In a Vase on Monday: Otto continues to thrill

I faced a time crunch in putting together this week's vases so I zipped through my garden more quickly than I usually do on Sunday morning.  The only dahlias blooming in my cutting garden are still those of the 'Otto's Thrill' cultivar I purchased in early June already in bud.   While I'm frustrated by the slow progress of the varieties I planted as tubers, I was pleased to see that 'Otto' had two perfect blooms just waiting to be cut.  As it turned out, they matched up prettily with the pale yellow Lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum) the wind had blown flat against the ground in my front garden.  A few other additions and voilà, an arrangement!

The yellow Lisianthus blooms are tinged with pink and the dahlia has yellow accents so the two seemed made for one another

Leucadendron 'Pisa's' heavy cones have been weighing down several of the shrub's branches, begging to be cut, so this was a perfect opportunity use a few

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Dahlia 'Otto's Thrill', Crassula pubescens ssp radicans, Fatsia japonica 'Camouflage', Eustoma grandiflorum, and Leucadendron 'Pisa'

The second vase didn't come together as well in my estimation.  I took my inclination to blend flowers too far, creating an arrangement in which the individual blooms had little opportunity to distinguish themselves.

Lots of red tones here but nothing to set them off, either in texture or color

Although the Grevilleas shown in the prior view were mean to be the stars of the arrangement, I think the Lotus berthelotii shown here in the back view makes a stronger statement

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left, the vase contains: Grevillea 'Ned Kelly', Eustoma grandiflorum 'Mint Cocoa' (which fades from a purplish shade to a brownish mauve color), Leucadendron salignum 'Chief', Lobelia laxiflora, and Lotus berthelotii 'Amazon Sunset'

After staring at the arrangement for awhile on my dining room table, I gave it a quick tweak and left it at that.

The tweaked version of the original arrangement is shown on the right.  The addition of the Shasta daisies (Leucanthemum x superbum) adds contrast but now the Lisianthus are lost in the mix.

The first vase sits in the front entry.




For more Monday vases, visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.


All material © 2012-2018 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party