Monday, March 4, 2019

In a Vase on Monday: Everything but the kitchen sink

It poured here on Saturday but as I had a busy Sunday planned I plunged into the garden and cut everything within easy reach before dashing back in the house to shake myself off.  I shoved everything into a vase Saturday night and photographed my arrangement early Sunday before I left the house.  This is a long-winded way of explaining why the contents of this week's "In a Vase on Monday" are crammed especially tightly, even by my standards.

Grevillea 'Superb' got me started.  All the Grevillea flowers shown here are part of a single stem.

The Euphorbia rigida shown in the back view is a holdover from the "tulip" vase created 2 weeks ago

Freesias flop under normal circumstances but rain often leaves them plastered to the ground so I cut a few of those stems too

Clockwise from the upper left: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Argyranthemum frutescens, Cuphea 'Vermillionaire', Euphorbia rigida, Freesia, Lotus berthelotii 'Amazon Sunset', Prunus laurocerasus and, in the middle, Grevillea 'Superb'.  Also included but not photographed (because it's been obscured by other plants) is Grevillea alpina x rosmarinifolia.


On my run through the garden on Saturday, I noticed that the first of the pre-sprouted tulips I planted a few weeks ago was blooming and I briefly considered cramming it into this vase as well but I held off on the assumption that I could use these flowers next week.  However, on a tour of my garden Sunday afternoon a blogger friend pointed out that something had snapped the head off one of the tulips so whether you'll see any of these in a future vase is anybody's guess.

It seems that even when Mother Nature provides favorable weather conditions, the prospects for growing tulips in my garden may be dim


Last week's vases are still in passable shape so I stopped at one vase this week.  It's sitting on the dining room table.  For more Monday vases, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.



All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

26 comments:

  1. So glad that you continue to get rain but hope mudslides aren't an issue. Crammed or not, your vase is gorgeous.

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    1. Mudslides have been a lesser issue here than in NorCal, at least thus far. Supposedly, we have another 2 inches or thereabout of rain coming over the next few days. And even my sandy soil is saturated already.

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  2. More rain? You must be glad. I like to see lots of flowers crammed into a vase. If you've got it flaunt it! It is lovely; such pretty sunset colours and as usual I am jealous of your dreamy grevilleas.

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    1. That particular Grevillea, which I think was the first one I planted, just blooms and blooms without stopping. You'd think it'd be worn out by now.

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  3. What a lovely exuberant arrangement. Am jealous you are picking flowers. Am looking at nothing but snow. Spring still seems a ways away yet.

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    1. Spring actually seems a bit delayed in unfolding here by comparison to prior years, L2G. We've been a lot wetter and colder than "normal" and the comparison to last year couldn't be more different but then the weather pundits have been telling us to expect more extremes in terms of both rain and drought.

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  4. All the grevillia blooms from one stem - that's one generous plant! Your vase has a mouth-tingling citrus feel to it today, most refreshing!

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    1. There was actually one more Grevillea flower on that stem but it didn't hang properly in the vase so I cut it off. This Grevillea is an overachiever.

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  5. That Grevillea is so aptly named. You can console yourself with knowing that the same thing often happens to tulips grown everywhere else. Apparently they're yummy.

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    1. While I wasn't entirely surprised about the loss of the first tulip bloom (suspecting it must relate somehow to my tulip karma), I was very unhappy. Mean squirrels!

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  6. A feast for my eyes this hideously cold morning. Oh! If only we could grow Grevillea. You must be happy to have had some rain and I think more to come while we will be getting more of what we are getting.

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    1. Yes, it looks as though we're due for something on the order of double the rain we got last week. It's getting positively muddy out here!

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  7. I like a full vase and the green, red and yellow really sing together. I just had to go out in a freezing hailstorm to tuck in my hens. Not fun. Hopefully your rain is warmer than ours.

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    1. We've been getting a mix of warmer rain from the south and cold blasts from the north. The rain over the weekend wasn't too cold but I've no idea where the storm due Tuesday-Thursday is coming from. I've got a tour of 8-9 year olds to lead at the botanic garden on Friday and, as I was there yesterday slip-sliding in the mud, I can only imagine what Friday's going to look like.

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    1. Every time I think maybe the rain has come to an end for the season I get nervous, Diana, but I admit we could use a little time between rainstorms to dry out - and I would love to have a REALLY big cistern to hold more of the rainfall on-site. My rain barrels are currently full even though I used some of what I had during the brief rain hiatus we had prior to last week.

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  9. I like this crammed look. It looks like you couldn't resist several flowers and decided to use them all. It turned out good.

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    1. I have a terrible problem with throwing stems in the trash once I've cut them, Lisa. If it becomes clear that some of what I've cut won't fit the arrangement I've envisioned, I'm more likely to cut MORE stems to make a second arrangement than I am to throw the excess stems in the trash.

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  10. Great cramming Kris! The flowers look so lovely and they seem to have fallen into a graceful arrangement, happy to be alongside each other! Could this be a new floristry style? Might try it myself when there is more to pick! Have a good week. Amanda

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    1. This one was more plonked together than arranged, Amanda. The flowers themselves rather than the florist deserve all the credit for any graceful qualities the arrangement shows.

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  11. I can almost smell the freesias. When she crams plants in her garden Loree Bohl call it "cramscapping." So you need to come up with an appropriate cram term for bouquets.

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  12. Beautiful freesias - what a lovely rich golden yellow!

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    1. They start out a more mellow yellow, Cathy, but gradually turn gold.

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