This Monday my vase may require an explanation. One of our truly great Supreme Court Justices was Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a champion of women’s rights in the United States. She passed on last September serving as a Supreme Court Justice since 1993. She was well known for wearing a lace collar around her neck over black robes and somehow became known as ‘Notorious RBG’ after a prominent rap artist called Notorious B.I.G., evidentially due to her scathing dissenting opinions as a Justice.
The RBG in my vase this Monday is a Real Big Ginger and the crochet doily was done by another notorious woman, my mother-in-law – Joan Ethel Davis. She passed on in 2002, her initials are crocheted into this doily and I am certain she was a huge fan of the real RBG.
A closer view of the vase. The Real Big Ginger is Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) in pink and white. It is notorious in my garden as I did not realize quite how huge it would get. Four feet tall and maybe eight feet wide, it has overrun a few milder plants in my landscape and was asked to leave the tropical garden. The off white and slightly pink Begonia is from the Lotusleaf Begonia (Begonia nelumbifolia). Most of the arranging of these flowers involved deciding what to cut off – I trimmed most of the leaves from the Shell Ginger and slipped the Begonia in as a afterthought.
Thank you to Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting IAVOM – to see more vases follow the link to her blog.
Happy Gardening!!
The Shrub Queen 
We watched a film about Ruth Bader Ginsburg,, very good. Love the pink flowers of your ginger.
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Thank you, she was quite a woman.
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I will be enjoying your Shell Ginger, as I mentioned, I will not see a flower here for another year. I have a collection of my great aunt’s doilies. She would visit, sit in a chair and “boom” make a doily. I wish I had learned.
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Enjoy..I am hopeless with crochet and knitting, my grandmother could tat, and it was amazing.
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Haha – I like all the elements of your post today, Amy…it’s funny how vases come together or trigger asides like this. I have always liked seeing your shell ginger in a vase, but I can appreciate that a plant that size and that invasive can outstay its welcome! Thinking about your doily and reading Automatic Gardener’s comment reminded me that at one time I always had some knitting on the go, wherever I was…that stopped after I got a knitting machine but even that has not been used for years…
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Thank you, it is funny how ideas just pop up when cutting flowers. I tried to learn how to knit and couldn’t get the hang of it..
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Yes, so many things in the garden have a story to tell in some way or other, don’t they?
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Ha! When I saw your title, I wondered where you were going with it until I scrolled down and saw the doily. It’s perfect! (You already know I love that shell ginger.)
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Thank you, Kris
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Nice Amy. The shell ginger is pretty. I was a fan of RBG. I saw a lot crocheted doilies in my childhood and I have a beautiful tablecloth crocheted by my aunt.
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Thank you – same here with the crocheted doilies, my grandmother always had them on the arms of her living room furniture.
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That is what I call a vase making a statement. Or course, to my eyes an exotic one. Thanks for sharing the stories too.
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Even I think the flowers are exotic in this one.
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Our variegated shell ginger will be getting planted sooner than later. (It will be removed from a big pot, and planted into the ground where the big pot is now.) I will get a few pups for my own garden, even if it is sooner than expected, and even though it is slightly shabby. I suspect that it might be less shabby in the ground than it was in the pot. Even if it eventually blooms, the pictures of the flowers that I see online are not quite as pretty as yours are. At least I know it can survive here. If it performs better in the ground, I will be more tempted to try the unvariegated sort. Some sources say that it is almost as resilient to mild frost as what is already here. However, my colleague tells me that the foliage is also slightly shabby, not because of frost, but because of aridity. He also tells me that I met both the variegated and the unvariegated shell gingers before, right near the office of the Canyon News. The climate here is cooler in winter, but not as arid in summer.
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The Varigated was commonly used as a summer container plant in Atlanta and tossed. It rarely flowers here. I think the green one will probably make it in your garden. It is the only Ginger I can grow, my ‘soil’ doesn’t retain enough water for the others.
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I sort of suspect that it will survive, especially with shelter. I just want it to be pretty. There are other gingers that I would prefer to try, but might try shell ginger too if I happen to encounter it (and am impressed by it) which down south.
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They bloom 3 times a year here and the foliage is way better in shade. Oddly, I don’t see them in the trade much. Mine are from a garage sale.
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Three times?! Wow, I would be pleased with once, or just a few blooms. They may not be in the trade if they are too common, but now old fashioned. Bergenias are like that here. They are common in home gardens, but not in nurseries. Those who want them get them from friends or neighbors.
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Well, I love Bergenias too!
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We are fortunate that they are compatible with the landscapes here, and there is plenty of space to absorb them. they get prolific.
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It is a luminous beauty, and as you say, is larger than life, just like RBG was. Great tie-in!
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Thanks Eliza, a bit spaish?
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Right out of Bali!;)
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Love the vase, and as an avid crocheter I love the doily too. Although the idea of putting initials in it is new to me. Great theme!
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Thanks, Cathy. Joan was an amazing crocheter..
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