Summer is a time for simple pleasures and I chose to keep my vases simple as well this week. As my cutting garden has nothing new to offer yet, I selected plants I've used before this season but I hope the mixes seem fresh.
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| It suddenly occurred to me last week that this vase was practically made for Agapanthus |
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| Back view: The Abelia used here has reached extraordinary heights in my north side garden and is seriously in need of grooming so I got a start on that Sunday morning when I cut stems for my vases |
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| Top view: I initially included a couple of aster stems as well but removed them at the last minute |
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| Clockwise from the left: Abelia grandiflora 'Hopley's Variegated', noID Agapanthus, and shaggy Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum) |
The first arrangement had a couple of hitchhikers, one of which I was able to get outside unscathed.
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| I thought this was a baby grasshopper and it resembles some labeled as such online but its long, thin antenna suggest it could be a katydid |
My second arrangement sits on the opposite end of the color spectrum from my first.
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| Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' and Grevillea 'Superb' are planted near one another in my front garden and I thought they were meant to be combined |
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| Back view: I added the frilly foliage of Agonis flexuosa 'Nana' to flesh out this arrangement |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Cuphea 'Vermillionaire', Grevillea 'Superb', and Lantana 'Lucky Yellow' |
Last week's vases held up fairly well. The one on my kitchen island is still in place, albeit without the faded pincushion flowers (
Scabiosa columbaria). The blue Lisianthus (
Eustoma grandiflorum) in my front entry had enough blooms and buds to last another week so those flowers were tucked into a smaller vase with flowers left over after I finished putting together the vases shown above.
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| I cut the spent dark blue Lisianthus blooms, leaving the lavender blooms that opened during the course of last week. They mix well with the flowers of the California aster (Symphyotricum chilense) I'd originally intended to include in the first vase, as well as leftover Abelia stems. |
Last week's dark red
Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset' stems still looked as fresh as they did last week so I recycled them too even though I tossed the rest of the contents of their vase.
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| This onyx vase doesn't hold water well so I cut the Leucadendron stems a bit shorter and added them to the vase without water along with stems of bunny tail grass (Lagurus ovatus) I picked a couple of weeks ago |
To see what other contributing gardeners have put together for IAVOM,
visit our host, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2020 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
