One of my favorite plants is Arthropodium cirratum (aka Renga lily), native to New Zealand. It has strappy evergreen leaves, tolerates dry shade, and produces sprays of beautiful flowers in early summer. Much as I love it, I've found it difficult to use in floral arrangements (probably because I'm prone to cramming too much into my vases). The plants have bloomed heavily this year and I was determined to use them in an arrangement that shows off the small flowers.
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| Resisting my usual predilection for stuffing vases, I used only 4 elements, 3 of which are tall and wispy |
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| Back view: The small Arthropodium flowers have white petals with fuzzy purple and yellow stamens |
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| Top view: I played off the purple in the Arthropodium's stamens using the flowers of Centaurea 'Silver Feather' |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Arthropodium cirratum, Centaurea 'Silver Feather', Dahlia 'Vancouver', and Leucanthemum x superbum |
Staying with the purplish theme, I cut a flowering artichoke for a second arrangement, although it ended up being the only thing that went into the vase.
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| The artichoke is Cynara scolymus 'Purple Romagna'. It's a full 12 inches in diameter and extremely heavy. It's also more prickly than any of my agaves and I got stabbed repeatedly just cutting its stalk. I used one of the only vases I had that could hold it without tipping over and it left no room for additions. |
Our marine layer is slowly fading. It was absent entirely at our elevation on Saturday morning and temperatures soared accordingly. Unfortunately, heat, wind, and dry conditions contributed to a wildfire in north Los Angeles County on Saturday, approximately a hundred miles away. It's already burned more than 12,000 acres and prompted evacuations, and it's still largely uncontained. Luckily, here along the coast, our morning marine layer returned yesterday and it looks as though it'll hang around for most of this week, even if it's lighter and likely to clear earlier.
For more IAVOM creations, drop in on Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party