While I have a few red flowers in the garden, I couldn't come up with any mixes that excited me. Given last week's unseasonably hot and dry conditions, my color schemes were driven by a desire to make use of selected flowers before Mother Nature left them withered shells rather than flowers in colors more appropriate for Valentine's Day.
My first arrangement was inspired by the blooms of the 'Chantilly' snapdragons I planted in late November. Snapdragons don't do at all well in the heat here and, even though temperatures are expected to drop today, I'm not sure how long the cooler weather may last. It felt more like early summer than early spring last week and some cool-season flowers have already taken a hard hit.
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| There weren't enough snapdragon stems to rely exclusively on those so I called on my standby Grevilleas for support |
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| Back view: In addition to the fancy 'Chantilly' snapdragons, I cut a noID orange-flowered variety I purchased as part of a 6-pack mix I planted last fall |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Antirrhinum majus 'Chantilly Bronze' and 'Chantilly Peach', noID Antirrhinum majus, Freesia, Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', G. 'Poorinda Leane', G. 'Superb', and Agonis flexuosa 'Nana' |
I spied a couple of stems of pink Alstroemeria poking up beneath one of my large shrubs and picked those for a second arrangement thinking I might be able to play off those flowers to create something with a Valentine's Day flair. When I couldn't find anything in the right tone to serve as a focal point, I cut yet another stem of Hippeastrum 'Luna'.
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| The pale green of Hippeastrum 'Luna' provides a nice complement to the pink Alstroemeria. 'Luna' just keeps on giving. Each of the 3 bulbs in the large pot produced at least 3 bloom stalks. I still have one stalk in the early stages of bloom and what appears to be a newly developing stalk. In addition, I have another pot with one bulb that has 3 stalks in the early stage of blooming. |
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| Most of the pink blooms ended up pushed to the back of the arrangement. I included one half-open Anemone coronaria flower because the hot, dry conditions have been putting a very quick end to the Anemones. |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Anemone coronaria*, noID Antirrhinum majus (part of the aforementioned 6-pack), white Freesia, pink Freesia with noID Alstroemeria, Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold', Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl', noID Narcissus, and Hippeastrum 'Luna'. *The Anemone doesn't appear to be the 'Mount Everest' variety I'd ordered. |
For more IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2022 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
