Rain has been my garden companion lately. Precipitation is a double edged sword in a South Florida garden. The desirable plants flourish – and so does everything else. Even the good stuff is growing in odd places. I cut the salvia from plants growing in the shell walkway to prevent reseeding, trimmed the Bougainvillea back so I wouldn’t get stabbed, then trimmed what appears to be a palmetto coming up in the driveway and deadheaded the Heliconia. This bounty was unceremoniously plonked into a monogrammed highball glass that belonged to my in-laws. A bottle of Scotch was added to toast.
Cheers to taming a small bit of the garden!
Closer views:
Red spikes are Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea); orange flowers are Heliconia choconiana.
Red flowers are Heliconia psittacorum ‘Lady Di’; white flowers, ‘Miss Alice Bougainvillea; the palm is a Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens) – this is a native shrub scale palm, I have no clue how it ended up in my driveway. A mystery to contemplate with a highball. At a later date, it is too hot for swilling Scotch in the garden.
That’s all from slightly less sweltering South Florida. Visit Cathy’s blog to view more vases.
The Shrub Queen 
Cheers! Love how the bold drink choice matches your arrangement 😉
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Hey Tracy, thanks.
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At least you found a good use for the offending plants. We are finally getting rain, but most is not in my area. Our temps are below 100 this week, which means high 90s. Yippee
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I agree. They just appeared. Yippee, indeed. It has cooled down to the high 80s.
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I remain envious of that white Bougainvillea. I still haven’t seen it here but then my husband wouldn’t be happy if I planted it anyway given his experience getting stabbed removed several of them at our old house 😉
https://krispgarden.blogspot.com/
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Thanks, Kris. Miss Alice being called thornless means the thorns are much smaller and not as sharp.
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Brilliant! Hope your summer goes well.
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Thanks, Cynthia. I am happy when summer is over, it’s hot!
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This weekend was Carnival in London, and some of the costumes mimicked the colours in your vase. What a fabulous display of tropical colours.
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Thanks, Noelle
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I am always slightly envious of your Salvia coccinea, which would struggle here. I did try it in a pot inthe Coop one year, but it never came to anything. Yours is so floriferous, far more so than S ‘Royal Bumble’ which is the red variety I grow here. We have all benefitted from your pruning and plonking, as your vase works so well and is so striking, but you will have to keep the drink to yourself! ps Hope you can keep on top of the effect of your rain (Elder Daughter and family got caught in a deluge on one of their last evenings)
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The S. coccinea never fails to amaze me. There is another native salvia here called S. misella that likes shadier places and damp environs, oddly it creeps! Elder daughter got a big surprise! There have been some torrential downpours recently.
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Very pretty! I can just imagine the plant stampede happening in your garden right now. Isn’t it fun how some of our best arrangements come from willy-nilly gleanings?
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Thanks, Eliza stampede is a good word for it. I like it a little wily nily.
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You deserve a drink after all that exertion Amelia! 😉 Lovely trimmings – some of the best vases arise from a good pruning session don’t you think! The Salvia is absolutely gorgeous and I can only dream of ever having to prune a salvia to prevent reseeding.
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Thanks, Cathy, I agree. Prunings do make the best vases. I have an easily 50 square foot area of red salvia that got loose by the compost heap! I should probably trim that next.
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Oh my goodness! Paradise! 🤣
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Ah, Miss Alice.
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What a great use of the glass! I picture it as a scene in a movie – one from the 1950’s, probably…a patio in the glaring hot, white hot, sun. The glass, melting ice in the bottom, on a metal table by itself…the camera pans in to catch a hand reaching for it, dumping out the ice on the lawn, filling it with water from the nearby hose and then, another hand, dirty fingers and nails (obviously a gardener), pushing in a fistful of trimmed off, colourful bits and pieces. The glass is placed back on the table and the camera pans back to reveal…your vase for Monday’s IAVOM post 🙂
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Thanks Chris. I love this..I would need a proper 50s gardening ensemble for this movie! Straw hat, pedal pushers, red lipstick…
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Looks like a fun ceremony to me. Little tipple for the flowers and more for you. I too will be happy for coller temperatures and I live in B.C. Canada! I love your hot flowers which are all fun for me to see.
https://zonethreegardenlife.blog/2024/08/26/in-a-vase-monday-august-26/
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thank you.
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I like the vibrant colors of your plonked flowers. 😊 Perfect for the last days of August.
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thank you..fall is on the horizon at long last.
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