I'm in a bit of a rut with my floral arrangements. Dahlias and zinnias have been carrying the show each week but, with summer reaching its climax, there's not much else in the garden in terms of flowers. In addition, a heatwave, currently well into its second week, is withering everything in sight. Heatwaves in summer are common here but extended heatwaves like the present one are not. At this location, our temperature peaked on Friday at 104F (40C), which is lower than it was elsewhere in California but still uncomfortable, even when you have an air conditioning system as we do - our system isn't robust enough to push the indoor temperature below the mid 80sF. But we're better off than many others - the temperature in San Francisco reached 106F a few days ago and the inland valley location my brother lives in has faced daytime temperatures of 111F. Worse yet, there are more wildfires, including the
La Tuna Fire approximately 50 miles to the east of us, said to be the largest Los Angeles has ever faced. A thunderstorm brought the temperature down some early Sunday evening and delivered a tenth of an inch of rain here; hopefully, it also aided firefighters.
I gathered more flowers than I'd planned this week on the theory that they'll fare better inside than outside.
Dahlia 'Otto's Thrill' is the last of the dahlias I grew from tubers this year to flower. The plant isn't vigorous so this may be its first and last appearance for "In a Vase on Monday" this year.
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| Dahlia 'Otto's Thrill' is a pink dinnerplate variety with a lavender cast |
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| I'm once again using zinnias to fill out my vases |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the left, the vase contains: Dahlia 'Otto's Thrill', Abelia x grandiflora 'Radiance', Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Helichrysum petiolare 'Silver Mist', noID Origanum, and 2 forms of pink Zinnia elegans |
Dahlia 'Punkin Spice' produced more blooms, which are far lighter in color than the bloom I shared a couple of weeks ago. A number of other dahlias showed signs of bleached petals during our heatwave but these flowers looked the most remarkably different.
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| Both of these flowers came from the plant labeled as Dahlia 'Punkin Spice'. The one on the left was cut yesterday and the one on the right was cut on August 20th. As the latter bloom aged, its peach and yellow highlights became more prominent but it never developed the color of the one on the left. |
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| I used zinnias to fill out this arrangement too |
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| The sunflowers are just about done. These 2 tucked into the back of the vases had the longest stems I could find. I expect to pull all or most of the remaining sunflowers this week. |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the left, the vase contains: Dahlia 'Punkin Spice', Abelia x grandiflora 'Kaleidoscope', Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Bulbine frutescens 'Hallmark', Helianthus annuus (from the 'Flash Blend' mix), and 3 varieties of Zinnia elegans |
I also cut some Lisianthus (
Eustoma grandiflorum) after seeing the damage Friday's heat blast had done to a pretty spray of the blue blooms.
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| These flowers looked fine Thursday night. Many of the buds my other Lisianthus simply dried up. |
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| There are almost no blue Lisianthus left but 2 other varieties have made an appearance |
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| Rear view |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left: Eustoma grandiflorum in 3 forms, white blushed with lavender, dark blue, and white edged in blue; Duranta repens 'Sapphire Showers'; Leucadendron 'Pisa'; and Symphyotrichum chilense |
For more vases created from locally available materials,
visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden, our IaVoM host. For those of you in the US, best wishes for an enjoyable Labor Day!
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| My vases in their places |
All material © 2012-2017 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
