I hope the landscape guys returned and identified a fix for the leaky valve. Your garden photos have diverted me in a more pleasant fashion.

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    1. Wise thoughts. Did get the valve fixed--such a relief! Happy you liked the photos...and hoping your racoon issue will abate.

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  4. Love that iceberg, but I have to admit that I am partial to Abraham Darby - I have two near the front door that bloom from April to December. Did you get that valve fixed? We have been trying to get someone out here to fix ours since spring!

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    1. Abe Darby is so beautiful, but here so vulnerable to Rust. :( By a miraculous bit of luck, the guys who did our original irrigation system were across the street fixing the neighbor's outdoor lighting. They were kind enough to come over and fix it--I had all the parts already...and showed me how to fix valves in the future should I need to, explained a bunch of things about valves... Whew! What wonderful luck! Best of luck getting yours repaired.

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