Once in a while I give plant talks at a local nursery, one of the girls I work with there contacted me to say she enjoyed my Monday vases and had the idea for a talk about Foraging for Flowers in Your Garden. I love the idea and it truly reflects this weeks vase.
August can be unkind to to gardens in South Florida. We can have 3.5 inches of rain in a few hours, hurricanes or weeks long dry spells with temperatures in the high 90s (F) -37 Celsius. The garden can be baked, drowned and/or dessicated. The gardener as well. Last week I noted the much smaller size of the flowers from well, August. Foraging for my vase, I found some true stalwarts to cut.
The view from the side. The vase is a favorite and a thrift store find. Transcandentias are prominent in this vase. Solid purple foliage is Transcandentia pallida called Setcresea, from last weeks vase. Setcresea certainly sounds like a botanical name, but it is not. Go figure. My husband calls these secretions. The striped leaves are Transcandentia zebrina; Inch Plant, Wandering Jew, etc. Really hard to kill if it gets a little shade and water, hard not to love this one in August. The pink flowers are Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea); chartreuse flower is a fading Guzmania Bromeliad that begin life red. Grey foliage is from Barometer Bush (Leucophyllum frutescens). Inevitably I fiddle with these as I take pictures. I think I like it better without the Barometer Bush???
Happy Gardening and thanks to Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this weekly meme. Follow the link to see more vases.
The Shrub Queen 
You have a good eye, Amy, and it certainly does look even better without the ‘Barometer Bush’! I really like this thrift store find too, and it’s an interesting shape to have for a vase, something I lack more than just the odd one of. I really need to have a photographic record of all my vases…!
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Thanks, Cathy, I enjoy creating vases every week – I post the pictures here and there (sent a vase picture in with a magazine article I wrote last week – be interesting to see if they publish it)
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Oh! Do you send unsolicited articles, or do you have commissions?
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Commissions. About the weird stuff in my garden.
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ps have you agreed to do a talk?
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Yes, we are trying to figure out how to do it with Zoom.
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Oh do go for it – and tell us all about it!
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I like both vases, which is why I do not do flower arranging. It all looks good to me. I forage in the garden, but for seedlings.
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Thank you, the grey foliage is still in there, I am hoping the other stuff will root!!
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My perfect vase with plants that root.
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A good side effect
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I love that Guzmania flower and wish the plant was as happy here as it is in your climate (if only we could get that without the persistent humidity characteristic of your part of the country). Once again, I think you built the perception of movement into the arrangement. I do like it better without the Leucophyllum stem. I always hesitate to remove what I’ve added to an arrangement but sometimes simpler is just better.
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Thank you, Kris. Simpler is better in many cases. That particular Guzmania is really easy to grow and it reproduces well and sets seed, no clue which one it is.
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I love this arrangement and I’ll go out on a limb and stick with the first version. There is a lovely arch to the design. The fading Guzmania color against the vase color is striking too.
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Thanks I like the first one better. Less is more 😀
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Beautiful – a perfectly balance composition, Amy. That bromeliad draws the eye right to it.
Hang in there – all these storms passing by must make you wary.
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Thanks, Eliza. I am a flower fiddler. Laura has been blowing here since Sunday. I may be getting used to these things, the wind used to drive me nuts. I feel much less wary when they are not headed my way!
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Both lovely, but I think I prefer the first, I love the different foliage colours. And a nice vase too, good find.
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Thanks, Liz. I bought some Blue Glitter Thistle seed last week, they are in the freezer having winter…
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I prefer the first version too. And I really love the whole thing… that vase is striking with the purple foliage trailing down the side.
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Thank you…can’t stop fiddling..
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That’s a good little pot you found at the thrift shop. I prefer it without the barometer bush.
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All but one liked sans Barometer…thanks.
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This is now one of my favourites of all your arrangements. The colours and composition all work so beautifully, without fuss. Congrats.
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Transcandentia zebrina is pretty cool too.
Transcandentia pallida was the one I had never seen before. Now, I sort of wonder if it is one that I saw in Los Angeles though.
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I would be surprised if you haven’t seen it, very common in the east as a summer annual and container plant. Used in frost free areas as a groundcover/accent. Indestructible here. There is a striped cultivar, I think Monrovia grows it.
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Yes, although it is uncommon here. I see it down south, and in planter boxes in downtown districts.
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