I put this vase together on Father’s Day, so it was very appropriate to use one of my parents wedding gifts as a vase this week. My parents married in 1950, I think these teapots must have been popular at the time. I remember this teapot sitting on the kitchen counter very frequently as my mother used it to brew tea for iced tea year round. A pink plastic pitcher of iced tea was a constant presence in my childhood. If you grew up in the Deep South, iced tea is the beverage of choice for lunch and dinner (or if you are really Southern, lunch is called dinner and dinner is supper)
The flowers in this vase wouldn’t make a tasty brew. I am fairly certain the Tropical Gardenias are toxic, but it might smell pretty good.
A closer view:
I have accepted a few (guffaw) wild grape vines as a fact of life in my garden. These are muscadines (Vitis rotundifolia) I think it would take a small thermonuclear device to get rid of all of them and then I would have to start over. Not happening. So I cut a few here and there, add some to a vase, make a wreath and feed wildlife. The Gardenias are Tropical or Florida Gardenias (Tabernaemontana diviricata); our massive rain event this week produced a wonderful flush of flowers.
Pink flowers in the vase are the bitter end of the winter annual Giant Dianthus. I am puzzling over what to do with it. Put it in a shady place and hope for a miracle or consign it to the compost heap? It is a dilemma. Light blue flowers are Blue Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata); deep blue spikes are Mystic Blue Salvia, the spikes are oddly shorter due to dry weather earlier in the summer. A few sprigs of chartreuse coleus and fuzzy grey Licorice Plant (Helichrysum) add color.
Thanks to Cathy at RamblingintheGarden for hosting this weekly event. Follow the link and find more vase enthusiasts from around the world.
Happy Gardening!!
The Shrub Queen 
A delightful summer brew. I grew up in the cold north and my mom always made ice tea and we were allowed to have hot tea for breakfast. They did not worry about caffeine or sugar back then. I’ve been able to keep up with the wild grapes here and pulled up the vines before they got too far. I call them raccoon grapes as for some reason raccoons tend to poop while going up trees and the seeds are planted are the tree base. A win win for the grapes. Nature is great.
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Yes, the raccoons love them. My neighbor who is a native will eat them. I will not. White sugar and oleo? from your youth? I can’t eat oleo, ugh.
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I still love sugar, but I am trying my best to be good.
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Both my parents were diabetic and I fear it but still eat sugar.
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I love the color mix – and the addition of the maligned grapes! I love the blue Plumbago to and only wish those plants didn’t grow to such a gargantuan size – it’d be wonderful to have one in my garden.
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Thanks, Kris. The Plumbagos are not much trouble. They are just oddly creepy.
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We will all have native plants we would like to eradicate I suppose, but at least these grapes look pretty in a vase, sorry teapot – it’s interesting how history of some sort creeps into many of our vases! That dianthus has lasted well – I am sure it would be worth trillaing whether it might survive. It has been a great addition to many vases, as has your Mystic Spires!
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Thanks, Cathy. I think the grapes are pretty – they can grow 10 feet easily so it is a battle. The Dianthus gets a little browner day by day…
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Another beautiful display especially the choice of a vase with the teapot. I love the colors. Very calming.
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Thank you, I am not sure what it is about pastel pinks and blues – but they are very soothing.
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I love the backstory for the teapot. 🫖 Other than for making tea, I really like to see them used for flowers. Home-ly. 🙂
The dianthus adds the perfect complement to the blue/purple/gray and the rich green backs it up nicely. Wish I could smell the gardenias!
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Thanks Eliza.. it’s too stained to use.. except for flowers 🌹
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I like the arrangement with all the colors. The whites from the gardenias give a great contrast. Most of these flowers grow as perennials in the Caribbean too, dianthus, gardenias, plumbago.
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What a great combination–the vessel and all the elements of your arrangement. This is one of my favorites from this week. Re: the Dianthus…whatever you decide to do, please keep us posted on the results. Happy vase day!
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Muscadines are fascinating. I intend to grow them. A feral vine (which I was told is a muscadine) survives at the farm, but without a pollinator, provides no fruit. Grapes that grow here are very different. Wine grapes are abundant in the many vineyards, although rare within home gardens. Table grapes (which I suppose means the type that are for fresh eating) are about all that are seen within home gardens. Wild grapes tend to stay wild, although some who are familiar with them appreciate them. Anyway, I remember canned grapes of all sorts when I was a kid. It took me a while to realize that those who canned them were Okies, or descendents of Okies, who canned grapes because they were so readily available, and were assumed to be like the muscadines that were more conducive to canning in Oklahoma. The grapes that grow so well here are . . . not quite the same.
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Canned grapes? Ugh. I have been eating pink muscatel grapes which are very good. I would eat scuppernongs before muscadines!
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Yes, canned grapes were exactly as they sound. We ate them because they were what we knew. I mean, we did not know that there was anything wrong with that. Most of their flavor was from the sugar in the syrup. Also from that time, we got cherry pies made with sweet cherries, merely because that is what grew in the remnants of orchards. They were not bad, but there were only about as good as canned grapes. There were no tart cherries.
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Oh, I love your crammed teapot of fabulous eclectic blooms and fruit. Coming from the U.K iced tea was a ‘new’ thing for me over fifty years ago on arrival. I apologise for saying I still like my hot Orange Pekoe with milk even if the temp is 30C!! My grandchildren call it Granny Tea because I used to give it to them with more milk than tea and a touch of sugar!
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Thank you. I have never developed a taste for tea with milk and sugar. I like the orange pekoe straight up over ice with lemon! Where do you live, zone three is boggling my mind. I am in 10.
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Your design, colors, textures are exquisite. Just lovely, especially enjoying that Blue Plumbago. I have my grandmother’s tea pot. As far as I know it only ever held tea for iced tea! And yep, guess I’m really Southern–dinner and supper.
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Thanks, Susie. I am only half Southern! so I say lunch. The Blue Plumbago has been fantastic this year. I realize I want three more.
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Only three?
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LOL, I think that is all that will fit.
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What a lovely display. I wonder what your mother would say if she could see her teapot full of beautiful flowers? I bet she would actually be quite impressed! Was she a gardener? The plumbago is dreamy, and need I add that I love your salvia?! 😝
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Thank, Cathy. My mother would have loved it. She was a great gardener. My grandfather was a farmer and she always said I got the farmer gene.
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This is so beautiful – on so many levels!
Clever you! Linda xox
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Thank you, Linda.
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🥰
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