I recently bought a collection of five small, inexpensive glass vases, each a different color but with the same tear drop shape. I filled three of them this week with stems snipped from various areas of the garden.
The vibrant blue
Salvia macrophylla in my front garden started me on this path. It has produced sporadic blooms this summer but this week it's suddenly full of flowers. The blue color of the
Salvia is so bright it makes any most blue or purple blooms paired with it look dull so I kept things simple, adding just a few stems of
Abelia 'Radiance' and variegated
Caryopteris (noID).
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| The bright blue flowers even make the cobalt blue vase look somber |
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| It'll be interesting to see if the Salvia macrophylla flowers hold up in a vase - they don't last long in the garden |
I constructed the second vase around a few short stems of
Clematis terniflora (aka Sweet Autumn Clematis), the only
Clematis I've ever managed to grow successfully here. I added two stems of
Erysimum linifolium 'Variegatum' and reused the stem of
Eustoma grandiflorum 'Borealis Yellow' from last week's vase.
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| In contrast to the blue vase, this one has a subdued aura |
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| Thus far, most of the Clematis blooms are sitting in the sun at the very top of the arbor supporting the vine - I could reach only a few of the side shoots |
I used flowers with orange tones in the third, amber-colored vase.
Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' is blooming again but its stems are short so a small vase is perfect. I added
Zinnias,
Abelia 'Kaleidoscope', and
Russelia 'Flamingo Park' to fill it out.
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| This is my personal favorite out of this week's arrangements |
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| I think the Zinnias steal the show from the Grevillea |
Vases this size are easy to tuck into spots throughout the house, which I did.
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| The blue vase sits in the kitchen window (where the glare made it hard to photograph); the green vase sits on the master bedroom mantle; and the amber vase sits on a side table in the living room |
I had some extra stems of
Abelia 'Kaleidoscope' left over so I threw together a larger vase for the front entryway starring
Gaillardia 'Arizona Sun', which is starting to wane in the front garden.
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| In addition to the Abelia and Gaillardia, this vase contains Coreopsis 'Redshift' (which has been fried by the heat this summer) and immature fruits of an Arbutus 'Marina' |
Meanwhile, the large succulent vase I created two weeks ago is back on the dining room table.
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| A few succulent leaves have withered since I created this water-less vase but I suspect I stressed it by leaving it sitting in full sun outside for a few hours a week ago |
Visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden, the host of the "In a Vase on Monday" meme to find still more flower and foliage arrangements.
All material
© 2012-2015 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Wow, no down time for you! I love the three small vases with their color focus, they would look excellent grouped together, as well as tucked in as you've done.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, small vases help when all you have in the garden to fill them are bits and pieces (unless you count the pink Eustoma, of course).
DeleteI like the orange arrangement best too, but I really like that cobalt blue vase. The Zinnias do stand out, but there's something special about Grevillea flowers, even when they're only partially open.
ReplyDeleteThat Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' is odd. Not only are the stems short but the flowers tend to form near the bottom of the shrub. But I still love it.
DeleteHi Kris, I really appreciate that you are putting a vase, or sometimes three, together every week and share them here on your blog with your readers. I think you are getting better and better at this :-)!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite this week is the green vase with the dainty white clematis blooms and the big blousy light yellow Eustoma. I like the contrast with between these two different blooms in particular.
That intense blue salvia in the first vase is simply stunning, but as you stated not easy to combine in an arrangement.
Looking already forward what you will be doing next Monday!
Warm regards,
Christina
Thanks Christina! I hope the Clematis is just getting started, although I did discover that I've got a problem with aphids there :(
DeleteYour vases are perfectly matched in bloom and glass color.....I am always partial to blues, but they all look lovely Kris. I wish I had that much variety at this tie of year.
ReplyDeleteSadly, the blue Salvia is already fading. I was afraid it wouldn't last long.
Deletethat white vase of succulents, that I first saw on Pam @ Digging's post, is what hooked me on your blog.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you like the succulent vase, Diana. It's one of 3 I've attempted so far. They take a little longer to put together than a conventional vase but last much longer.
DeleteThe little vases are cute, and glass always adds so much in color and shine. I am torn between the beautiful true blue of the Salvias, radiating blueness and with the cute variegated leaves, versus the red flowers with the lovely loopy Grevillea flowers, but I would be jazzed to see the red flowers in the blue vase and the blue flowers in a red vase. The green vase would look good with any flowers with green leaves, while I like that you used the amber vase to pick up the colors in the Eustoma flowers, you are so tempting me to try to grow them next year. I liked the photos of Pam who featured your garden, she seemed to capture scenes of your garden I hadn't seen before.
ReplyDeleteI'm always surprised when I see a blogger's garden I think I know through the lens of another blogger, Hannah. Perhaps we get stuck in a rut when photographing our own gardens.
DeleteAll of your vases look beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jeanette!
DeleteI like all the three vases, Kris, they all look so fresh although displaying such a variety of colours and shapes. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteThe new vases gave me license to think beyond the pink Eustoma this week, Anca.
DeleteOverachiever! As much as I love a deep blue flower, I have to say the photos of the vases in place sold me on the second vase with the more muted tones. So elegant! And once again - that succulent arrangement remains a star by any standard. It will be fun to see these vases back into play with other color arrangements week to week - looking forward to more!
ReplyDeleteOnce I start clipping things, I do seem to get carried away with the exercise, Deb ;)
DeleteYou are so good with color!
ReplyDeleteThanks Hoover Boo! I am hung up on color combinations - in the garden and in a vase.
DeleteAll of your vases are wonderful Kris. The Grevillea is really an interesting plant. That blue salvia is something I'd like to add to my garden. It has amazing color.
ReplyDeleteThat blue Salvia is amazing but, as I'd feared, it doesn't hold up long in a vase.
DeleteThe small coloured vases are very pretty and very useful, I have too many large vases! The agree with you that the third amber vase is my favourite but they are all lovely; it is wonderful to have so many fresh flowers around the house.
ReplyDeleteMy former garden didn't have much in the way of flower power, Christina, and I started creating tiny vases then as a way to make the most with what I had. But they also have the advantage of allowing us to highlight blooms that would get lost in large arrangements.
DeleteAll your vases are very attractive...I have a thing for grevilleas I just love the shape of the individual flowers. You have a fantastic range of material, and a great head for colour. I shall be on the look out for a green glass vase. It really works for almost any colour I would think.
ReplyDeleteI've fallen hard for Grevilleas myself, Noelle. I had none in my former garden but, in less than 5 years I'm already up to a dozen in my current garden.
DeleteI adore your little coloured vases and my favourite of the three (if I had to choose!) would be the second one with its subdued aura (a wonderful and apt description!)
ReplyDeleteI do love the delicate blooms of the Clematis in that green vase, Ann.
DeleteYes, the amber coloured vase is my favourite this week too - gorgeous! I do love the blue vase, and the white clematis is really pretty. But the colour of those Zinnias is just right for the autumn season. :)
ReplyDeleteI recently pulled most of what I had in the raised vegetable planters I'm using as a small cutting garden but I hung on to a few of the Zinnias and I'm glad I did, Cathy - with cooler temperatures at night but warm days, they're still producing new blooms.
DeleteWow, your Salvia macrophylla is every bit as blue as my S. reptans and a good deal larger-flowered! It looks wonderful. Sorry to read that the flowers dropped so fast - what a contrast to your Eustoma, which keeps on and on... I love the idea of the three related vases of varying colours...
ReplyDeleteThat Salvia macrophylla is almost startling when it's in full bloom, Amy. It really is an unusually vivid blue.
DeleteI love the blue Salvia, I just love that real intense blue which is so rare. I think I bought that one but it didn't survive - it's obviously worth it to try again. The clematis looks quite similar to Clematis paniculata which is native to NZ and grows wild here as well as being cultivated. The Zinnia look great with the warm colour of the wood and surrounds.
ReplyDeleteThe Salvia was slow to establish but I've had more luck with it than other Salvias, many of which don't survive the summer season here.
DeleteThose are lovely - and so pretty with the flowers matching the vases. I bring flowers inside, but not often enough. I do like that you paired the shrub stems with the flowers. You have so many beautiful things blooming in your garden. I posted about another LA garden yesterday, fyi.
ReplyDeleteThanks Diana! I've fallen behind on my blog reading but I'll be sure to check out your latest LA post.
DeleteI always love all your flower arrangements, but the brilliant blue of those salvia is special. -Jean
ReplyDeleteI love that Salvia but I've decided it's probably better left in the garden than stuck in a vase. It fell apart within a day.
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