Sometimes I like a little reminder of winter, something that doesn’t involve actually being cold. With temperatures hovering around 80F/26C and the air conditioning running it is not very wintry in my garden. I decided to concentrate on frosty white flowers in a vase for this Monday.
It has been very pleasant outside this week, so I have been clearing things out and moving things around. I planted a couple of packages of seed ahead of a predicted day long deluge (Sunday) hoping to get some different cutting flowers going (Bupleurum and White Finch Orlaya). I decided to plant these in a bed instead of pots as I have this magnificent vegetable bed I prepared a couple of years ago lying fallow since it became infested with nematodes almost immediately after completion. The reseeding salvia is very happy there so I’m hoping for more flowers. Upon returning to the house I read the packages – both said they need to be chilled for two weeks prior to planting. Oops. I hope the deluge helps.
The vase is a thrift store find. Flowers in frosty tones:
White Flame Salvia is cascading over the edges. The purple stemmed fuzzy flowers are Red Velvet Aerva.
White daisies are Bidens alba. Varigated foliage is ‘Bossa Nova’ Neoregelia Bromeliad. The airy grasses are dried seedheads from Muhly Grass (Muhlbergia capillaris).
That’s all from not so wintry South Florida this Monday. Visit our hostess, Cathy, at her blog to see vases from other gardeners around the world.
The Shrub Queen 
Your winter whites show solidarity with our gardening friends up north that were snowed on the past few days. No flowers here, but my camellias are having their best year.
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Go figure, maybe the camellias liked the cold, Enjoy! I love camellias.
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Looks like school vacationing families are going to be pleased with their FL vacations this week!
Of course, we still have snow (okay by me), a bit chilly yesterday with the low before sunrise being 16ºF with a stiff wind. Better today, above freezing and super sunny…love that blue sky.
Your arrangement mimics the snow here and may it have a cooling effect for you. 🙂 I have to look for that White Flame Salvia at my growers this spring.
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The vacationers missed it. It is in the 50s today, we had an enormous amount of rain yesterday. Yes, you need to try that salvia, I will be interested to see how it does for you. Blue skies for you – yay!
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A glorious day today, yay, indeed!
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So cheerful.
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Hi Rosie, Happy Monday and thank you.
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So pretty and certainly “wintry whites” I can cope with. How nice to be able to pick these treasures in February. Have a good week!
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Thank you, Annette. It is the reward for a dreadfully hot summer.
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Your are balmy there! Lovely, the salvia is really pretty.
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When I open your post and begin to scroll down, your vases always reveal themselves from the top down, and today it just got better and better – starting with the ethereal grass and followed by the green and white of the rest of the contents. It’s lovely through and through, Amelia!
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Thank you, Cathy.
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80F! We haven’t even gotten near 70F for what seems like months. I hope your seeds germinate. (I sowed California poppy seeds prior to our current rainstorm with fingers crossed as they should’ve been sown in the fall.) I continue to be amazed by your robust Salvia flowers. The Aerva is new to me and something I can’t recall ever seeing here.
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yes, a short lived warm day. Aerva might do really well in your garden, it is native to grasslands in Africa and very drought tolerant. Finger crossed for the seeds!
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Winter returned here this weekend but I think we may get cool spring temps soon. I love the winter whites of your vase….too hot for me at 80. But for a respite from the cold I will take it.
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Yes, it is much cooler today. I love 80s!
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Ah, . . . white! There is a simple white variety of Cosmos that sort of resembles Bidens alba. When I see the seed, I wonder who else besides me would grow them. There must be someone else who would; otherwise the seed would not be available. . . . unless of course, it is the same packet of seed that has been in there for decades because no one will purchase it.
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I like that Cosmo, is it Clicks? For some weird reason I cannot grow cosmos here, they get spider mites.
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‘Double Click’ ‘White’ is a fluffy double flower. The single is like ‘Versailles White’, or something like that.
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Yes, I love the clicks.
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A really lovely vase–so many beautiful textures–and my kind of frosty white! 😉 That Salvia is a beauty. I hope your seeds come through anyway; I just discovered I was supposed to have chilled my Salvia columbariae seeds prior to sowing… luckily I didn’t realize until today when the first leaves began popping up!
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Thank you and I am glad your Salvia came up! The weather cooled a lot, so maybe the seeds are chilling at 50 degrees F?!
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We hot climate gardeners take what we can get! 😉
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Are you A Thornscrub Garden?
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Yes, sorry about the confusion–I’m changing the name as I work on my new garden.
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Great, I wanted to follow you before but couldn’t quite figure it out! Good to see another hot climate garden.
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I smiled at your play on words and marvelled at the term wintery in juxtaposition with 26 C temperatures. I think you have achieved a wintering white look with your vase, and who would also not love to have such magnificent flowers during the winter in cooler regions! It is a lovely arrangement.
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Thank you, Noelle. We are now chilly at 19C!
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I like the frosty look this week. It is certainly not frosty where you are though… 😉 As usual the salvia has made an amazing impact on this arrangement and I love the grass seedheads too. Very pretty!
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Thanks, Cathy – there is a new yellow Salvia here called Forsythia, It is big, have you seen it?
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No, but I will keep my eyes open for that! 😃
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I thought of you when I saw it online. I might have to buy one.
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Oh yes, it would be a great addition to your other salvias. 😃
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Your lovely vase must have had the desired cooling effect Amelia. I love the white daisy and those airy grasses. Here we’ve been getting excited as our temperatures have risen to the dizzying height of 13c- most warm for a February day 😂
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The weather cooled down considerably after the vase was made. Glad you are warm.
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This arrangement is awesome. The White Flame Salvia is beautifully placed for a nice drape. I need to look for that. Hope your seeds perform well. I planted a few in trays this week.
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Thanks, Susie. I should go into sales for the White Flame. It is wonderful to plant some seeds!
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