I headed into the garden with one idea as to what I wanted for "In a Vase on Monday," the popular meme hosted by Cathy at
Rambling in the Garden, but I came back with something entirely different. Unlike Cathy, I don't usually do much with props but today's vase did bring one thing to mind: breakfast!
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| Yogurt and berries are my regular breakfast |
Unfortunately, I was hungry so I ate my prop before arranging my vase but here it is, prop-less:
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| Front view: The blue Eustoma grandiflorum were a last minute addition - they're perfect floral stand-ins for blueberries (and they were flopping in the garden on weak stems) |
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| Back view: Abelia x grandiflora has been blooming for months now |
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| Top view: The pink Eustoma (the color of my strawberry yogurt), almost hidden here, is not nearly as heavily petaled as those that bloomed earlier |
I hadn't planned on using
Eustoma grandiflorum (Lisianthus) this week, at least not the blue or pink forms, but the flowers I initially cut needed something to punch up the arrangement so in they crept.
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| Clockwise from the left, the vase contains: blue Eustoma grandiflorum, shown with cinnamon basil stems peeking out below; Abelia x grandiflora; Angelonia angustifolia (possibly 'Archangel Raspberry') with a noID pink-flowering Hebe; pale pink Eustoma; and burgundy and dark pink forms of Pelargonium peltatum (aka ivy geranium) |
While the vase shown above featured berry colors, it didn't include any actual berries. I remedied that with a second vase. Simpler than the first, it has only 3 ingredients.
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| Front view: The orange berries are making a solid effort to eclipse the Grevillea and Leucadendron here |
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| The back view is all about the Leucadendron |
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| The top view looks more balanced |
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| From the left, the vase contains: berries of Auranticarpa rhombifolia, Grevillea 'Superb' and Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder' |
As other participants in this meme have commented, this meme can become addictive. Every time I consider skipping a week, I ask myself if I really want to go without flowers and/or foliage of some kind on my dining room table and, once I walk into the garden, the process takes hold and I find myself clipping a little of this and a little of that. So here we are, two vases to brighten the week:
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| One in the front entry |
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| One on the dining room table |
Visit Cathy to find what she and other participants have gathered from their gardens this week.
All material © 2012-2016 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Berry nice! (I'm so happy I got to be the first one to say that!) Of course you know I covet the orange one most of all...
ReplyDeleteAren't those orange berries perfect? I don't recall that they've ever looked this good.
DeleteOh your 'berry themed' one looks realy tasty - what a great range of colours, definitely reminiscent of a bowl of berries. As always you have managed to match foliage and other material in the second to perfection, definitely an autumn feel ps hope you enjoyed your breakfast!
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy my breakfast! We're lucky to have berries available all year here - in the markets, not my garden, although I do grow 3 large pots of blueberries.
DeleteLove your berry theme, Kris - it's brilliant and your arrangement is a perfect accompaniment!
ReplyDeleteIt was a bit too bad that I couldn't hold off breakfast until I finished the arrangement but at least I took a photo of the bowl before I gobbled it down and got back to work!
DeleteKris, you've outdone yourself. Absolutely love the rich colors of the first vase and am smitten with your Leucadendron too. Must say, the fruit looks delicious too. We've had lots of good summer fruit this year, especially peaches.
ReplyDeleteThe peaches here have been good too, although none of them grew in my garden. I've had difficulties with stone fruit here. However, I did pick 2 persimmons this morning, mainly to beat the birds to them, but they might finish ripening in the kitchen window.
DeleteThey're both gorgeous, but I love the arrangement with actual berries. And it's a new-to-me plant! I had to look up the Auranticarpa. Not much information on it as a garden plant, but it might be going on my wishlist for when I live somewhere mild enough to grow it.
ReplyDeleteThe Auranticarpa was formerly classified as Pittosporum rhombifolium so you may find more under that name, Evan. Apparently, former owners of our property planted an entire hedge of these plants along the street but, according to a neighbor, they almost immediately began dying off and were mostly replaced with Xylosma congestum. I've lost a few more since we moved in (and recently replaced those with Xylosma). The Auranticarpa is prone to chlorosis here - I've been giving the remaining plants chelated iron twice a year, which has helped some.
DeleteThink I like the tapestry of berry colors arrangement best, very autumnal.I agree with you about the addictive power of IAVOM.
ReplyDeleteI know I could cut and arrange flowers for the house without photographing them but the sharing is fun too!
DeleteOh my Kris these are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThanks Donna! I hope you're doing better! We miss hearing from you.
DeleteDelicious! (And the vases look lovely too! ;-) ) Seriously, that blue Eustoma really does make the first vase pop, and the berries in the second vase are very pretty and autumny too. Both wonderful arrangements again Kris. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Cathy! I agree about the blue Eustoma - those stems made a big difference as soon as I added them to the mix (just like blueberries do in my breakfast bowl).
DeleteYou just keep churning the flowers out and the stunning arrangements. Is there ever a Monday when you have no flowers blooming, I wonder? Those berries look good too. California must keep the best for itself because ours never look that ripe.
ReplyDeleteLast year, I resorted to using succulent cuttings in my vases due to a lack of flowers but this year I seem to always have something on hand (at least so far). The strawberries are variable but they've been very good the past 2 weeks.
DeleteBeautiful, as usual!! :o)
ReplyDeleteThanks Tammy!
DeleteIAVOM is a wonderful way to start the week and you always do it gloriously. I love that you ate your prop!
ReplyDeleteI really had planned to wait on breakfast until the vase was done...
DeleteGreat combination of colours, as usual!
ReplyDeleteThanks Anca!
DeleteThose Auranticarpa berries are to die for...! Love the way you've combined everything in these vases: berries for the first one, and a fruit sorbet for the second...
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the flowers and the berries are the best features of the Auranticarpa rhombifolia. The foliage almost always looks a bit sickly.
Delete