When I stepped into the garden on Sunday morning, I had specific plants in mind to cut, mostly in tones of blue and purple. However, just as not all reds mesh well, I found the same could be said for my blues. After cutting a few stalks of Echium webbii, I found myself veering toward pink flowers. While there's nothing wrong with that combination, it's not my usual palette. After adding some white flowers, it felt a little syrupy sweet to me but I eventually got a mix I could live with.
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| I swapped out the pink snapdragons I'd originally cut for Centranthus ruber, which has a blue undertone |
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| The pink and white flowers dominate the back view |
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| The stamens and base of each Echium flower have tinges of pink, which is what led me in the pink direction |
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The vase contains: 1st column, top to bottom - noID Delphinium and Echium webbii
2nd column - noID Agapanthus (the 1st to bloom this year), noID Ceanothus, and Lavandula multifida
3rd column - Agryranthemum 'Mega White', Centranthus ruber, and Ranunculus asiaticus
4th column - stems of 'Pink Icing' blueberry bush, Coleonema album, and Westringia fruticosa 'Morning Light' |
My second vase couldn't be more different. As my
Lotus bethelotii is rapidly growing to cover the flagstone path in the back garden, I felt I had to cut some of it back and those cuttings became the springboard for vase #2.
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| The fiery color palette here is one I've used a couple of times before, although the elements aren't identical to those in my prior compositions |
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| The back view is dominated by a stem of Leucadendron 'Safari Sunset' |
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| Top view |
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| Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Alstroemeria 'Indian Summer', Abelia x grandiflora 'Kaleidoscope', Bulbine frutescens, Grevillea 'Superb', Leucadendron salignum 'Safari Sunset', and Lotus bethelotii 'Amazon Sunset' |
And I have a third vase this week. As mentioned, I'd cut pink snapdragons when I was collecting material for the first vase but I changed my mind about including them in that arrangement. However, the blooms were in perfect condition and I couldn't bring myself to toss them out so I gathered a couple of other complementary plants to create vase #3.
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| I think the spare collection of blooms fit the somewhat fussy china vase I picked up earlier this year in a thrift shop |
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| Unlike my prior efforts using this vase, this arrangement shows off the manicured nails of the disembodied hands |
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| Top view |
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| The vase contains: Antirrhinum majus, Argyranthemum 'Madeira Pink' and Ranunculus |
Visit our host, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden, to find more Monday vases.
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| Each of the vases sits in its own room so the clashes between them aren't noticable |
All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
