Mid-winter in Florida brings its share of garden surprises. I never know what I might find and decided to clip a little bit of treasure here and there and plonk my plunder into an old florist vase that was hanging around. My husband informed me this is similar to the way I cook, which is true. I look in the fridge and freezer and make a dish from whatever I find. It usually works out. I have never thought of creating food as a plunder and plonk before!
My garden treasures this Monday:
The top of the vase is sporting, in orange with green tips, Soap Aloe (Aloe saponaria). These do too well in my garden and I need to thin them. The reddish flowers next to them are China Hat (Holmskioldia sanguinea). Small blue flowers are Variegated Flax Lilies (Dianella tasmanica), an unbelievably hardy plant – I just unearthed it from overgrown vines and it was so happy it flowered luxuriously. Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exaltata) is in the background.
The salvias continue to thrive, in blue, Mystic Spires and the white is White Flame. Yellow daisies are from Beach Sunflowers (Helianthus debilis), the white ones are Bidens alba, both are natives.
Visit the blog of our weekly meme hostess Cathy to see more garden treasures in vases.
Happy Gardening!!
The Shrub Queen 
You have a nice selection to artfully fill a vase. My garden will be starting from scratch.
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Thank you, I know there is a lot below the ground in your garden just waiting for the right time to appear.
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Some of the best meals are made that way and your vase is a delicious result. Hope you’re doing well.
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I agree, though they are difficult to repeat sometimes. So far, so good from here.
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It’s a good plunder and plonk!
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Did my last comment disappear? Or maybe I pressed the wrong button. When I first read your title I thought you had plundered a neighbour’s garden! I bet you arrange your plates as beautifully as you arrange your flowers, after all presentation is all!
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No, it came up as Someone. Unfortunately, I am a rustic food arranger. A plonker!
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I love the wild, just-picked look. The Dianella is lovely!
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Thanks, Eliza.
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Haha – I like the cooking analogy (and your husband is very observant!!) 😉 I also like the way your vase is almost 2 in 1, with a rural posy look to the shorter blooms and then the taller tropical foliage and blooms of the rest of the contents. I have never heard of Daniella before bit they are a glorious shade of blue
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Thank you.. Dianella is very common here, it reminds me of phormium, that won’t grow here but I love.
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How I’d love to have the plethora of aloe flowers you do! But then I’m equally envious of your bromeliad flowers.
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These are South African natives. I would think the aloe would love your garden.
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So much bounty! There is something to feast the eye on at every level there. Really like the blue flax lilies adding all that airiness. 😃
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Thanks, Cathy..getting into the pirate metaphors!
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You certainly have lots of surprises in your garden to choose from….my fav way to cook is to plunder and plonk!
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Good to know there are more food plonkers.
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I like the plunder and plonk look, very full and wild! The salvias are great, and the blue flax.
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Thank you.
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Oh such riches in mid-winter Amelia! I’m green with envy. We would go hungry if we were picking and plundering from the garden at the moment. Your vase is such a satisfactory shape 😀
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Thank you, Anna. There is one unripe lime in the garden. So we would go hungry as well.
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Lovely vase of flowers. Every time I think of Florida I sigh in longing. What a beautiful state.
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Thank you.
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Aloes are not easy to distinguish! I believe that Aloe saponaria is the second most common Aloe near the beach, but I never bothered to key it out. Whatever it is, it blooms splendidly, and looks great with sea foam statice. The colors are completely opposite.
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