I never thought I'd say that I have too many flowers available to cut in my garden but that's how I felt on Sunday morning. I usually fixate on a few flowers and create an arrangement (or two or three) but, with temperatures rising, the spring flowers that prefer cool temperatures are rushing to the finish line while the summer flowers are already getting ready to move in. Lilies are developing stalks; Agapanthus are sporting buds; and daylilies are already blooming here and there. I've started potting up my dahlia tubers to get them sprouted so I can move them into my cutting garden when the cool season flowers are ready to clear out. With mildew and rust already afflicting their foliage, I focused on making use of them while they're presentable.
My first vase made use of some of the peach foxgloves that shot up all at once.
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| I wasn't sure how I felt about mixing the pale peach foxgloves with the bright orange Leucospermums at first but I think Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer'helped to tie the whole thing together. |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Abelia grandiflora 'Hopley's Variegated', Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', Digitalis purpurea 'Peach Dalmatian', Leucospermum 'Royal Hawaiian Brandi', noID Ranunculus, and Xylosma congestum |
The second arrangement made use of the sweet peas and larkspur, as well as a few of the remaining blue Dutch Iris.
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| The larkspur grew especially tall this year yet only recently started blooming, at which point its stems started to topple over. The first variety of the sweet peas began blooming in mid-February. Another variety joined the display in March but I didn't see any evidence of others until late last week. |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: white Anthirrhinum majus (snapdragons); Consolida ajacis 'Summer Skies Mix' (larkspur) in various colors; Iris hollandica 'Sapphire Beauty'; and a mix of Lathyrus odoratus, most recently including 'April in Paris' |
And yes, there's a third vase this week. The stems of Alstroemeria 'Claire' included in one of last week's arrangements was still in good shape so I added two of the last anemones, as well as stems of the dark pink snapdragons (after removing their rust-covered foliage).
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| Anemone coronaria 'Rosa Tigrato' put on a good show but she doesn't appreciate the rising temperatures |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Allium neopolitatum, Antirrhinum majus, Hebe 'Wiri Blush', Alstroemeria 'Claire', and Anemone coronaria 'Rosa Tigrato' |
For more IAVOM creations, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
