In a Vase on Monday: Ephemeral Beauty

The choice of material suitable for cutting remains skimpy but I ended up filling two vases anyway.  The first was built around Camellia sasanqua flowers, which although plentiful at the moment, are fragile and prone to shattering quickly, especially when cut.  Hence the title of this post.

I lost 3 Camellia flowers just in the process of cutting and arranging them

Back view: I used my "clasped hands vase" but, as if often the case, I ended up covering the hands with the pretty manicured fingernails with the vase's contents.  The curly green foliage shown here is scented Pelargonium 'Colocho'.

Overhead view

Clockwise from the upper left: noID Camellia sasanqua (possibly 'October Magic Rose'), Correa pulchella 'Pink Eyre', Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', and Pelargonium graveolens 'Colocho'

The second arrangement was inspired by my first Hippeastrum bloom.  I'd ordered thirteen new Hippeastrum bulbs (commonly called Amaryllis) this year, all of which I potted up between late October and early November.  I'd planned to give away some of those I'd planted in individual pots as holiday gifts but, to date, only one has shown any signs of growth.  Once it took off, it speedily reached bloom stage.  However, as I allowed it to get battered by rain in its early stages of development, it was stunted and not gift-worthy so I cut it for my vase.

This is Hippeastrum 'Double Razzmatazz'.  The other 2 of these have yet to show any sign of producing buds, even though they were planted in pots of the same size at the same time.  All the bulbs would probably respond better if grown inside where it's warmer but I don't have the space for them in my kitchen window (or anywhere else).

Back view: The stems of Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset' are colorful bracts but they're doing a good job of imitating flowers when set against the dark green foliage I included 

Overhead view, showing off 2 stems of the first paperwhite Narcissus to make an appearance in my garden

From the upper left: Cistus ladanifer 'Blanche', Hippeastrum 'Razzmatazz', Leucadendron salignum 'Safari Sunset', and Narcissus papyraceus

We've had no rain since the two storms that moved through in late November.  There was a little rain in the forecast afterwards but that didn't materialize.  There's now a projection for rain in mid-December and again in late December but it's still too early to get invested in either possibility.  Meanwhile, I'm rapidly using up the rainwater I collected earlier.

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

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