Last week, I rued the fact that I'd crammed too much into my vases, yet this week I've once again stuffed them to the gills. Apparently, I can't help myself. Looser arrangements usually show off the individual components to better advantage but somehow I always cut more than I need during my Sunday rounds through the garden and then I find myself loathe to discard the excess. So now I'm thinking: maybe I just need bigger vases.
I'd planned to focus on succulents this week but then I realized that one of the faded
'Medallion' roses was just about a perfect match for the blooms of
Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream'. With those 2 elements, I was off and running.
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| IAVOM never seems to coincide with the peak bloom stage of the 'Medallion' roses but they're pretty even when past their prime |
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| The flowers of Graptoveria 'Fred Ives'and the foliage of Corokia 'Sunsplash' deserve more prominence than they received half hidden at the back of the vase |
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| The top view is dominated by Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream' |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Corokia x virgata 'Sunsplash', berries of a noID Cotoneaster, flowers of the succulent hybrid Graptoveria 'Fred Ives', Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', Leucanthemum x superbum, Leucadendron 'Wilson's Wonder', and Rosa 'Medallion' |
Tagetes lemmonii (aka Mexican Bush Marigold and Copper Canyon Daisy) also had a heavy flush of blooms despite its partial shade location. The unusual yellow and burgundy flowers of the orchid
Oncidium 'Wildcat' set the color scheme for the second vase.
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| Unfortunately, the orchid's flowers are still in the process of opening and are largely eclipsed by the berries of the Toyon I placed behind that stem |
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| I could've used another stem of the Tagetes in the rear here but was trying to limit the volume of the odoriferous blooms |
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| This vase is another jumble as the top view shows |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Tagetes lemmonii, Leucadendron salignum 'Chief', Oncidium 'Wildcat', Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset', and berries of Heteromeles arbutifolia (aka Toyon, the official native plant of Los Angeles) |
The problem with
Tagetes lemmonii is its scent. While I like it, my husband is bothered by it. He says it makes him sneeze. I've managed to create vases with small amounts of the flower without it bothering him but this vase contained more flowers than he could tolerate so it was banned from the house.
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| The first vase sits on the dining room table. The second sits on a small table on the south patio. |
Rather than leave the front entry unadorned, I reused remnants of last week's busy blue vase.
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| At least I kept this one simple! It contains a single stem of Eustoma grandiflorum (Lisianthus) and Leucadendron 'Pisa'. |
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
