The dahlias in my cutting garden are still relatively plentiful but, as many of the new blooms are side shoots growing on slender stems, they tend to collapse before I'm ready to cut them. Hence my decision to stuff my vase with the flowers of three different dahlias.
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| Dahlia 'Punkin Spice' got the starring role |
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| The back of the vase was filled out with Dahlias 'Terracotta' and 'Labyrinth' |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Dahlia 'Punkin Spice', Duranta repens 'Gold Mound', Leucadendron salignum 'Chief', Dahlia 'Labyrinth', D. 'Terracotta', and Zinnia elegans |
In search of additional flowers for that first vase, I paid my first visit to my back slope in a month or more. It's a mess and it needed tending well before now but, after two run-ins in a row with fire ants down there, I kept finding excuses to avoid the area. Piles of lemons are rotting under the tree, which is seriously in need of harvesting, and burned-out
Centranthus and other plants are in need of pruning. I made a start before turning to attention to the flowering crossvine that drew me down there in the first place.
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| Flowers of the crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) open with a tangerine color but quickly turn pinkish and I decided they'd look better with Dahlia 'Otto's Thrill' than the vivid red-orange of 'Punkin Spice' |
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| Back view: I filled out the vase with pink zinnias and the flowers of what I think is English ivy (Hedera helix). The ivy is an invasive pest in Southern California. I'm constantly cutting the plants that creep across our property line on the south side, as well as the ivy on my upper slope, inherited with the garden. |
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| Top view: The crossvine is also a pest. While its massive trunk sits on our property, it was planted by a neighbor long before we purchased the property and it's woven through her fencing. The flowers are pretty but the vine is a monster to control. |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Dahlia 'Otto's Thrill', Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Hedera flowers, Bignonia capreolata (aka crossvine), and pink varieties of Zinnia elegans |
I hope to get back to work on the back slope today or tomorrow while our temperatures are on the cool side. The roofers will be back today and the painters are expected to be back to finish spray-lacquering my kitchen cabinets as well - facing the fire ants may well be preferable to their combined auditory assault.
For more IAVOM creations,
visit our host, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
