Rain on Thursday, a little break yesterday, more rain today. Who would have thought? We've already had 50% more precipitation since the start of the current water year on October 1 than in the entire 2020/2021 water year!
For the most part, the plants in the garden are loving it, and it shows. I took a few photos during a break in the rain when the sun poked through the clouds for just a few moments. I wanted to take more, but this is all I got while the light was good. So here they are, 6 for Christmas!
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| Sand lilies (Veltheimia capensis) in full flower now. ×Mangave 'Red Wing' on the right. |
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| Aloe bulbillifera hybrid flowering year round. 'Ruth Bancroft' manzanita behind it. |
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| ×Mangave 'Kaleidoscope' getting ready to flower |
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| ×Mangave 'Black Magic' (bottom center), Agave zebra (bottom right), Agave ocahui (top center) |
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| ×Mangave 'Night Owl', ×Mangave 'Pineapple Punch', Aloe marlothii × globuligemma |
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| Top to bottom: Salvia leucantha, Lavandula × allardii 'Meerlo', Helichrysum thianschanicum 'Icicles' |
The weather forecast for next week is changing by the hour, but it looks like we might be in for a cold snap. Yesterday, I saw night-time temperatures as low as 24°F in the forecast, which scared the daylights out of me. Fortunately, more recent updates show "only" lows around 29-30°F. Still, I plant on covering the emerging aloe flowers because they're prone to cold damage.
Have a Merry Christmas, if you celebrate it!
© Gerhard Bock, 2021. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.
The rain's been great here too. I think we're at about 6" or so since October began, which is the entire of what we got last year--and more to come tonight and Monday.
ReplyDeleteThe Veltheimia capensis is very pretty! Looks like it enjoyed the rain.
24°F--yikes!! Hope you can get everything covered that needs protection.
Sacramento has had a little over 12" of rain since October 1. That's great, but I'm ready for a little break so the soil can dry out a bit. Looks like it will rain some more today, though.
DeleteI'll give you a Veltheimia capensis seedling the next time I visit!
Merry Christmas Gerhard! This rain is one of the best presents we could have gotten this year . I expect to make it to 17 inches before the week is out...and then there is the snow forecast for Tuesday...we'll see if that shows up.
ReplyDeleteYou're getting even more rain than here. The vineyards will be happy!
DeleteThe rain is a wonderful Christmas gift. Especially love the Veltheimia pairing. Colours match perfectly. I hope the cold snap doesn't materialize. We are in one now but everything is nicely buried under snow and looking very Christmassy. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteYou must think I'm nuts for fretting over temperatures in the high 20's :-)
DeleteGlad to hear you got the gift of rain Gerhard. Love your plant combinations in the first pic.
ReplyDeleteWishing you and your family a happy Christmas from Adelaide, Australia.
I look forward to reading about your annual desert pilgrimage!
Right back at you! In Adelaide you don't have to worry about the cold at this time of year, ha ha.
DeleteArizona in March, probably.
Love the Veltheimia! I had two plants but I don't think I even saw foliage for either last winter. This December there's foliage but it remains to be seen if I'll get flowers. I don't even remember what color flowers the plants had as it's been so long since they've bloomed.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the rain! My current total since October 1st reached 3.91 inches as of this morning. My rain total for the entire 2021 "water year" was 4.12 inches so, with more rain expected Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, I should surpass that total with just December's rain. In December 2020 we recorded 0.99/inch so we're ahead of the game on that score too. Still, I read that SoCal was likely to get its heaviest rain in December as opposed to February, which is usually our rainiest month so I'm trying to keep things in perspective.
I hope you avoid that nasty Arctic air!
Bulbs can play dead for a long time and then come right back to life. Here's hoping for flowers on your veltheimias. Are they V. capensis (as in my photo) or bracteata (darker leaves, general grows in shaded areas)?
DeleteYou missed out on a lot of rain that other areas in SoCal got. Must be your location near the ocean...