I had a brown greyhound vase long before I had a brown greyhound. The vase came from my great grandmother, Miss Emma. I am fairly certain my gardening interest can be traced back to Miss Emma. She was a famous gardener in the small South Georgia town my mother grew up in.
The vase is marked ‘Made in Occupied Japan’ and is made of some sort of plaster that won’t hold water. I had a pair but the other vase was squashed as I didn’t realize about the plaster. My grandmother kept winter wheat in these and there was still some sand in the bottom from wheat days. When I poured it out the first thing that popped into my head was “Oh no, Great Grandpa’s ashes”. Then I remembered seeing his headstone. Whew.
There is another vase inside with water. Plants in this vase include in orange, Soap Aloe (Aloe saponaria), in yellow, Beach Sunflowers (Helianthus debilis), White flowers are Gaura, the Bellezza variety, pink is Coral Vine (Antigonon leptopus), the purple is Purple Hearts (Setcreasea pallida) a bit of Asparagus Fern adds some fine green texture.
The real greyhound is Fuzzy’s Alan Alda (racing name) we call him Alan. His color is actually called Blue Fawn, the most wonderful and apt description of his coloring I have heard is it looks as if he has been painted with deep gray watercolors. He retired from racing at an early age because he lost nearly every race. I am deeply suspicious Alan is smarter than the people who were trying to race him as he is still extraordinarily quick and can easily outwit me! Alan and his toys, the “lawn” is a bit worse for wear.
The Shrub Queen 
Your dog photos are too cute. In the first one he looks like he did something bad. Those are some big holes he’s digging!
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Thanks, Alan is the digging king. He is calming a little. I think the holes will get smaller in a few years.
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That is adorable.
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That 2nd picture from the bottom with the snout and “rflection” on the vase vase is classic. Put it on the cover of your next book. The Coralitta Vine in my opinion is the star of the vase…upstaged tho by you know who.
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Classic indeed. Find me a publisher and I will get started on the book! South Florida could use a gardening tome. I agree about the stars, thank you.
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Love both your greyhounds…and Miss Emma’s vase is splendid especially filled with your flowers!
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Thank you, Donna. All greyhounds are happy today.
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It’s great to have a gardening ancestor for inspiration, mine was my maternal grandfather, whose garden was a wonder to me as a young child. The vase is a lovely memento, and the photo with Alan sniffing the flowers is priceless! Your flowers are lovely, especially the cascading pink ones, Amelia.
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I don’t think I have met a gardener that didn’t have an inspirational ancestor. Thanks, I think Alan likes the vase.
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What an intriguing vase and how lovely to feel you have inherited Miss Emma’s gardening skills. Great shot with both greyhounds and as always fascinating to see what ‘unusual’ (to some of us) blooms you have included this week – thanks for sharing
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Thank you, Sweet Peas are unusual to me!
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Great story behind the vase and lovely flowers. I just noticed my Purple Heart is growing now too, but is hidden behind some tall bee balm.
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Thank you, Bee Balm and Setcresea sound like a great combination
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Oh, no, not another digger! 😉 My Wren can’t be let alone for a minute or she’ll be doing the same. Alan is a handsome lad. 🙂
I think it is so great that you link your gardening gene to Miss Emma. I link mine to my Grampa. 🙂
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Yes, another digger. Handsome but destructive. He doesn’t dig plants up, I had one that liked to help dig holes for plants again and again cuz I had. Expensive mistakes happened. There is a gardener lurking in all of our histories i think!
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Alan makes the cutest prop ever! He has an expressive face and the look in the second photo is adorable! I couldn’t decide if he simply found it interesting that you placed flowers in “his” space or whether he was wondering if he could eat them.
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That is great! he probably wanted to eat them, he is that kind of a guy. Probably the biggest prop ever, 85 lbs!
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Alan and Charlotte(my black bunny) love digging.Mamas need their shovels.
Love the vase and the story. Oh yeah…and the flowers, too. Ha.
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The real greyhound was the star of the show!
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You are so right – your vase (actual vase and contents) is lovely, but Alan is the star of the show! What a handsome boy! I have a little digger here as well (she’s a cat, but thinks like a Jack Russell). Fortunately she sometimes puts her digging to good use in trapping the voles that eat plant roots. It’s so nice to have your great-grandmother’s vase – and great too see what are (for me) such unusual flowers filling it. Thanks for sharing her with us through your vase. Thanks!
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[…] Jun27 by theshrubqueen […]
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Hi Cyndi!
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That vase and its contents are beautiful, but Alan is a star! isn’t that a lovely picture of him sniffing the flowers?
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Yes, Alan is the star, everyone agrees.
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