This is a first from my South Florida garden; featuring stalwarts of late spring further north – Snapdragons and Dianthus. I thought these would grow here but figuring out when can be a bit of a trial and error situation. Pinder’s, a local nursery, has concentrated on growing flowers to cut this year and gifted me some plants to trial for vases this weekend. The first order of business was to cut the Snaps and Dianthus; both are the tallest versions I have seen around here. The Dianthus is called ‘Giant’ and the Snap looks like ‘Tetra Mix’ to me, but I am not sure. Winter is rapidly turning into summer here as temperatures are forecast to rise into the mid 80s F (29 C) this week, so I am going to enjoy this floral bounty while I can.
A closer view:
This arrangement smells as good as it looks. The white spike is a ‘White Flame’ Salvia, new to me and sweetly fragrant. I am looking forward to seeing how it performs in the garden. The Dianthus has a light clove fragrance. Background greenery is the native (read weed) Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exaltata) The vase was a sample sale find from years ago.
I am hoping to get into the garden and plant these new vase worthy plants then watch and cut them through the seasons. More new flowers will be coming soon.
Thank you to Cathy for hosting IAVOM. Follow the link http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com to see more vases.
Happy Gardening!!
The Shrub Queen 
The snapdragons have a really nice color. They don’t last here when it gets hot.
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Thank you, 90 this weekend will probably finish them off.
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Gorgeous! And how generous of them… I need to find me a similar fairy godmother! 😀
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Thank you, Eliza. The plants are mostly decapitated now!
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Oh my favorite, snapdragons. And the colors are so tropical. I just love them in your vase!
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Thank you.
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Gosh, after being used to winter colours for ages I had to get my sunglasses out! Gorgeous flowers and well arranged. While I sip my chamomile tea with cold feet I dream of Florida 😊
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Thank you, Annette. It is a blast of salmon pink, it had not occurred to me the colors are fairly tropical, especially in February.
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Oh how exciting t have your local nursery donating plants for you to trial – although as Annette suggests, the colours were a bit of an unexpected shock to the system. The antirrhinum are ven more striking because they have opened all the way up the stem, which rarely seems to happen for me 😉 How tall are the blooms and those of the dianthus? You have some great salvia, always such an asset for your vases. Thanks for sharing, as always
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It is exciting. And I would not have bought Snapdragons as I have had bad luck with them in the past. I measured the tallest one, 24″ inches. The Dianthus are 4 to 6 inches shorter. I have not seen any that tall or that open before and will be interested to find out what series the seed is. I wonder if it is the weather, it suddenly was a lot warmer last week.I cut the stems at their base in the grow pot. We will see if any side shoots develop before it is too hot.
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Gosh, those are both huge!!
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yes
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Oh, that white salvia is quite pretty, although it still looks something like white mealycup sage to me. So far I am unimpressed with the white Mexican blue sage, so it is nice to see another better white salvia. Your snaps look good. Ours are getting beaten down by the cool rain, which is not normal for here. I am not certain if they prefer to be warm season annuals or cool season annuals here.
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S. farinacea is one of the parent plants. This one is just different and meatier! I had bad luck with Mexican Sage here…That would be interesting if Snaps are summer annuals there.
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I can not figure snaps out. They perform through winter in some regions and through summer in others. The best that I can remember were in Palm Springs during one of their WICKED summers. That makes NO sense.
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That doesn’t make sense.. they’re starting to mold here
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So, . . . they dislike damp and cool weather, but prefer warm (HOT) and dry weather?! That is precisely what I mean; they make no sense.
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Actually it’s hot and dry here.
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Now?
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Yes
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Well, at least that is consistent with their performance in Palm Springs; but why are they melting (as if it were that simple)?
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No clue
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That’s a wonderful color combination, Amelia! I’ve planted some snapdragons (and a few Dianthus too) but they’re a long way from blooming yet. They bloomed in February last year but the plugs weren’t available as early this year and our colder-than-usual temperatures seem to be delaying a lot of flowering plants this season.
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Thank you, Kris. More weather weirdness, I think these will expire soon.
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The snapdragons are wonderful specimens and would also merit the use of ‘giant’ in their name. So happy to see the white salvia in your arrangement. It must all smell gorgeous. Looks fabulous Amelia! 😃👍
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Thanks , Cathy. The snaps must be a giant something. I am loving the white salvia,
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Of course to us in the UK your exotics with their tropical look are quite stunning, but these blooms to you and everyone who wishes to buy flowers where you live must be a special before the heat arrives. I’m sure you will be giving back positive feedback to this grower about the viability of these beautiful blooms.
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Indeed, I am enjoying them to their fullest!
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Glad you’re able to enjoy them this year. I love snapdragons but even the summers here will cause them to take a break (or kick the bucket) when it gets warm.
You think you’ll grow them again?
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I love these though I am not sure how the nursery got them long stemmed. I have always ended up with moldy dwarfed plants Definitely something to consider next fall.
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