I had two floral arrangements in mind when I got up Sunday morning but the Hippeastrum I'd planned to use in one arrangement wasn't looking its best and the red dahlias I wanted to use in the other arrangement were no longer in prime condition. So I did my best to cobble something together. I added stems of Protea 'Pink Ice' to jazz up the elements but I struggled to get them to balance one another. I finally threw up my hands and decided that the mix would have to do as it was.
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| I used the most respectable red 'Good Day' Dahlias I could find and combined them 3 'Omega' Dahlias, then added 3 Proteas |
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| Back view: I used stems of Leucadendron 'Summer Red' and Agonis flexuosa as fillers. This Leucadendron is much paler in color than others of the same variety growing in sunnier areas of my garden. |
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| Overhead view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Leucadendron 'Summer Red', Dahlia 'Good Day, D. 'Omega', and Protea 'Pink Ice'. (My Protea 'Claire', which flowered earlier, got toasted during recent heatwave.) |
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| Arrangement in place in the front entryway |
After nearly two weeks of hot and humid weather, it's finally cooled down a bit. Last week, our afternoon temperature hit 102.5F (39C) at one point and got stuck there for a good part of the day. Hurricane Marie left us with miserably humid conditions for a time too but at least we avoided the flooding that plagued other areas and resulted in serious damage and evacuations elsewhere along the coast. We got a total of 0.56/inch of rain here. Yesterday's temperature hovered around 80F (26C) and we're hoping for more of the same for the rest of this week. It's time for me to get back to work in the garden!
Check in with Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to discover what she and other contributors to IAVOM have put together this week.
All material © 2012-2026 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
Even if you were not satisfied yourself, Kris, the dahlias and protea work really well together, with the colours complementing each other perfectly. Good to know your temperatures have dropped a bit now
ReplyDeleteI can only hope that we've seen the last of the intense heat, Cathy. Meanwhile, my floral materials are steadily diminishing.
DeleteThat hurricane wreaked havoc along the coast. Glad you did not have flooding. That vase is gorgeous so I think it worked perfectly. Hope the hot humid weather lifts. We are cooled and will continue to gradually cool with autumn approaching.
ReplyDeleteHot temperatures have some tendency to rebound here before real fall conditions arrive here, Donna, but we can hope the worst of it is over anyway.
DeleteGosh, that looks much more impressive than simply "cobbling something together." The Proteas and Dahlias are perfect companions!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I was able to include a few Proteas this week. The ones that flowered earlier in my front garden have effectively already thrown in the towel.
DeleteThey look like starlets wrapped in feather boas, quite glamorous! I like it! Glad to hear the weather has improved a bit and Marie didn't cause you a problem. Time to get back to some normal SoCA weather! Eliza
ReplyDeleteThat's a very apt description of these Protea blooms, Eliza!
DeleteOh wow, the proteas and dahlias match color quite well! Very nice arrangement. Ugh to the hot weather again. Let's hope that's it for the heat this year.
ReplyDeleteI think I need to add more Proteas to my garden in the coming year ;)
DeleteThese flowers are gorgeous Kris! I love those colours. The final result is lovely… I sometimes fuss too much over my vases too but at the end of the day you have all that floral glory indoors to admire on a day when it is nicer indoors than out. 😁
ReplyDeleteSo true, Cathy! We've had too many of those miserably hot days of late but hopefully those will be behind us as we slowly slide into the fall season.
DeleteYes to the cooldown! I know you had your heart set on a totally different arrangement, but those are beautiful. Protea is such a long lasting winner.
ReplyDeleteI was pleased to discover that both my Proteas produced flowers this year, Tracy. Now to buy more Proteas!
DeletePink for the win!
ReplyDeleteIt's the best kind of pink ;)
DeleteBig, bold and stunning! I don't envy you those temperatures and humidity. It is is too bad the humidity can't be distilled into liquid!
ReplyDeleteOur temperatures are down but our humidity is up yet again. California's "dry heat" seems to be becoming a thing of the past.
DeleteI love Proteas and really enjoyed seeing this..102!? Good grief. A.melia
ReplyDeleteIn the past, I would have said "well, at least it's dry heat" but that's no longer true!
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