It's time to pull up my warm-season cutting garden. I've been tossing plants out here and there for the past month and just about every remaining plant looks sad. I'm already late in sowing my sweet pea and other cool-season seeds. With lots of empty spots in my raised planters, the raccoon intrusions are increasing. Two 'Lavender Ruffles' Dahlias are looking good enough to hold onto for a little longer but that's it. I'll work around them for a little while but I'm ready to abandon the summer bloomers at last.
As I'm clearing beds and barrels of dahlias and zinnias I have a four (!) arrangements this week. I actually emptied the barrel in my front garden containing Dahlia 'Karma Prospero' last Wednesday after the raccoons tossed it yet again. Half the soil was on the ground and the rocks I'd placed to deter the little monsters were buried in the remaining soil. So I put together a vase on Wednesday featuring the last of those dahlia flowers.
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| I added a few purple zinnias from the cutting garden and a single stem of Amarine belladiva 'Emanuelle'. An Amarine is a hybrid of Amaryllis belladonna and Nerine. Although 5 Amarine bulbs in my garden have produced foliage, only one has bloomed thus far. |
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| Back view |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Amarine belladiva 'Emanuelle', pink Dahlia 'Karma Prospero', surprise white flower of the same dahlia, Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', Pelargonium peltatum 'White Blizzard', Prostanthera ovalifolia 'Variegata', and Zinnia elegans 'Benary's Giant Purple' |
Looking for a change of pace, I cut a few stems of the bush violet (
Barleria obtusa) that exploded into bloom last week. Prompted by yet another heatwave and a little rain, it's blooming weeks ahead of schedule this year and already encroaching on its neighbors.
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| The arrangement could've used a touch of white but my garden is short on that color at present |
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| Back view, showing stems of Vitex trifolia (aka simpleleaf chastetree). When cut, the stems tend to droop, revealing the purple undersides of the leaves. I tried dipping the stem tips in hot water to firm them up but that didn't accomplish anything. |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Barleria obtusa, Conoclinium coelestium (aka blue mistflower and wild ageratum), Eustoma grandiflorum (aka lisianthus), Helichrysum petiolare 'Petite Licorice' (a virtual weed here), and Vitex trifolia |
With the dahlias and zinnias in the cutting garden facing removal, I cut the most presentable of them to mark the end of their season. Appropriately, Dahlia 'Summer's End' was one of these.
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| I reused the Cotoneaster berries and Leucadendron stems from last week's vase so this arrangement is essentially another spin on that one |
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| Back view |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', noID Cotoneaster, Dahlia 'Summer's End', Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder', Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum', and Zinnia elegans 'Queen Red Lime' |
Dahlia 'Break Out' wasn't quite ready for inclusion in a vase last week and its flowers were already a bit past their prime this week but I cut them anyway.
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| I decided to use the last of the 'Carmine Rose' Zinnias to play off the pink centers of the dahlia |
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| Back view, showing off the Australian fuchsia, Correa 'Wyn's Wonder' |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Correa 'Wyn's Wonder', Cuphea 'Honeybells', Dahlia 'Break Out', and Zinnia elegans 'Carmine Rose' |
For more IAVOM creations, visit our host, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2022by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
