I hadn't intended to go overboard on floral arrangements again this week but I started clearing out my cutting garden and, rather than dispatching with some perfectly presentable dahlias and zinnias, I cut a lot of them. When I was done with that, I gathered other materials from the larger garden to serve as fillers and I ended up with this:
My process of composing an arrangement is usually very different. I pick a bloom as my inspiration and wander the garden to search of suitable companions so, when I bring in a jar of plant materials into the kitchen, all that's left to do is to choose a vase and arrange the contents. This time, I had a hodge-podge of loosely-connected materials to pull together into something, or rather several somethings.
Vase #1 was inspired by two 'Belle of Barmera' Dahlia blooms and a couple of late blooming roses.
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This dahlia bloom and the 'Medallion' roses won't hold up long but they were too pretty to ignore
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Back side: The second 'Belle of Barmera' bloom had only just opened and was much pinker in color so I played that up with other pink flowers. I placed this side facing the wall in the front entry but, when the flowers shown in the front view wither, I'll turn this face forward.
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Top view
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Clockwise from the upper left: The older 'Belle of Barmera' Dahlia bloom followed by the more recent bloom, Abelia 'Kaleidoscope', Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Correa pulchella 'Pink Eyre', Rosa 'Medallion', noID pink Zinnia elegans, and Zinnia 'Senora'. Did you notice the droplets of water on the dahlia and roses? We got 0.02/inch of rain yesterday morning. Pitiful, yes, but our first rain since April.
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Vase #2 is a rehash of one of last week's arrangements.
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There were more blooms on Dahlia 'Gitts Crazy' this week, although once again I had to sacrifice well-developed buds to get stems long enough to work in a vase
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Back view, showing off more 'Queen Lime Blush' Zinnias and the first flowers of Senna bicapsularis, another of my favorite fall bloomers
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Top view
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Clockwise from the upper left: Dahlia 'Gitts Crazy', D. 'Labyrinth', noID Lonicera, Senna bicapsularis, and Zinnia elegans 'Queen Lime Blush'. (Agonis flexuosa 'Nana' was included in this arrangement too.)
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Vase #3 is also a version of one of last week's vases, fashioned to show off the last
'Iceberg' Dahlia.
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| The vase itself is different but the contents are the same as last week's arrangement, albeit with somewhat different proportions |
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Back view: The bush violet shrubs are now densely covered in flowers
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Top view
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Clockwise from the upper left: Barleria obtusa (aka bush violet), Dahlia 'Iceberg', Eustoma grandiflorum, and Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata'
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Vase #4 was all about the purplish zinnias.
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Shown here clockwise from the top left are: front and overhead views of the arrangement, noID pinkish-purple rose, Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Giant 'Lilac' and 'Benary's Giant Wine', and Agonis flexuosa 'Nana'
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I expect to have cleared out all the mildewed zinnias and all the dahlias with the exception of 'Gitts Crazy', 'Labyrinth' and 'Rancho' within the the next couple of days. I'll be sowing seeds and planting bulbs for my cool season flowers soon afterwards but I expect my choices for future flower arrangements will be limited for the next two to three months.
All material © 2012-2020 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
