I have been watching a group of Yellow Lupines on the edges of a vacant lot nearby – thinking I could collect some seed and grow Lupines in my back garden. What I did not realize is when the seed pods are ready they explode and hurl seed far and wide. The pods exploded in my car and didn’t seem to think there was enough dirt to grow in the carpets, though there probably is as I haul dogs and plants around with equal enthusiasm. I am not sure if these plants are native to the area, but I am aware of other native Lupines in Florida; it seems peculiar as I associate these plants with Alpine meadows, the Rocky Mountains and cold, arid places. Here is another view of my three blue vases filled with native and/or wildflowers from the vacant lot.
My blue vases represent three generations of women in my family, the violin belonged to my grandmother and has Yellow Lupines, the white spikes are Jointweed, the yellow daisy shaped flower is a Beach Sunflower.
The tall bottle belonged to my mother and has Beach Sunflower, Yellow Lupines and seeds, background plants are Shrubby Buttonweed and Muhly Grass.
The corked bottle in the background belongs to me and holds the dried petals of all the roses my husband sent me during our courtship. The bells belonged to my other grandmother and are one of those touchstones that have been around the house as long as I can remember; my father brought them home from World War II.
As I was writing this post, it occurred to me how much more interesting and attractive these flowers appear in their Monday vase. So, I wandered over to the vacant lot and took a before picture:
All the components of the vase are in the foreground. I think I like the flowers in their blue bottles better. This leads me to ponder if more people saw native plants in a vase instead of a vacant lot – native plants might be more popular.
If you would like to see vases from the world over, stop by the comments section of https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com where Cathy hosts In A Vase on Monday – every Monday!
The Shrub Queen 
I think you are on to something: native plants in a vase suggest they work in a garden in a way that we never think about passing all those empty lots and highway verges.
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I am going to be interested to see if they like being in the garden!
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What spectacular blue glass bottles, vases, they look wonderful with the yellow flowers.
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Thank you, I enjoy the bottles with or without flowers, maybe it is genetic?
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The blue of the glass and the yellow of the flowers are just plain perfect…probably as the glass makers knew they’d be. I like them in a vase and in vacant lot.
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Thanks, George – are those Yellow Lupines native, I have seen them at Hawk’s Bluff as well?
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I adore your blue bottles….and all the flowers in them! When meadows are in full bloom here, the natives look stunning…I think they are pretty now too even though they are not blooming and are all brown or covered in white snow. I love when my native lupines pop their seeds in the meadow. I bet that was a surprise in your car.
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Thank you, I don’t think I would have ever figured out the blowing up pods unless I had been sitting in the car wondering what the heck happened.Which I was!
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The yellow is amazing with the blue bottles. I like your before photo–interesting point.
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It funny, I did not notice many of the natives until I took a plants course in natives.
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The bottle idea is great! The way the blue and yellow contrast makes for a lovely table layout!!
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Thank you.
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Yellow and blue together: your arrangements this week have hit the sweet spot.
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Sweet!
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Absolutely delightful!
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Thank you
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I love the vases and the wildflowers – and your story about the exploding lupines! There are wild lupines (of the blue/purple variety) in my own area but I’ve yet to get them to grow in my garden. I’ve heard they need just the right mix of soil microbes to get established.
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Thanks, I thought I would just put the pods in the back and let them explode. We’ll see how that works out.
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I really enjoyed reading your post, hearing about the native flowers, the exploding seed pods and the history of your blue bottles and the bells – and your pondering at the end. This is what makes this meme so fascinating – thank you for sharing your musings today
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Thank you, Cathy and you are so right, it is fascinating to see what is blooming all over the world. Amy
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Most unusual and very pretty blue vases which set off your flowers to perfection, well done 🙂
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Thank you, interesting what can be found on vacant land.
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I love your blue bottles and blue and yellow is a perfect combination. Your group looks so pretty. I don’ t know the wild flowers of Florida but are you sure that they are lupins? They look like Thermopsis to me. Incidentally, we don’ t have an e on lupin, it’ s the old ‘you say tomato we say tomato.’ thing.
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Thank you, Liz – how interesting?! the Lupin thing. It does look like Thermopsis which is not in the botany encyclopedia of Florida. One of my followers is a Botany professor here and I will ask him. I remember Thermopsis as a native of the mountains in the Carolinas – 600 miles north of here and a much different climate, the native Florida lupines are blue purple to the best of my knowledge.
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Yes, I think the blue ones are Lupinus perennial.
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Well, oddly enough a lady from the Native Plant Society was here and the Lupins/Thermopsis are actually Crotalaria! I cannot identify which one. Lupinus westianus is the native Blue Lupine here. There are actually a couple of native Lupines not like the Alpine ones
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Yellow flowers and blue vases were made for each other and you have a lovely collection of both! 🙂
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Thank you and I agree!
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I really like this post. I love bottles of that blue – I have a few myself and always stick yellow or white flowers in them in the summer – and I really liked reading about the connection with the generations of women in your family. Thanks for sharing.
And that violin bottle is so interesting!
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