Category Archives: flower arrangements

In a Vase on Monday – Gingerly into the Garden

I have been eyeing the Shell Ginger (Alpinia zerumbet) for at least a week, watching the buds get bigger and bigger and stubbornly not flowering. Finally, the temperature soared to 90F/32C on Saturday and evidently inspired the Shell Ginger to open up. The miniature heat wave also caused the gigantic Strangler Fig to drop its leaves, so I walked gingerly through the leaves (fall is really not a thing here and I have yet to figure out the circle of life on the leaf drop on this tree) and started to cut flowers. Then, the bottom dropped out and I was in a torrential rainfall. Likely a result of the cold front behind the heat wave. Gingers in hand, I proceeded gingerly back into the house, drenched and enjoying the fragrant bouquet.

These are such dramatic flowers, I think they are at their best simply arranged. These are in one of my old florist vases and as is with their own foliage. I trimmed a good deal of the foliage off to allow the flowers to shine. The flowers are lightly fragrant adding a subtle ginger scent to the foyer.

A close up-

The flowers always remind me of porcelain and they are quite thick. I think the trip into the garden was worthwhile. The rain cleared, the temperature dropped and it is a beautiful, blue sky day.

To see more vases, visit our hostess, Cathy at ramblinginthegarden and follow the links in the comments.

In a Vase on Monday – Tropical Spring Roll

My spring roll is filled with different ingredients than one found in a Thai restaurant. A bromeliad leaf is wrapped around delicious contents from the garden. The names of some of the contents could be considered food – asparagus (fern), sage (salvia) – but I think we would be hard pressed to chew through the roll. It could possibly be considered high fiber/low carb for oh, say rodents or a passing iguana. My plan is to admire the flowers.

The ingredients:

My salvias are having a great year. Here they are again, Mystic Blue and White Flame. The pink flower is known as the tulip of the Treasure Coast. They don’t really remind me of tulips, but I get it. They are actually bromeliads, Billbergia pyramidalis. Green foliage is Asparagus fern and the wrapping leaf is from Blanchetiana Bromeliad (Aechmea blanchetiana). I love the green/mahogany coloration of the Blanchetiana leaves in winter, they are chartreuse in summer.

The weather here has finally turned in favor of gardening. My tomatoes are ripening and spring is in the air. On the down side, the moles ate all the bulbs and tubers, making me realize I should stop wasting money on these lovelies. I also accidentally grew some rabbit tobacco I thought was Chinese Forget Me Nots, oh well. Rabbit tobacco is a weed and a rite of passage in my youth. Boys would smoke it pretending like it was cigarettes! I am told it was harsh, but I never tried it.

Thanks to Cathy for hosting this weekly meme. Follow this link to see more vases.

In a Vase on Monday – No Guts, No Glory

This Monday’s arrangement is done in primary colors as a nod to the presidential primary elections taking place in the US. All politics aside, I felt compelled to give a shout out to Nikki Haley for taking on the orange beast and standing firm in her resolve to continue her quest. No guts, no glory.

My garden is a strict no politics zone and the colors have nothing to do with anything except hopefully not clashing with one another. Although, I am questioning my own taste in the placement of hot pink flowering ice plants near almost orange flowering Ixora shrubs (they are called Maui Red, in my own defense) then there is the issue of some nearby Purple Queen groundcover plants. I suppose it is Florida, after all, so some questionable tropical color mixtures can be overlooked.

The palette:

The flower shapes reflect the spiky nature of politics. In white, Sweet Almond (Aloysia virgata) adds the sweet scent of success; in red, Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea); in blue, Mystic Spires Salvia; white daisies are Bidens alba. The green foliage spikes are a juvenile palm frond from a Cabbage Palm.

Yellow and white round out the primary color palette. In white, Sedum adolphii ‘Firestorm’, yellow daisies, Beach Sunflower (Helianthus debilis); yellow and red daisies, Gallardia pulchella; yellow bells, Tecoma stans. The cobalt blue vase was a long ago gift from my brother’s family.

This primary season should prove to be interesting, maybe not quite as interesting as the final color scheme in my garden – only time will tell. Thanks to Cathy for hosting this weekly meme, to see more vases from gardens around the work, click this link.

In a Vase on Monday – Wintry Whites

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.

In a Vase on Monday – Valentine’s Putto

Putto sounds a bit like an Italian curse for a Valentine’s vase. I decided I needed a putto for a proper holiday vase, found one after searching around the house and read up on them. Here is the scoop, naked winged male babies in art are Cupid if they have arrows, cherubs if they have religious connotations and they are all putto in the singular and putti is plural.

So, I have figured out that the putto is presiding over the Valentine’s vase. He looks a bit contemplative. The vase is another old florist’s vase (I think they are multiplying) I wrapped this one with a Blanchetiana bromeliad leaf for another touch of color.

The rest of the players:

Surrounding the putto are the foliage and flowers of Genovese Basil, my favorite. I have this year round and eat a few leaves almost every day. It needed to be cut back, so the timing was ideal and the scent is wonderful. Red and yellow flowers are ‘Lady Di’ Heliconias (Heliconia pssitacorum); red bell shaped flowers are Firecracker Plants (Russelia equisetiformis).

The back of the vase has, in white, Sweet Begonia (Begonia odorata); Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exaltata) in green; the burgundy foliage is Aechmea ‘Burgundy’ Bromeliad, and the gray green leaf is a cut down palm frond from a seedling Sabal Palm.

Everyone around here celebrated a few days of dry, warm weather and I spent some time tidying and planting a few things in the garden. Ahh.

That is all from South Florida. To see more vases from gardeners around the world, visit Cathy’s blog http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com

In a Vase on Monday – Southwestern

I decided on a Southwest theme for my vase this week. I live surrounded by bits of the desert aesthetic. The architectural style of our house might be called Pseudo Southwestern Florida as it has some elements of all three. My husband and I fell in love with the sort of funky Adobe style of the house. I have succulents and some desert palms in the garden, but it is difficult to get past the humidity and make a true desert garden, though I do love the look.

The vase is an heirloom from my mother made by the Ute tribe in Arizona. Succulents and salvia would likely grow in a desert garden. The fern is an unlikely survivor of desert conditions. I’m thinking of it as a nice bronze accent.

The palette:

The fern is a Autumn Fern (Dryopteris erythrosara). This is probably my favorite fern with bronze new foliage and is realistically not likely to survive in my garden. I have it on my front porch in a pot surrounded by small bromeliads. The fern should be growing much further north and is probably wondering what happened and how it ended up in such an odd place. My salvias are making a repeat appearance this week, White Flame and Mystic Spires. I am finding these love to be cut and it makes them flower more.

The succulents:

Hanging over the edge of the vase is a Sedum – S. adolphii, I think, though it seems there is a new botanical name for Sedum. The grey rosette was a gift from a friend who calls it Graptosedum. Having attempted to figure out what it is, I am not sure at all! This will grow just about anywhere a bit gets dropped and is kind of crunchy, they fall off here and there in the garden so I am constantly finding them. Here are two I lost track of while arranging a vase not too long ago.

I think this means Graptosedum (or whatever it is) will grow on rock dust in my foyer. More surprises from the garden.

That is all from my garden this Monday. To see more vases drop by Cathy’s blog and say hello.

In a Vase on Monday – Plunder and Plonk

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!!

In a Vase on Monday – Flames, Pie and Lady Di

The sun finally reappeared over the weekend. I spent Saturday and Sunday morning in the garden, drinking in solar energy and clearing out wanton vegetation and debris. There has been a lot of wind and rain this winter that has left behind soggy branches, leaves and overgrown weedy degenerates. I managed to find some jewels amongst the wanton and weedy in the garden and put together a vase.

The Flame is ‘White Flame’ Salvia, the Pie is Pie Crust Croton and Lady Di is the cultivar of the Heliconia in the vase. The vase is an olive oil jar inherited from my mother. She was a drizzler.

More on the plants:

Red and yellow flowers are “Lady Di” Heliconias (Heliconia psittacorum); white spikes are “White Flame” Salvia; variegated leaves (note the rolled edges) are Pie Crust Croton (Codieum variegatum); Asparagus fern adds the greenery. I have been using a lot of Pie Crust Croton lately as it is overgrown and needs pruning!

At the base of the arrangement is a pair of aptly named Coral Plants (Jatropha multifida). A weird and interesting novelty plant that grows in a narrow place in my front garden.

Here’s hoping everyone sees sunshine this week! To see what other gardeners are up to and view more vases visit Cathy’s blog.

In a Vase on Monday – Prayer for Sun

The past few weeks have been so un-Floridalike and dreary I went in search of a “spring wildflower bouquet” to cheer things up. Fortunately, with the dreary comes the precipitation and that brings salvia, lots of salvia. The Tropical Red Salvia is having a banner year, so I have flowers in almost all possible colors – just missing the neon orange version, though I rarely see that color. The backdrop for the vase is a Prayer Plant, as in, praying for blue skies and sunshine!

The vase is a repurposed olive oil bottle. One of those upgraded olive oils for drizzling that I usually forget about until it goes rancid and it turns up as a vase on Monday. I have four different salvias in the vase – White Flame and Mystic Spires in blue and white, along the white and coral versions of Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea); a few Bidens alba white daisies for a wildflower touch. The foliage is a twist of Mammy Croton and Asian Sword Ferns. The Prayer Plant is a Pink Star, that has seemingly lost its pink. A neighbor gave me this plant last Christmas and I am still amazed I haven’t killed it – just made it silver.

That is all from overcast South Florida. I will be wishing on a Pink Star for a reprieve in the clouds and hope everyone is staying warm and enjoying winter garden introspection.

To find more vases, go to Cathy’s page at ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com

In a Vase on Monday – Bromo-Seltzer

If there was ever a cure for winter garden blahs, it’s finding a few bromeliads in bloom. Bromo-Seltzer was actually widely considered a hangover cure and was sold in the US until the mid 70s, when it was determined to be poisonous (sort of). I have this feeling my father took it and then moved over to Alka-Seltzer.

It has been grey, overcast and rainy for most of the past week. We have had to wear pants (gasp!), long sleeves and the occasional sweatshirt. The true native Floridians have broken out down jackets (it’s 65F). I finally got out in the garden to do some pruning this morning and stumbled over these beauties. The rain has given many plants a growth spurt and they are growing when they usually don’t, requiring more pruning.

The cast of the cure:

Some call these the tulips of South Florida. They usually bloom a bit later, similar to early tulips. These seem more like fruity drumstick candy for Barbie to me. They are Quesnelia testudo bromeliads, the foliage has such sharp tips I would be hesitant to plant any more.

Purple flowers are Portea ‘Candy’ bromeliads; the foliage behind them is Aechmea blanchetiana, showing winter coloration (foliage is usually chartreuse). Green foliage is from Asparagus Fern (Asparagus aethiopicus). This is considered invasive here and I find them once in a blue moon. The vase was a gift from my brother. It is heavy enough to hold these weighty flowers.

Hoping for blue skies and fair weather.

Thanks to Cathy for hosting this weekly meme. Visit her at http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for links to vases from other gardeners around the world.