Monday, May 5, 2014

In a Vase on Monday: Odds & Ends

Last week, I featured Arthropodium cirratum, also known as Renga Lily, in a favorite plant post.  When gathering information on the plant, I read that the bloom spikes make good cut flowers.  Although I've had these plants for years, I've never used the blooms in a cut flower arrangement and, as I currently have a half dozen or so plants in bloom, I thought this week's post for Cathy's meme at Rambling in the Garden was the perfect opportunity to remedy that situation.  As usual, the difficulty was in finding the right accent plants.




The small flower buds of the Renga Lily close up at night but the white petals open in daylight to reveal pinkish purple and yellow stamens.  I picked the last of my pink Alstroemeria as the primary accent flower, then added a stem of Leucanthemum x superbum and a few stems of Hebe 'Wiri Blush' to echo the colors in the Alstroemeria.

Close-up of Renga Lily flowers in sunlight

Close-up of Alstroemeria, Shasta daisy, and Hebe



The wild card in this case was the foliage I added to support the bouquet.  Late Sunday afternoon, I found myself cutting back another favorite plant, Ageratum corymbosum.  I added some of the stems of this plant to the bouquet rather than tossing them in the compost bin.  The leaves are very attractive, more purple than green, and slightly fuzzy.

Close-up of the leaves of Ageratum corymbosum



Everything went into one of my favorite blown glass vases, picked up at a street fair many, many years ago.  The vase picks up the darker notes in the Ageratum foliage.

Please visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to see her floral composition.  If you have a bouquet on hand this Monday, take a photo (or two) and share it by posting a link on her site.

12 comments:

  1. I love the stories of how people's vases come together - and yours blends the different components beautifully! That hebe is a gorgeous shade of pink, one I have not come across. Interesting that you included material from something you have trimmed - I hung onto some plain green hebe I had cut out of a variegated one in case I could use it but it wouldn't have worked with today's vase, whereas your ageratum works really well. I keep trying with alstromeria but haven't succeeded- yet! Thanks so much for joining in Kris :)

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    1. I felt so guilty cutting back that Ageratum as hard as I did, I felt compelled to use some of the foliage in a constructive fashion. It's done really well in the vase too - no droop!

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  2. This is a beautiful arrangement Kris. The Renga Lily is really something.

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    1. That plant is really one of my very favorites. It stands up to everything my climate and I have thrown at it!

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  3. The The Renga Lily is stunning, and might have been difficult to combine with other flowers but you've made it work perfectly. I love the foliage almost more than the flowers this week.

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    1. I would grow that Ageratum for its foliage alone, Christina, but the flowers are nice too.

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  4. It is stunning. I love the colours. The Renga Lily is gorgeous and you grow such lovely Alstroemerias.

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    1. Alstroemerias love southern California, Chloris.

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  5. Beautiful!! I love fresh garden bouquets

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    1. So do I, Louis! I just needed the kick in the behind provided by Cathy's meme to get me to put them together.

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  6. A most beautiful arrangement. I love the foliage - so striking!

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