I took advantage of a warm, dry spell to do some clean-up in the garden this weekend. My chores started with cutting back the tall, lanky stems of
Melianthus major to make way for the new growth that had already sprouted at the plant's base. I pulled the snapdragons that were covered in rust in the cutting garden, preserving just a few of the less blemished stems. I cut the
Narcissus flowers that got plastered in our last rain storm to save them the indignity of a repeat performance when rain arrived again Sunday night. And I cut back the floppy stems of the Copper Canyon daisies (
Tagetes lemmonii), the Moroccan daisies (
Rhodanthemum hosmariense) that had their faces in the dirt, and some lanky stems of stock (
Matthiola incana). All these elements were retained for use in this week's vase, or rather vases. While the
Melianthus foliage complemented everything well enough, the flowers fought with one another and had to be separated.
I'd wanted to use purple and blues this week; however, there weren't enough blooms in those colors to make a splash. In contrast, the pink flowers in the garden screamed for attention.
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| Pink flowers were used as the focal point in this vase with purple and blue serving as accents |
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| Most of the purple and blues were relegated to the back of the vase |
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| The large leaves of the Melianthus made it difficult to get decent views of the vases from the top |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, this vase contains: Camellia x williamsii 'Taylor's Perfection', noID Dianthus, Lavandula multifida, Limonium perezii, Melianthus major, Rhodanthemum hosmariense, Globularia indubia, and Matthiola incana |
The last few stems of the snapdragons set the color scheme for the second vase.
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| I tried to give the arrangement some panache with the first Calla Lily of the season |
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| The back is all about the Melianthus foliage |
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| Clockwise from the left, the vase contains: Zantedeschia aethiopica, Antirrhinum majus, noID Narcissus, Melianthus major, and Tagetes lemmonii |
I threw the leftover stems of
Melianthus and
Narcissus into a third vase because I didn't have the heart to toss them in the trash.
Both the
Narcissus and the
Tagetes have scents my husband doesn't particularly like but he hasn't complained (yet).
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| The pink and purple vase sits in the entry; the second vase is on the dining room table; and the third is in my office |
For more "In a Vase on Monday" arrangements,
visit our host, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
