Without any blooms in my cutting beds, I've had to take a harder look at the rest of my garden for inspiration in preparing flower arrangements for "In a Vase on Monday," the popular meme hosted by Cathy at
Rambling in the Garden. My go-to plants for a couple of weeks now have been
Senna bicapsularis and
Barleria obtusa. While both are still in bloom, I couldn't think of anything new to do with either at the moment so I searched out some old standbys instead.
Grevillea 'Superb' literally blooms year-round here and its flowers provided the jumping off point for my first vase this week.
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| Tagetes lemmonii (aka Copper Canyon Daisy) just started its fall bloom cycle, providing a bright accent to the more subdued blooms of the Grevillea |
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| Other accents are provided by the variegated foliage of Coprosma 'Fire Burst' and berries of Nandina domestica |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Coprosma repens 'Fire Burst', flowers of Echeveria 'Blue Curls', Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder', berries of Nandina domestica, Tagetes lemmonii, and Grevillea 'Superb' |
My second vase celebrates the recovery of my Hong Kong orchid tree (
Bauhinia x blakeana). The semi-evergreen tree dropped all its leaves following the horrific heatwave we had in early July, the first time I've ever seen that happen. The leaves slowly came back in the months after that event but there were few flowers until recently. I cut 3 stems for a second small vase.
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| The orchid tree's blooms don't last longer than a few days but using them in a vase allows me to enjoy them close-up |
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| I embellished the back of the vase using Celosia 'Intenz' |
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| The top view shows off the reddish-pink blooms of a new Lisianthus I recently discovered at my local garden center |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Bauhinia x blakeana, Eustoma grandiflorum (aka Lisianthus), Gomphrena decumbens 'Itsy Bitsy', Celosia argentea 'Intenz Dark Purple', and Pseuderanthemum 'Texas Tri-star' |
For more vases created from materials gardeners have on hand,
visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
from Linda at Each Little World: I loved the shock of going from the peachy flowers to the pow of those hot pinks. You are lucky to be able to grow Nandina. I remember when I first saw it in garden books and was so excited until I saw the Zone.
ReplyDeleteNandina is treated a lot like Agapanthus here, with a measure of disdain because it's so common; however, I like it too! My Nandina all came with the house and are in serious need of a good pruning, which I hope to get to during our cool season.
DeleteI love the Grevillea-based arrangement. It reminded me that I have one with loads of buds on it in a front bed that will probably flower this winter, so I might be able to draw on it for this meme if I ever get back to blogging and participating. Of course mine is much smaller flowers than yours, but still that same exotic shape.
ReplyDeleteI adore Grevillea and I suspect I have nearly as many as I have Leucadendron, although I haven't counted them. I've found that those with smaller flowers have longer vase life than those with large flowers like 'Superb'.
DeleteThose Bauhinia are stunning. I like to bring short flowering things in as you can really enjoy them and pass them more often. Hopefully you can pick more when these go over. I think I'm going to try Gomphrena next year.
ReplyDeleteThe Bauhinia usually produces its largest flush of flowers in September here but it was still in recovery mode then. Maybe it'll respond with more if/when we get some rain.
DeleteOh the pink vase is especially delightful, Kris - I love all the different elements, and you have done brilliantly combining them when pickings are relatively slim. It was interesting to read Donna's interview with you, which helped to build up a picture of who you are - thanks for sharing so many interesting facts about your life
ReplyDeleteI just wish the Bauhinia in the pink arrangement had a longer vase life, Cathy. The flowers practically beg to be admired, which can be hard to do when they're well above one's head.
DeleteOh so pretty! Love the tree orchid and lisanthus combination.
ReplyDeleteThat's actually my favorite this week too, Peter, but don't tell anyone ;)
DeleteI love all the colours in your two vases Kris, especially the corals and golds in the first vase. Really beautiful! I'd love to see your garden - it must be full of colour and different textures! Thank you! Amanda
ReplyDeleteI show off the larger garden in a quarterly "wide shots" post if you're interested, Amanda. My next one of those is scheduled for January.
DeleteI always love your peachy arrangements and gorgeous grevillea. My Tagetes lemmonii is still not in bloom, at this rate the frost will get it before it has a chance.
ReplyDeleteLovely pinks too, lucky you having a Bauhinia tree.
My Tagetes was somewhat late to bloom this season too, Chloris, at least by comparison to some of the plants elsewhere in my neighborhood. In my case, I think that's due to its placement in partial shade. I only cut a few stems for my arrangement as my husband doesn't care for its scent.
DeleteYour first vase has nice fall colors, but I must say I love the heart-stopping pink of the second - so pretty. The Bauhinia leaves are pretty neat, too. Enjoyed reading your interview over at Donna's. Nice to see a face to put with the blogger! :)
ReplyDeleteI admit to hating photos of myself, Eliza. My husband took that one to fulfill a request from the Garden Bloggers' Fling organizers earlier this year - it's the only current picture of me I have that isn't 5 years out of date.
DeleteCopper Canyon daisy is a particularly rich shade.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great plant, Diana. Relatively drought tolerant and a reliable and prolific bloomer. The only negative is that some people (my husband included) dislike its scent.
DeleteA new Lisianthus? Keep 'em coming! I can't get enough of all your interesting blooms Kris. Glad the Hong Kong orchid tree recovered. Enjoyed your interview on Donna's blog too. Take care.
ReplyDeleteI'm equally amazed that new Lisianthus continue to materialize, Susie. As they've previously been described as difficult to grow from seed, I can only speculate that growers have found a way to propagate (and hybridize) them more easily.
DeleteOk Kris this is completely off topic, but I really enjoyed your Blogger profile on Donnas' blog. So the mystery novel thing...I read them constantly until about 5 or 6 years ago, and I went on hiatus. I started in high school with Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes; I read them all. I my adult years I favored Josephine Tey, Ngiao Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, Ruth Rendell, PD James and so on. Favoring the Brits as you can see, but I also read all the Dashiel Hammets and John D. McDonalds Travis McGee series.I used to subscribe to a mystery novel newsgroup back in the day. Oh and by the way, you sure have a bounty still for your vases-things are on the wane here.
ReplyDeleteI love Agatha Christie, Kathy. I should delve into some of the other giants of mystery you mention as I've been neglectful there. I've enjoyed Louise Penny's Inspector Gamache series and I've read a number of the Sherlock Holmes' "reboots," including the Mary Russell series featuring Holmes and his spouse (!) by Laurie Kind and recent publications by Anthony Horowitz. I'm mid-way through a debut novel by a new author, Stuart Turton, entitled "The Seven and a Half Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle." It's an immersive experience but the jury's still out. In the "guilty pleasure" category, I admit to reading every one of the books in J.D. Robb's futuristic Eve Dallas series. (Robb is a pseudonym for Nora Roberts.)
DeleteOh man, these are so, so beautiful. That first one really blew me away! The Grevillea and the Nandina really make it--it's awesome! (I need to check out your interview. I will do that after this.)
ReplyDeleteI love my Grevilleas!
DeleteYour Bauhinia x blakeana is such a signature plant in your garden it’s wonderful to know it’s sprung back. Too bad it doesn’t last longer in a vase.
ReplyDeleteIt's also too bad that so many of the Bauhinia's flowers appear well above my head, Loree! But I guess I should just be happy that it's possible to cut flowers from some low-hanging branches.
DeleteMy fave is the pink confection of orchid tree. Orchid "tree" sounds so exotic to me. I wonder if I have ever seen one in person or just feel like it because I have started reading a couple of blogs that speak of it from time to time. The other is pretty too being so bright, like a spot of sunshine.
ReplyDeleteThe Bauhinia is a sub-tropical tree so it fits our no-freeze climate but I don't see many of the trees here even so, Lisa. Mine came with the house.
DeleteThose pinks are all lovely together Kris. In your first vase I took a closer look at the Nandina berries as I have recently bought a small Nandina shrub which claimed to be pretty hardy. I wonder if it will produce berries next year, or if I will have to wait till it grows a bit. I enjoyed reading the interview with you on Donna's blog too! :)
ReplyDeleteI hope the Nandina works for you, Cathy. It's a tough plant here and, if it can handle our summers, it may be equally good at toughing out your winters.
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