This could be a year end vocabulary lesson. Dombeyas are tropical flowering trees and shrubs native to India. Jambalaya is a rice dish, consisting of rice, meat, vegetables and spicy seasoning cooked in a big pot – originating in Louisiana, the American Deep South. It is a mixture of many ingredients, like my vase.
Here is the Dombeya flower, borne on a long stem hanging below big, fuzzy leaves. The bees and pollinators love them, and were objecting to my taking a few. A friend came by yesterday and said ‘this would be cool if it was a small tree and you could stand below and look up at the flowers’. The good news, it will be a small tree. The bad news, I was told maybe 6 feet tall and placed it accordingly. There is likely some judicious pruning in my future, but I love tree form shrubs.
The view from above, in light pink, the Dombeya (Dombeya wallichii); purple flowers are Spathoglottis ‘Cabernet’ (sounds like a dreadful disease, really a small orchid); purple foliage is from a Hallelujah Bromeliad ( a Billbergia variety with a, yes, red, white and blue flower-note to breeder, just because you can doesn’t mean you should). The green foliage is from Asparagus Fern that pops up here and there in my garden. The vase is a thrift store find.
Another view.
Thanks to Cathy, at https://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com/, for another great year of hosting In A Vase on Monday. Follow the link to see what gardeners from the world over have filled their vases with this week.
And thank you to all who take time to view and comment on my blog and weekly vase post.
Happy New Year and here’s to 52 vases in 2019. I didn’t quite make it this year and also made a resolution to blog more in 2018, didn’t quite make that happen either!
There’s always next year, and it starts tomorrow!
Happy New Year!!
The Shrub Queen 
Those flowers are so pretty and really do remind me of Hydrangeas, which don’t like it here either.
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Snowball Viburnums!?
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What lovely colors and exotic blooms in the midst of winter. Can you tell I’m color starved up here in Ohio? Happy New Year!
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Thank you, Cindy, my husband is an Ohioan and understands better than I do – he left when his front door froze shut. I will continue my experiment and post more winter flowers. Happy New Year.
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As always, lovely! I feel so lucky to see your amazing flowers. I’ve enjoyed all the vases you’ve produced this year.
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Thank you, Christina. I love seeing your flowers and especially the ones we can both grow. Happy New Year.
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Gosh, that Dombeya flower is gorgeous – but as you say, a plant with red white and blue blooms is definitely an oddity we could do without! Thanks for all your vases, all so very different from everyone else’s!
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I am enjoying the Dombeya -the Bromeliad is a showstopper and not in a good way. Florida is the land of the different. Happy New Year.
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I love the pink flowers set against the bromeliad leaves. I’ve debated planting Dombeya here off and on. A California mail-order nursery offers it, although it’s a different species (D. burgessiae) than yours. I wasn’t sure where I’d put it but seeing yours reminds me that I could put it in the spot formerly occupied by a guava tree, assuming I can keep it shorter than its projected 10′ height, which the grower claims is possible…
As to Jambalaya, I’m having that for lunch! Why is it that so many of your posts remind me of lunch? Timing is everything it seems.
Best wishes for a happy new year, Amelia!
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Hope your real Jambalaya was good! Try the Dombeya, super easy to grow. Happy New Year. Thank you..this was a dinner party arrangement, the Dombeya wilts after a few hours.
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You always come up with the pretties vases…so creative in your mixtures. Happy New Year.
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Thank you, Karen and Happy New Year.I think it is kind of like cooking – good ingredients and a bit of high and low!
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Ha! ‘Just because you can doen’t mean you should.’
Yup!
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Oh wait! Your selections are exquisite!, expecially the weird dombeya that I have never seen before.
I just wrote in one of my rants about how crazy breeding is getting.
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Thank you, Tony. Look up the Hallelujah Bromeliad in flower, why anyone thought a red, white and blue flower with purple spotted foliage was a good idea is beyond me. I plant it for foliage and hope it doesn’t flower. There must be Dombeya in California, somewhere.
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hmm. . . I don’t think it looks all that bad. It is so interesting that the weird color scheme is no problem. I think that the common ‘Queen’s Tears’ looks weird because it reminds me of the mismatched socks of the mid 1980s.
We actually had just two or three dombeya in the propagation house at work for many years. They were not happy and blooms pathetically only once. They belonged to someone who passed away years ago, so we could not part with them. They can not go outside. There may be a few copies in other greenhouses by now. They are not in production, but just grown because we like them in a weird sentimental sort of way. They may live down in coastal Southern California. I do not remember seeing them in the Los Angeles region. Those sorts of odd plants are more likely to be found in San Diego.
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Interesting,Dombeyas are found thriving in Zone 9/8 here, it may be the variety or the humidity..not well known as far as I can tell. The Hallelujah is really ugly in person.If I have a picture I will post it, though I love the foliage and probably have 10 in the garden.
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I love your arrangement! Low styling, beautiful color combination and the bowl is perfect.
I read your comment that Dombeyas wilts… is the sap milky? Sometimes you can sear the cut ends with hot water or flame, might be worth a try.
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Thanks, Eliza..low styling sounds like a sports car. I will have to pay attention to the sap next time. The Dombeya dried nearly perfectly. I feel guilty for taking them away from the bees. Happy New Year.
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Lovely to see your gorgeous Dombeya, what a star. And how amazing to be able to pick orchids from the garden. Happy New Year Amy.
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Thank you,Liz and Happy New Year. I do love those Spathoglottis! And they last in a vase.
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Happy new year, Amy. What a fabulous flower, and beautifully arranged.
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Thank you, Cynthia, your girls are lovely!
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I usually introduce the young men as our sons and the young women as our daughters in law. Some people look puzzled and I can never understand why!
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Beautiful all, enjoy!
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What a marvelous and tropical looking arrangement! I have Happy New Year. I have Hallelujah Bromeliad in the greenhouse and love the foliage which looks perfect in your vase.
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Thank you Peter. I love the Hallelujah foliage, the flower is just too clashy. Happy New Year to you!
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Very pretty flowers, and I imagine the tree will look fabulous when it has grown fully! What a greatvtitle for this post too. 🙂 Happy New Year!
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Thank you,Cathy. I am excited to see that tree grow up! Happy New Year
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