Bouquets: The 'Red Dragon' Rises

The Persicaria 'Red Dragon' I planted from a cutting I brought with me from my old garden has filled out since the hard pruning I gave it in late winter.  Now that its stretched to 3 feet tall and more than 3 feet wide, I finally felt I could afford to cut some to use as a foliage accent in a floral bouquet - or two.  I started out composing a bouquet with Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun' as a centerpiece.  I thought I'd add Coreopsis 'Big Bang Redshift', which is just coming into flower, but, after cutting the Coreopsis, I decided that the red tones in the two flower varieties don't mix well - one red has an orange cast while the other has a purplish burgundy cast.   So, instead of one bouquet, I created two.

This is the bouquet based on the Gaillardia:

In addition to Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun' and Persicaria 'Red Dragon', this bouquet contains Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow' and Echinacea 'Pow Wow White'.  Although the red in the Persicaria leans a little closer to burgundy than orange, I think it effectively reflects the color at the center of the Gaillardia.

The second bouquet using Coreopsis 'Big Bang Redshift' is made of Persicaria 'Red Dragon', Tanacetum parthenium (aka feverfew), and a couple of 'Buttercream' roses.  I added the roses because the composition looked too wispy without a more substantial floral or foliage element.  The short-stemmed yellow roses were all I could find in the right color range.

That's it for the bouquets offered this week as a homage to the Garden Appreciation Society sponsored by Erin at The Impatient Gardener.