I decided to celebrate summer with a colorful vase after the garden served up a batch of bright colors this week. I think the garden is celebrating a few soaking rains. The difference between hand watering and rain always surprises me – it seems all the plants enjoyed it from the fruit trees to the succulents. The mango trees are covered with fruit, I managed to give them their summer feeding before the rains started and now they are putting out new foliage. The mangoes are beautiful, but still hard as rocks. More gardening patience required. The Brown Eyed Girl Sunflowers are back in action. I added them to two vases this week, this one and a birthday vase for my neighbor.
A closer view:
The vase is a crystal rose bowl that belonged to my mother. Gracing the rose bowl front and center are the BEG Sunflowers in yellow; salmon flowers with green tips are from Soap Aloe (Aloe saponaria); blue flowers are Black and Bloom Salvia.
The back of the vase has two colors of foliage from Pie Crust Croton, a mad tropical shrub about five feet tall currently. The yellow and green foliage is new growth and the darker is the mature foliage. The shrub resembles a psychedelic Aucuba. White flowers are from the stalwart Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea, the white version)
Thanks to Cathy for hosting In a Vase on Monday. For a summer garden tour from other bloggers visit http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com
Happy Gardening!
The Shrub Queen 
A perfect vase for a Memorial Day cookout. I also find plants like rainwater better than what I water them with which is the same water I drink.
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Thanks. I guess the plants don’t like chlorine and the legacy chemicals. They are smarter than we are.
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Such a cheerful and pretty arrangement which made me think of a flock of tropical birds sitting happily together. Hope all is well with you, fab time of year, what’s not to love about it 🙂 . Have a great week!
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Thanks, Annette. I havent seen any tropical birds yet though there are some rogue green parakeets around here.
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do you get hummingbirds at all? don’t remember seeing any when we were there…our current weather reminds me of Florida as we get heavy thunderstorms each afternoon
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I see about 2 a year in winter..they go down the west coast of Florida. It’s a treat to see one.
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Indeed a summery vase with lots of fireworks within!
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Thank you.
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Bright and summery to start off the unofficial first weekend of the summer. We are a bit behind on the rainy days here, but it is hard to complain about the blue skies and perfect weather.
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Clear blue skies and low humidity are hard to beat, enjoy while it lasts.
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Aloes are a confusing group. Soap aloe grows very well on the coast as well as here. However, I am not exactly certain that it is all the same thing. Most have strictly conical and bright orange floral trusses. Some have more pendulous and pastel orange floral trusses. A large specimen (with many rosettes) is right outside here, but I am not certain that it really is soap aloe. It is impressive regardless of its identity. Several species of Aloe exhibit similar variation. I still do not know what Aloe vera is.
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I agree and there are a lot of different kinds.
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The closer I look, the more I like it! The foliage at the back is lovely… all those colours from one plant! And the sunflowers seem to be keeping their promise of continual (well, intermittent) flowering all summer. And, of course, the salvias… beautiful!
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I’m glad to see your sunflowers back in the action. I’m still waiting to seen enough flowers on mine to cut. I wish Croton didn’t just wither and die in my climate – they don’t hold up long even when grown in the house.
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Me, too.. though the sunflowers are getting powdery mildew. Croton must love humidity.
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