The impending path of Hurricane Isaias has been big news this week in Florida. A friend is calling this storm Hurricane Unpronounceable. Research tells me Isaias replaces the name Ike, retired after a particularly disastrous storm in 2008. They downgraded Isaias to a Tropical Storm before it reached my neck of the woods.
Ordinarily I would not cut flowers during a tropical weather event. This one was mild enough that I walked my greyhounds this morning. Alan, the weather phobic hound, did not take notice of the weather. During the walk I avoided the house with Coconut Palms – the coconuts are still hanging on the tree. We had winds up to 30 mph, off and on, and very little rain. The pots on my porch had to be watered. It is interesting to note the change in direction in the winds, especially when not scared witless. The circular wind direction can be felt and noted by watching which way the palms are swaying. Just stay away from Coconut Palms.
The vase! Oddly, my husband received flowers recently for helping someone and this is the vase from his flowers. I used it to collect a hot color palette of what is flowering in my garden.
The foliage in the back of the arrangement is Varigated Flax Lily (Dianella tasmanica ‘varigata’); yellow and orange spikes are Blanchetiana Bromeliad (Aechmea ‘Blanchetiana’) flowers; peach and red spikes are from Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea); red and blue tipped panicle flower is Miniata Bromeliad (Aechmea miniata); orange flowers in the middle of the vase are Mexican Honeysuckle (Justicia spicigera); orange flowers hanging over the side are Firebush (Hamelia patens); and a few unnamed Zinnias. The Zinnias are grown in Miami and are my favorite (because they survive) summer container flower. I would love to know the name if anyone can share that information.
It is late Sunday afternoon and while the wind is still blowing it has died down considerably. Fingers crossed for the rest of those in the path of this storm.
To see more vases from less tropical climes visit Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com.
Happy Gardening and hopefully sunny skies…
The Shrub Queen 
I’m glad to hear it was not too bad for you. It is weird to see the winds change and when the eye goes over…eerie. We had Ike and the wind sent rain horizontally through our bricks.
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Yikes..I remembered Ike once I read about but not the wind speed. That was terrifying.
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Good to hear it has passed you by! A lovely vase, and very pretty zinnias. 😃
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Thanks
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Beautiful flowers again
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Thank you.
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A fiery vase indeed and you are so clever at adding just the right foliage with your blooms. Glad that Hurricane Unpronouneable didn’t really happen for you
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Thank you, the fiery flowers said get something varigated! Happy for the lack of wind, too!
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Glad you were passed by, we’ll probably get more than you did! We need the rain, it is the wind that bothers me. I was just looking at the sky and there are two ‘rivers’ flowing up there– the lower one is full of torn cotton clouds going west to east and an upper one with cirrus clouds going south to north. No wonder we have tornado warnings. Tomorrow is going to be a wet one.
I love the fullness of today’s vase. Did you collect more ‘just in case’ they got wrecked? I went out and deadheaded the heaviest sunflowers ‘just in case.’ Fingers crossed. A garden at its peak, wrecked by a storm, is a heartbreaking sight.
I believe your Zinnias are a Z. angustifolia ‘Profusion’ hybrid, noted for its resistance to mildew. A favorite annual of mine. Such a good performer if it can get old enough to outgrow the early slug damage. 😉
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Happiness here as well. I would be surprised if we got a quarter inch of rain. The sheer size of these storms continues to amaze me..I saw Sandy go by – 200 miles offshore like what you are seeing. I cut the flowers during the storm and nothing got wrecked, a few bits of dead wood blew out of trees and palms. Thanks for the Zinnia ID, I think it must be Profusion Deep Salmon. Love these, have you ever had Zinnia linnearis, I don’t see it anymore? Fingers crossed for your garden.
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Z. linnearis seems to be interchangeable with Z. angustifolia. There are quite a few hybrids with wild species these days, but Z. elegans seems to be the most popular. I love zinnias and grow several packets a year.
Tonight I was out deadheading coneflower to lighten the weight of the plants and I wish I had time to stake the zinnias before the storm, but ran out of time. If we get wind, they are going to be a mess. Never a dull moment in the garden!
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I don’t know, there was a nursery in Atlanta that grew linnearis and it had very narrow leaves. Probably a named cultivar, and I should just ask them what it was. It was a favorite of mine. I hope the wind holds off for you, fingers crossed.
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Pretty gusty here… lost power a couple of times, but they’ve been able to re-route the power, so it’s resumed so far. The biggest winds are yet to come as the storm moves north of us. So many old trees here… Keep those fingers crossed!
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Yikes. I have been watching and thought it was past you.. it’s moving fast over soon. Hang in there.
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Thanks – it seems the worst is over. Happily, our trees are still standing. Though the garden is a bit flat – hopefully, they’ll get back up tomorrow. 😉
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Good, the wind scares me..hope the garden is resilient.
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I just posted a ‘before’ – I hope I don’t have to post an ‘after.’ 😉
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Looks gorgeous and tall! hope everybody is OK in the morning light.
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❤
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I thought of you when I heard the news reports showing Isaias moving toward Florida, Amelia. I’m glad its impact on you was relatively mild (and that no greyhounds were disturbed). I hope it doesn’t gain strength as it moves up the east coast – I heard that it could strike the Carolinas as a hurricane.
Your vase is wonderful and I’m glad to see that Eliza could offer an ID for the Zinnia.
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Thanks, Kris. So far, so good on hurricane season here. Never take good weather for granted…It looks worse for the Carolinas now so my fingers are crossed for more weather luck. Eliza nailed it on the Zinnias…Deep Salmon Profusion they are!
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Glad the storm was manageable for you. No problems here either and happy for a little rain. East of us there are power outages from downed trees–never fun to deal with. Lively array of rich colors in your vase this week. Very summery, tropical feel.
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Thanks, Susie. I think the hurricane was closer to you…we need rain!
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After all the hype in the news, the storm was almost a disappointment.
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Yes..my husband gets annoyed if he puts the storm shutters up and nothing happens.. they’re still up. all the predicting says an active season it peaks September 10..we will see.
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They will stay up until the end of the season?!
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Probably. I have a couple of windows I must see out otherwise shuttered – an active hurricane season is predicted Sept 10 is the peak…so here we are.
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Beautifully written.
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Thank you, Cynthia. That means a lot coming from you. Actually got some magazine work this year! Don’t understand the editors at all.
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Excellent!
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