In a Vase on Monday: Christmas cheer

I picked cheerful Christmas-y colors to see in the holiday week, depending heavily on stems of my Grevillea 'Superb', although the initial inspiration for the following arrangement was the zinnia flowers still blooming off and on in my cutting garden.  I pulled up my zinnia "crop" in October but missed two plants by accident.  Now that I've seen that they can produce flowers into December, next year I may purposely leave some tucked in corners to provide color while my cool season flowers are getting started.

Front view with Zinnia 'Benary's Giant Coral' front and center

Back view, showing off a couple of stems of a snapdragon planted as part of a mix of plugs in late October

Overhead view

Clockwise from the upper left: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', noID Antirrhinum majus, Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey', Grevillea 'Superb', Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder', and Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Giant Coral'

A handful of blue flowers called out to me this week too.  As we expect to see another atmospheric river flowing through Southern California beginning Tuesday evening and possibly extending into the weekend, I didn't hesitate to cut them to fill the small vase on our kitchen island.  The butterfly-like flowers of Rotheca myricoides 'Ugandense' in particular don't hold up well under pounding rain.  The rain is welcome here, even if a soggy Christmas isn't ideal.  However, I do hope it comes down gently so it doesn't worsen conditions in the burn or landslide areas.

Clockwise from the upper left: arrangement in place, overhead view, and closeups of Cistus ladanifer 'Blanche', noID Cyclamen, Rotheca myricoides 'Ugandense', and Salvia 'Mystic Spires'.  In retrospect, I should've used a softer foliage plant as a filler instead of the Cistus stems, but oh well.

For more IAVOM creations, visit our band leader, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

All material © 2012-2025 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party