The garden may already be waking up to celebrate spring but it's been really cold here. Not as cold as many of you reading this may be used to in late February but cold by local standards. Our temperatures are barely exceeding 50F. Sunday was drizzly, offering more gray clouds than sun and enough of a breeze to make 50F feel colder still so I spent little time outside deliberating on what to use to fill my vases. I settled on
Alstroemeria and
Freesia as I walked out the door and made all my other selections to accent those choices.
Vase #1:
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| After I pulled 3 stems of pink Alstroemeria, I realized it was looking a bit bedraggled but I decided not to second guess the choice and just kept moving |
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| I selected this as the back view but, in retrospect, I think I like it better than the front view |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the left, the vase contains: noID pink Alstroemeria, Coriandrum sativum (or cilantro gone to seed), noID Dianthus, yellow Freesia, noID Narcissus, Pyrethropsis hosmariense, and white Ranunculus asiaticus |
Vase #2:
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| This vase also started with Alstroemeria and Freesia. A red-flowered Freesia popped up in the middle of plants with pink and purple flowers so it was begging to be cut. |
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| The back view was meant to showcase 3 Leucadendron stems with rosebud-like "flowers" but I think they've been overshadowed by the vase's other contents |
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| Top view |
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This vase contains: Top row - Alstroemeria 'Inca Husky', Coriandrum sativum, and 'Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey'
Middle row - gold and red Freesia and Leucadendrum salignum 'Summer Red'
Bottom row - Lotus berthelotii 'Amazon Sunset', noID Narcissus, and red Ranunculus asiaticus |
The most unusual element in today's arrangements may be the
Lotus berthelotii, also known as Parrot's Beak. The flowers on this plant show up best when hanging down from a pot or other vertical element but most of mine are planted as ground covers. It's proven effective (thus far) in keeping the raccoons from digging but admittedly the flowers don't show to maximum advantage when the plants are used this way. It's an aggressive plant and needs regular trimming to keep it from covering everything in its path, although it's still less trouble than the raccoons.
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| Parrot's Beak just coming into bloom in the a garden bed on the south side of the house |
My vases are in place for another week.
Visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden to see what she and other bloggers have assembled this week.
All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
