Last week I made the bold statement “there is not very much pink in my garden”. As always, karma reigns supreme and two of my favorite plants are in this vase (also supplied by karma). Both are, well, pink.
Strangely enough, last week one of my favorite vases, a simple glass cylinder cracked. Nothing happened to it, the vase just cracked up and down about a third of the height of the vase. It occurred to me I would really like a slightly larger glass vase with a more interesting shape.
The following morning I was walking my greyhounds and spied this vase, left at the curb as trash. It was promptly removed, by me. The greyhounds did not care. They prefer hanging with a soft blankie or two.
Later in the week, I renovated my front porch containers for summer (the new colors are shades of peach, apricot and burgundy with a touch of gray and chartreuse) I am hopeful the new variety of Zinnia will survive the onslaught of heat and humidity.
During the course of my renovation I removed a long serving ‘Alabama Sunset’ Coleus, it had developed a nearly half inch stem and I knew its days were numbered, so I took some cuttings and put them in the vase to root. The pink vase was inevitable.
Here is a close up, the ‘Alabama Sunset’ Coleus is at the base of the arrangement. The flowers are Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet), a favorite tropical and the gingery fragrance adds to its appeal. The background greenery is Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exaltata) a native and vase favorite slowly invading my driveway landscape.
Wishing good karma for all this week. And I hope everyone is in the pink.
The Shrub Queen 
Very stylish! I like the ‘new’ vase – freebies appeal to me and the price is always right. 🙂 (I love our ‘free’ table at our transfer station.)
I hope your containers do well. Nice combination! Some zinnias aren’t fond of humidity, but I find ‘Profusion’ series are pretty resistant.
Enjoy your week!
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Thanks, Eliza..we will see about the Zinnias. Winter may be best here.
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Love the shell ginger and that ‘Alabama Sunset’ Coleus is very nice.
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Thank you, two favorites here.
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Oh yes, free is even better than bargain! I liked how everything fell into plave for your post today – karma indeed, but you perhaps need to be on a certain wavelength yourself to notice things like this anyway. I think these are the first zinnias I have seen this year – my seedlings are looking good but it will be a couple of months at least before they flower. Thanks for sharing everything today, Amelia
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Thanks, Cathy – this is my second round of Zinnias, I am not sure they will take the summer heat. Fingers crossed.
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Your vase is a great combination. I hoping my Shell Gingers will bloom this year. What kind of zinnia is it?
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Thank you, I have no idea bout the Zinnias, bought them at Home Depot – the tag says they are 12-36 inches tall. The gardener says if they die they were cheap! I am not sure I can grow Zinnias in the summer here.
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Always a surprise what some people put out at the curb. A great find and just in time.
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Exactly
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How weird finding a vase on the pavement just as you need one. Lovely colours in your vase today and great combination of shape and form. I love it.
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Thank you, Liz. I agree, weird. The forces of garden good are looking out for me.
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We should all have such karma! I love your new vase – what I lucky find. I always admire your shell ginger and the coleus provides just the right accent. It goes without saying that the greyhound is adorable, flower aficionado or not.
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Thank you, Kris. It amazing what one can find by looking. The dogs put up with me in that regard, on the other hand one likes to eat fertilizer and i have to cope with that.
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Mom always said, “Don’t play ball in the house.”.
My only Venetian glass vase did that. It just cracked for no good reason.
Anyway, your coleus rox! I intend to grow coleus again someday as a houseplant.
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My greyhounds have not taken up playing ball in the house yet. This was a Pier One vase – been through the dishwasher one too many times, I guess. Love that Alabama Sunset Coleus, you need some.
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‘Need’ and ‘want’ are two different things. Right after you wrote this, I noticed other coleus as potted plants in the supermarket, which is uncommon here. I got my last few in six pack as bedding plants, which is even more uncommon here.
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The new Solar Sunrise Coleus is doing very well in my porch containers.
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What a lovely exotic arrangement with a free vase! Isn’t it amazing what is one person’s trash, but another person’s treasure.
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Thank you and yes, I don’t think the house I picked this up in front of would consider a vase a treasure or even using a vase.
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Ah! Coincidence then! My pink is very pink too, but not as exotic as yours!!!
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So the Shell Ginger beats a Tulip in exoticness? At this point tulips are pretty exotic to me!
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It seems like some things in life were just meant to be. I do love the pink shell ginger, who says you don’t have pink in your garden. It is just not as flashy as some of your other flowers. 😀
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True enough, I like a little pink. And a little flash.
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I love seeing your exotics. Adorable dog too.
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Thank you, the dog is pretty adorable.
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Okay – I know you’ve heard this before, but THIS ONE could be my favourite so far. It’s a beauty!
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Thank you, you would have enjoyed the garden,I think.
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