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.