Two weeks of periodic rainstorms may not have made up for the overall dryness of our winter rainy season or lifted us back out of drought but it's re-energized both the garden and the gardener, at least for now. Suddenly, the problem in preparing arrangements for "In a Vase on Monday," the popular weekly exercise hosted by Cathy at
Rambling in the Garden, isn't what to pick but how to cram everything I've picked into the vase I've selected. The
Ranunculus in the cutting garden got me started this week as they all seem to be blooming at once.
I wasn't sure what I was going to pair with the vivid red
Ranunculus when I cut those first stems but in no time I'd gathered more than I needed.
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| The red Ranunculus were supposed to be purple but I must admit they proved useful as vase material this week |
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| The orange-red Freesia were supposed to be blue and, although they're messing with the color composition of 2 of my borders, they also came in handy in preparing this arrangement |
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| Grevilleas and a stem of early-blooming Alstromeria added extra pizzazz |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', red and yellow Freesia, Ranunculus californicus (aka California buttercup), red Ranunculus (open form), Xylosma congestum, another red Ranunculus (rose form), Lotus berthelotii 'Amazon Sunset', and, in the center, Grevillea 'Ned Kelly' |
My second vase also started out with
Ranunculus and
Freesia.
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| I cut the first bloom of Digitalis 'Dalmatian White' in my cutting garden to give this arrangement more height |
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| This is the back view but, when I reviewed my photos, I liked it better than the view I selected as the front of the arrangement |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Coleonema album; Cuphea hybrid 'Starfire Pink'; Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey'; pink and white Freesia; white, pink and picotee Ranunculus; Leptospermum scoparium 'Pink Pearl'; and, in the center, Digitalis purpurea 'Dalmatian White' |
For more vases from IaVoM contributors,
visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
Last week I discovered a new book on flower arranging that captures my own approach,
Color Me Floral by Kiana Underwood. It offers recipes for monochromatic arrangements, albeit based on a wider range of floral and foliage materials than most of us are able to forage from our gardens. You can find more information about the book
here if you're interested.*
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| Image from Amazon.com |
*I found this book on my own and wasn't offered anything to include mention of it in my post.
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
