Blooms, despite all. Nature destroys, Nature creates.
January is a peak Aloe month. A. candelabrum:
A. hardyi:
A. cameronii:
A. cameronii in more sun:
A. ferox:
A. 'Moonglow':
A. capitata var quartziticola:
Besides Aloes, some miscellany: Protea 'Clair': Leucadendron 'Wilsons Wonder' colors up in preparation for the cones that will soon appear: A Cuphea that has flowered for months, and continues:Magnolia stellata seems early this year:
Besides miscellany, Hellebores are just getting started.I've not been gardening or even going outside much the past week. Too windy, too painfully dry, wind strong enough to nearly push me over at times. Still, some roses somehow managed to produce striking flowers. 'The Ambridge Rose'
'Molineux'
'James L. Austin':
'Firefighter'. Oh, 'Firefighter'. So apt at this moment.
And of course 'Iceberg':Look what the wind blew in: an Egret, Ardea alba. The wind was very bad, so I imagine it was struggling to fly and landed, exhausted, where it could, in our front garden.
I've watered what could be watered in the garden, trying to keep vulnerable plants alive. Can't do anything more until the wind goes away. Started attending, believe it or not, a flower-arranging course at a local community center. Here's my first effort. These are florist flowers, not garden flowers. I think the arch is out of proportion, too tall.
Using Photoshop I made the hoop a little shorter to see how that looked: Hmm. Something like that. Proportion. Keep things in proportion. Took my mind off disasters, occurring and imminent.
Happy January Blooms.
I've not been gardening or even going outside much the past week. Too windy, too painfully dry, wind strong enough to nearly push me over at times. Still, some roses somehow managed to produce striking flowers.
Nature provides heartbreak but also solace. It's good to see all the Aloes in bloom, on time and undeterred. Especially my favorite Aloe, A. capitata var quartziticola with it's somewhat goofy (can I say that without getting in trouble?) bloom.
ReplyDeleteI love flower arranging! Very good result from your class, even if you had to photoshop it a bit later. I hope you enjoyed yourself, and not just for the distraction of it.
Chavli
Mop-Top, Beatles haircut bloom, I love that Aloe.
DeleteI did enjoy doing the arrangement. It was educational. The instructor has decades of floral design experience and listening to an expert--an expert in anything--is always fascinating (to me at least). She had an answer for everything. What to do when the flower bends the wrong way? Gently warm the stem by holding it with your hand, they'll often become bendable. (But not "Gerbs", they just snap.) (Her name for Gerbera daisies.) Need to get plant sap off your fingers? Hand sanitizer.
The class sounds like a good distraction from the ongoing fire and threat of more. The aloe blooms are wonderful, I especially love the shape of A. capitata var quartziticola. Poor egret. Your Iceberg is one of my favorites, always looks so pristine. I hope the dang wind ends soon.
ReplyDeleteIt was educational. The instructor has a completely different perspective on plants. That was very interesting. I had some sympathy for the egret--it seemed worn out. Didn't even want to move when we got out our phones for a photo. It was probably trying to find its way back to the ocean. 'Iceberg'--it's a great rose for California. The rest of the planet, not so much. Strange but true.
DeleteAn egret! I hope he moves on when he's rested but a brief visit is fun (so long as he doesn't try to eat any of your beloved koi fish).
ReplyDeleteAs I viewed your aloes, I considered paying a visit to my local botanic garden but then I think your display is more impressive than theirs is likely to be. No rose blooms - or hellebore flowers - here as yet. I love your floral arrangement, which reminds me of a very classy Easter basket. Flowers are better than Easter eggs, even if they're chocolate.
He might have killed the koi but he was way too small to eat them--they are at least triple his weight. There was a Great Blue Heron at the pond a few weeks ago, during a previous wind event, but he couldn't figure out how to wade into the pond, because there isn't a way to wade in--the sides are vertical. The herons wade in via a shore or beach. The Heron was definitely big enough to eat a koi, but I scared him off as he stood baffled by the shore-less, beach-less pond.
DeleteI'm happy the Aloes are undamaged by the winds. The garden in general took a beating. I was amazed to see rose blooms.
Flowers vs. chocolate, flowers vs. chocolate--tough choice!
Indoor flower arranging sounds like a great idea when outdoors becomes inhospitable. Winds haven't been an issue here in Long Beach -- ash and air quality were bad last week, improved this week. Stay safe!
ReplyDeleteI was longing for a greenhouse. No ash or smoke here--as yet. Wind season isn't over. :( Sorry to hear you had smoke and ash.
DeletePoor egret. We often forget the toll these huge fires have on wildlife. As always your garden looks fantastic. I quite like your arrangement. Maybe if you had added a little more height in the center the scale would have been more to your liking. Kudos for trying something new.
ReplyDeleteFun to try something new. :) The birds here all seem to vanish (or hide) until the wind stops.
DeleteYour hellebore blooms were a shock to my eyes. Something we share in our otherwise very different January gardens. Having just spent a week in San Diego I (almost) got my fill of aloe blooms, such magnificent creatures.
ReplyDeleteI love Hellebores! So much lovely for so little effort. And they are holding up to the wind amazingly well.
DeleteHope you had a great time in SD.
Our garden club in Porterville had a lot of floral art demonstrations. Not so often hands on - but I enjoyed the - concept - ingredients - then the step by step build up.
ReplyDeleteIt's a whole different relationship to plants, floral art. Different from a gardener's. The instructor knows very different things about the flowers than I do, like Hydraneas, to last in a vase, need to have their foliage removed--little thins like that. Something I ponder in class. To know a plant I know but in a completely different way.
Delete