I had my heart set on a linear arrangement to display my first Lobsterclaw Heliconia of the season. The problem – my linear vase broke in the dishwasher. I was in a Pickle, until my dilemma was solved by, of all things, a Pickle jar. My husband is a compulsive jar saver so the perfect vase was soon in hand and fortunately covered in label glue. This made it very easy to roll a bromeliad leaf around it and tie it up with raffia.
The Lobsterclaw Heliconia is definitely a harbinger of summer. We have had some very hot alternating with very pleasant days and no rain. I finished mulching the gardens this morning as it seemed like possibly the last cool morning for a while. My cool and everyone else’s are probably entirely different things!
The Lobsterclaw Heliconia (Heliconia rostrata) is hanging around with two red Nodding Hibiscus (Malvaviscus arboreus) and a few leaves from Mammey Croton (Codieum varigatum)
The linear aspect of this arrangement is enhanced with foliage from Blanchetiana Bromeliad (Aechmea blanchetiana) – this is wrapped around the pickle jar and leaf leftovers I decided to pop in to hold the Heliconia upright. The ferns are Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exaltata)
Hoping for rain in my garden this week! To see more vases, visit Cathy at ramblinginthegarden.
Happy Gardening!!
The Shrub Queen 
My favorite heliconia… And I love the pickle-jar fix, well done! 🙂
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Thanks Eliza.. just picked my first mango!!
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How wonderful! Enjoy! 💛
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Absolutely love your linear arrangement. That Lobsterclaw Heliconia is quite the flower making a bold tropical statement. And what an ingenious way to create a vase.
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Thank you 😊
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You’re resourceful! And your wrapped pickle jar is also very stylish. I love the way the spots on the Croton’s leaves echo the color of the Heliconia flower too.
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Thanks Kris..reuse recycle and all that.
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I am not sure I’d put any of my vases in the dishwasher!! No, that’s not true, as I might put a plain glass one, which I am guessing yours was. Lobsterclaw Heliconia is suchan apt name, isn’t it, and it makes such a good focal point for your substitute vase, which you conjured up almost from nowhere. You have been inventive with your use of foliage too! It’s always interesting to hear about your weather – and I am sure you are right about how relative our interpretations of temperature and weather are! 😉
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It was plain glass and my husband got away from me. I would probably be freezing in the UK in summer.
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Gorgeous! I love the lobster claw, so tropical. Good job with the pickle jar fix, such a great idea.
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Thanks
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Wow, that heliconia is a real show stopper!
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Thanks, and it is a small variety.
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Lobster claws are such interesting plants. Cool for me is under 90 degrees.
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Same here.. it’s all about perspective
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Beautiful Heliconia, (Lobster Claw), I wasn’t sure of the proper name. We see these when we travel to Jamaica. A lovely reminder today of that beautiful island.
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The Heliconia is such an eye-catching flower. Most unusual. I love the green stems too. Your clever transformation of a pickles jar looks so professional Amelia! Cool for me is around 18°C or less, but I suspect your ‘cool’ temperatures are about double that! LOL!
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Professional pickle jar transformation! Cool is 80 F!
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Now that is all( with exception of the pickle jar)very exotic to me! Had you not told us about the jar, I would have been thinking that was exotic too. Beautiful.
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Thanks very unexotic pickles!
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That looks like the sort of modern floral design that some horticulture students are likely studying in school now. (I thought of that because leaves wrapped around containers were just becoming popular about the time I graduated in 1990. Fancy vases, according to modern design, seem to become passe over the years after that.)
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No idea what they are studying! Did you have floral design classes? I have a hard time using fancy vases.
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It was a brief component of our curriculum, because so many of us (horticulture students) were to be involved with the floriculture industries, particularly growing cut flower commodities. Those who grow cut flowers must know how their produce will be used.
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