Despite having participated in IAVOM for several years, I finally started growing flowers for cutting last fall. Zinnias, and just planted another batch. My current challenge is foraging something in bloom to cut in my admittedly funky South Florida garden. Usually followed by fiddling.
This Monday’s ‘vase’ was fiddlier than usual. A big, antique copper teapot has been repurposed into a vase. This teapot has holes in the bottom and a repair can be seen on the front. A salsa jar was placed inside to hold the water. I had a difficult time getting the scale of the arrangement to suit me; rearranging the dill flowers and inhaling the scent so much that I decided to make something with dill for dinner.
The flowers:
The orange flowers in the front are Mexican Honeysuckle (Justicia spicigera); deep blue spikes are Mystic Blue Salvia; white daisies are Bidens alba; crinkly white flowers are from the White Geiger tree (Cordia boisseriei); the dill flowers are leaning out of the picture; varigated foliage in back is Varigated Flax Lily (Dianella tasmanica); peachy spikes with seedheads are from Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea) – not being red.
A better dill flower image and the grey succulent tucked into the front is a Graptosedum..which will probably root in the salsa jar.
Dinner forage:
On my dinner forage I collected enough fresh herbs (dill, parsley and basil) and tomatoes to make tomato and sausage pasta with roasted garlic pesto.
To see more vases (probably foraged) visit Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com
Happy Gardening!!
The Shrub Queen 
Your vase is very creative. Does the dill smell strong inside your house? Dinner sounds really good.
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Thank you. The arrangement is in a small foyer, maybe 6×8 and it smells like a pickle factory. I have been reading (and bought!) Jessica Seinfelds vegan cookbook. The recipe was from that. Hubs had a stent and fat is verboten, almost.
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Somehow, I always seem to read your posts right around lunchtime – your pasta description has my stomach demanding satisfaction! I love the blue and orange in your arrangement and I was pleased to see the succulent rosette tucked in there too.
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Thanks, Kris. I am not usually a pesto fan – the roasted garlic made the difference.
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The copper teapot is brilliant as a vase and sets off the colours of the blooms and foliage wonderfully, particularly the blue and orange. A great result! And a nice dinner as a reward for your efforts…! 😉
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Thank you, Cathy …the zinnias I planted at the same time as yours, one has set buds, the others rotted! and the seeds I planted in the ground did not come up so, I planted another tray over the weekend with some Envy, cactus mix and profusion series – haven’t tried these yet.
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You have BUDS already?! Mine are now pricked out and looking healthy but won’t get planted out till well into May
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Yes, I expect to have flowers by the weekend. I have a feeling they may start faster and not last as long here. The seed packet said flowers in 35 to 60 days.
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It seems amazing to think of Zinnias in just 5 weeks!
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No flowers yet, just big buds.
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This is delightful. I love how the orange anchors everything to the copper teapot, which is a great choice for the vase.
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Thanks, Susie..the tea pot is a favorite.
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Fun forage and dinner sounds great! I really like that old kettle and the ‘wild’ look of the arrangement suits it well. Do you think winter here will kill any Biden seeds that self-sow? Zinnia seeds don’t overwinter here, so they probably wouldn’t either, I’m guessing.
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Thanks..no idea about the Bidens.. though I have a feeling that they would be popular if easy elsewhere.. really a cute little white flower.
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There are other Bidens offered as annuals, not sure of the species, they look a bit like coreopsis. White fly adore them, I had to chuck one out one year because of an infestation!
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Oh.. interesting..I can’t grow cosmos here which seems odd but they get spider mites and die. Sometimes there’s a good reason why!
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It’s a wonderful creation Amy, and was definitely worth all the fiddling. I think the flax lily foliage really defines the shape, and the contrast of orange against the (enviable) copper teapot is ideal. 😃 I love dill, but the roasted garlic pesto sounds even more delicious! (We eat garlic almost daily. 😉)
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Thanks, Cathy – I have been reading a vegan cookbook and cooking from it…the pesto came from there. We eat a similar amount of garlic.
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Love the mix of foliage and flowers especially the dill!
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Thank you I am enjoying the dill.
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Graptosedum roots in water? I just plug it into the soil directly, but it sometimes rots if it gets too wet through winter.
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The big fat stems will, but you can’t leave it too long. I have these all over the garden.
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I got only a few because I never bothered to spread it around much. Other succulents are more prolific whether or not I want them to be.
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That is it..let them go.
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A flower arrangement as well as dinner, you can’t beat that.
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Thanks, Karen. I made the pesto with pecans – it was good. I may try to freeze a big batch for summer.
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