Sunday, June 19, 2016

Weekend Gardening - Hot!

This weekend was the start of our next crazy heatwave. It was 101 deg F today, and supposed to get up to 110 deg F tomorrow. So here are some pictures of my garden... we'll see what it looks like next weekend!
One of my favorite foliage combos has flowers all of a sudden.
After years of no Aloe blooms, this is the second soap Aloe to bloom this year!
California Fuchia should be ok with the heat - little silver leaves and all
 I visited the Arlington Gardens for the first time this weekend, thanks to a blog post by another SoCal blogger. Even though it was hot (only 96 deg F) and I'm sure the garden wasn't at it's best, there was a lot of inspiration to be found!

I love this combo of wild flowers to give a meadow like effect... I want something like this!
 I may post more pictures later, although most of them didn't come out very well due to the harsh light.

Before visiting the Arlington Gardens, i stopped by the Huntington. It was hot there too (there's a trend...) which meant that the gardens themselves were quiet. As long as I stayed in the shade it was nice. I also found a few more orchids as inspiration for mine:
This fuzzy bloom stalk was cute!
this flower had fuzzy parts too! I see why people get so into orchids now..
Hiding in the same at the Chinese Garden with a great view
and hiding under the trees near the Lily pond
 It was a great weekend, filled with plants, even if it was hot. I hope everyone has a way to stay cool this week!

Sunday, June 12, 2016

Orchid Blooming!

I'm excited! For the first time ever, my (one and only) orchid rebloomed! Perhaps it saw that I called it out in this post and also got some inspiration from the Huntington orchids. On that post, Helene and Hoover Boo were kind enough to offer advice on getting my orchid to rebloom, so maybe that helped too!

It turns out I was wrong - mine wasn't white, but pink-ish instead:
The first flower opened about 2 weeks ago.
 Is it just me, or does it look like it has a face? Weird...
There were 5 buds on the bloom stalk - 4.5 have now opened.
Two are on one side
and two on the other side
the last bud is also starting to open - so cool!
the closest I can get to seeing all of them at the same time.
It is pretty cool, even if it is pink. I've probably had this plant for 2 years, and it's still in the same pot. Maybe after this stalk is done blooming, I should repot it? Hopefully I won't kill it then, but I should be able to enjoy these for a while longer. I have no idea what kind of orchid this might be (other than that it came from Trader Joe's) but i am happy it finally rebloomed!

Sunday, June 5, 2016

Weekend Gardening - It's summer!

It's the first weekend in June, and it's been ridiculously hot here. So there hasn't been much gardening happening, much to the sadness of any new plants (which need daily watering, still) and to no detriment to the weeds (how can they grow with no water?!). Here are just a few pictures from this weekend, taken after it cooled off some on Sunday....

This bed is turning into a texture feast with Opuntia, Callistemon and Epilobium canum
The agave appreciates its new gravel mulch...
This is part of the bed I showed before here - thanks to the suggestions, it's now a lot better looking!
Daisies (Tanacetum niveum) and Yucca rostrata
This particular corner of this particular bed has turned out really nice - it's one of my favorites throughout the year! And the heat seems to bother none of the major players.
The first of the Yucca louisianensis flowers - there are 3 bloom stalks this year!
The heat hasn't stopped the Myoporum parvifolium from breaking out its tiny white blooms.
This plant is busy taking over a big part of the hill side... once I can deadhead some of the other spent flowers, I'll take some wider shots. 
I'm not sure whether the heat or something else is making this Aloe bloom stalk point all funny...
Hopefully it will stay a bit cooler next weekend, because the front garden desperately needs to be weeded... I hope everyone else is finding ways to stay cool, dry or avoid whatever other crazy weather you might be having!