In a Vase on Monday: Before and After

After one week of cooler weather, temperatures are climbing once again in southern California and the Santa Ana winds are blowing.  The winds, called "devil winds" during California's Spanish colonial period, are the source of as many problems as the heat, increasing the danger of wildfires and drying up soil, plants, and the gardener's skin.  The Santa Anas have a place in popular mythology too.  They featured prominently in Raymond Chandler's 1938 story, "Red Wind," in which Chandler described the hot, dry winds as those "that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch."

This is a long-winded (no pun intended) way to explain how I chose the centerpiece for the bouquet I put together in connection with Cathy's weekly meme at Rambling in the Garden.  I don't have many hybrid tea or floribunda roses so I use them sparingly as cut flowers, if at all.  But, when the Santa Anas blow, these flowers can shrivel or blow to pieces overnight so, facing that prospect, I cut 2 stems of my lavender rose, consisting of 2 full-blown blooms and 4 buds, for today's vase.

This was my first pass at constructing my bouquet.

Vase, sitting in my kitchen window with a cookie jar pig I use as a tea caddy

I'm uncertain as to the name of the rose, which came with the house.  The best guess is 'Angel Face,' although the blooms are much bigger than those of the 'Angel Face' I grew in my former garden.  However, like that rose, the flowers are extremely fragrant.

I accented the roses with Pentas, ornamental oregano, Gaura, and stems from one of my favorite variegated foliage plants.

Pentas lanceolata 'Kaleidoscope Appleblossum'

Origanum 'Monterey Bay'

Gaura lindheimeri 'Snow Fountain'

Pseuderanthemum 'Texas Tri-Star'

The arrangement was fine but I thought it needed something else with volume to fill the space between the roses and the wispy Gaura.  I went hunting in my garden for the white form of Centranthus ruber which, along with the pink varieties, is a virtual weed here.  Unfortunately, the big white blooms had been wiped out by the last heatwave.  I found only smaller sprays of white Centranthus.  Even the pink varieties, on their second bloom cycle, were relatively small.  I added some of both to the bouquet anyway.  Here's the "after" photo:

Vase after the addition of Centranthus ruber

The addition of the Centranthus did help fill out the arrangement from the back.

Although all my photos were once again taken in the kitchen, the bouquet sits in my home office, where I can enjoy the fragrance.  (Taking a good picture in my home office appears to be impossible.)

This is my contribution to Cathy's meme.  Please visit her at Rambling in the Garden to see what she's cooked up this week and to find links to the creations of other participating gardeners.