Heliconias are very striking plants. The fiery colors of the flowers inspired me to create this vase. The container is a antique French match holder. I envision lovely, fashionable people sitting in a cafe by the Seine in Paris using the ribbed surface to strike matches and light hand rolled cigarettes.
Do people still roll their own cigarettes? I have no clue. One whiff of smoke and I am history. Gone to find clean air.
The vase is designed to hold long wood matches. I added a bit of floral foam in the base. The foam would not hold the heavy Heliconias up so I wound some Bromeliad foliage around the inside of the neck to hold the flowers in place. Perhaps the first Bromeliad foliage shim ever…?
A closer view:
The orange “flames” are Parrotflowers (Heliconia psittacorum ‘Choconiana’); red “flames”, another Parrotflower (H. psittacorum ‘Lady Di’); red hot foliage is Piecrust Croton (Codieum varigatum ‘Piecrust’); white “smoke” (also supplying fragrance) Sweet Almond (Aloysia virgata).
Hoping this is the last hot blast of summer. Happy Gardening!!
Thanks to Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting In a Vase on Monday. To see more vases follow the link.
The Shrub Queen 
Wow – this is one of the most striking containers I’ve seen – a blue ribbon at the County Fair for sure! The flowers are beautiful and just scream Tropical! It’s perfect for Florida and would be the envy of many northern florists!
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Thank you, Chris.
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A great title, and a lovely prop. I so rarely smell cigarette smoke these days that when I do I get all nostalgic! 😉 The whisps of ‘smoke’ are perfect.
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Thank you..rarely is good!
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Beautiful flowers and an original container. Lucky you having some heat, its cold here and its supposed to be Summer.
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Thank you, the heat index here today was 40C, your summer is in Florida.
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Clever theme this week, Amy. The heliconia are fiery and quite striking!
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Thanks, I always think of you when I use Heliconias.
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🙂 I love them as you well know!
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That container is so interesting. I have never seen one. I was wondering what was used for the wrap.
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The container has been around our house for decades, someone gave it to my husband as a Christmas gift years ago and he did not know what it was. It took some eBay sleuthing to figure it out. They sell a lot of knockoffs on Etsy that are cute.
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Your vases are ALWAYS striking, Amy!! This one is certainly no exception and I love the solidness of each of the separate parts – nothing airy-fairy about any of them
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Thank you, Cathy. I like things that make you think. No airy fairy here. You made me think – the tropical flowers are really solid…not wispy, food for thought. Why??
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Yes, once you start thinking beyond the statement it opens up all sorts of theories…
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Look – a fountain of flowers! Love the progression of colors.
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Thank you..
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I love the progression of colors and textures. It looks like a fountain!
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A bromeliad shim is definitely something new! I adore the parrotflowers – their color, their height and their form is perfect.
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Thanks, Kris.
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Heliconias are SO rad! I should have appreciated them more when I used to go to Southern California more often. As I mentioned earlier, there is one here, but I have no idea what to expect from it. I should bring some back from Southern California later. Some are sensitive to even mild frost though. That has always been a deterrent. However, frost is not so bad here. I know that many of the plants that I had not brought back in the past are likely to be happy here.
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