Not a single room of the house feels familiar or comfortable at the moment. The living and dining rooms are empty and the kitchen is halfway gutted. Every one of the remaining rooms is now serving multiple purposes. Despite packing away furniture and boxing up all but essential belongings for storage and doing our best to organize what remains, our remaining living spaces are claustrophobic. For someone who's tried to convince her spouse that we could be happy in a tiny vacation house (somewhere with cooler summer temperatures!), this is a comedown of sorts but then who takes all their worldly possessions with them on vacation? I expect we'll adapt, although getting used to the weekday noise and confusion associated with our remodel may be more of a challenge. Today, I expect to lose the small window on the south side of my office when it's closed in to form part of our kitchen extension.
![]() |
| Pipig has chosen new spots for her naps in the back part of the house. She's chill when the workers are absent but, as soon as they pull up outside, she's on high alert and, more often than not, she's hiding in the very darkest corner of my closet on top of a hat box until they leave. |
There's still plenty in bloom to cut for vases; however, I had to prepare my arrangements in our master bathroom yesterday as the laundry room is already doing double duty for washing dishes. The new blooms of
Dahlia 'Labyrinth' provided the inspiration for my first vase.
![]() |
| I was disappointed last year when the one and only 'Labyrinth' tuber I was able to get rotted but this year I've got 2 plants full of buds |
![]() |
| I was able to use the old, partially deconstructed kitchen as a backdrop for most of this week's photos, relying solely on daylight from nearby windows. (All the light bulbs in kitchen have already been removed.) |
![]() |
| I've yet to identify areas that might be suitable for use in photographing future vases but that may be a week-by-week determination as our remodel progresses |
![]() |
| Clockwise from the upper left: Dahlia 'Labyrinth', Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Rosa 'Pink Meidiland', Leucadendron 'Jester', and Tanacetum parthenium. This 'Jester' grows in partial shade so its colors are more subdued than the plant I have in full sun. |
As Thursday is Independence Day, I also cobbled together a red, white and blue arrangement, or as close as I could come to that by substituting magenta for true red.
![]() |
| The shaggy Shasta daisies were intended as accents but, once again, they dominate the arrangement. I don't mind as they're looking particularly good this year and remind me of the recently departed friend who gave them to me. |
![]() |
| Back view |
![]() |
| Top view, highlighting what may be the last of my Delphinium blooms for the season |
![]() |
| Clockwise from the upper left: Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey', Cuphea ignea 'Starfire Pink', Delphinium elatum, Leptospermum 'Copper Glow', Eustoma grandiflorum (aka lisianthus), Hebe 'Wiri Blush', Nigella papillosa 'Starry Night' and, in the middle, Leucanthemum x superbum (aka Shasta daisy) |
For more Monday vases,
visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.
![]() |
| The Dahlias ended up on the card table in our bedroom we're currently using as a dining table (left). The red, white and blue arrangement sits alongside the PC in my office (right). |
For those of you in the US celebrating the 4th of July this week, I hope you have a safe and sane holiday!
All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party
