Category Archives: flower arrangements

In a Vase on Monday – Summer’s Last Hurrah

It’s Labor Day, the holiday weekend that marks the end of summer. The plants in my garden are feeling the cumulative effects of summer and slowing down. The zinnias I have enjoyed cutting all summer are very capably catching all the fungal organisms Florida has to offer and displaying them on their foliage. The flowers are visibly smaller. It’s time for removal and renewal. The good news! All the seeds are on sale – the bad news, not everything I would like is available. I am making do by trying some new things and thankful I thought ahead a little and bought my favorite tomato seeds. Last year I had weird tomatoes due to poor timing. The tomatoes were good, just sort of oddly gigantic cherry sized fruit that was not quite red.

What’s in the vase:

Multi colored flowers at bottom of image are ‘Zin Master’ Zinnias; white daisies are Bidens alba; purple spikes are Arabian Lilac (Vitex trifolia) ; pink and white flowers are Vinca (Vinca rosea).

Yellow spikes are Thyrallis (Galpinia glauca); red, white and peach spikes are Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea). The vase is a thrift store find.

There! A full color display of the summer dregs from my garden. Not bad, all things considered.

For a full late summer garden tour via vases follow this link to visit Cathy’s blog.

In a Vase on Monday – Spider Dancing

It’s the end of summer hot in South Florida. We had a cold front (ha!) come through with Hurricane Ernesto passing by – bringing the daily high down to a bone chilling 88 degrees F/ 31C. I cut flowers early Sunday morning taking advantage of a brief respite from humidity while simultaneously importing a number of green garden spiders into the house. I enjoyed watching the spiders go up and down the sides of the flowers like tiny window washers on a high rise. I am hoping these spiders eat ants as they have tired of the heat as well and are coming inside.

Spider hanging on for dear life.

My Zin Master Zinnias are still going great guns; sadly brown spots are setting in on the foliage. I think this is Mother Nature’s way of telling me to start some new seeds. Now is when seeds are started for winter herbs and veg. After jealously looking at summer tomatoes on other blogs I am looking forward to fresh herbs and vegetables. My favorite parsley collapsed last week.

Survivors of the summer – Zin Master Zinnias and Beach Daisies (Helianthus debilis).

More heat lovers. Red bells are Firecracker Plant (Russelia equisetiformis); white daisies, Bidens alba; Asian Sword Ferns and a few sprigs of white native salvia (Salvia coccinea). The extremely rustic blue mug has the handle glued on – it’s one of those things I wonder why I keep, then I fill it with flowers and spiders and enjoy the color.

Thanks to Cathy for hosting. To see more vases follow the link RamblingintheGarden and check out the comments.

Happy Gardening!!

In a Vase on Monday – Light My Fire

I must have been inspired by Cathy’s “Hunk of Burning Love” vase a couple of weeks ago when the title popped into my brain. I admit to loving The Doors and their iconic song “Light My Fire” from (gasp) 1967. This song has been haunting my consciousness for decades. I guess it’s the organ solo. My garden seems to be reflecting the mood, producing fiery flowers as summer winds down.

Some close ups, sans Jim Morrison.

I have been enjoying cutting Heliconias (Heliconia psittacorum) this summer in all their flaming glory; two varieties here – ‘Lady Di’ in red and yellow and ‘Choconiana’ in orange. The big leaf in the background is a Split Leaf Philodendron (Philodendron selloum).

Orange tubular flowers are, appropriately, Firebush (Hamelia patens var patens); red flowers with blue tips are Aechmea miniata bromeliads. The blue vase was a gift I have enjoyed tremendously over the years.

That’s all this Monday morning from scorching South Florida. Follow this link RamblingintheGarden to visit Cathy and peruse vases via comment links.

In a Vase on Monday – New Summer Favorite

I am a fairly recent convert to Zinnia lover. It all started with a pack of Green Envy seed planted a few years ago to satisfy my desire for chartreuse cut flowers. I let the Envy go to seed and ended up with a new generation of greenish beige zinnias no one would envy so I bought some new seed. These are Zin Master Zinnias. They are living proof open pollinated seeds are what they are. These were advertised as a mixture of sizes, shapes and colors. The plants are prolific, all about three feet tall, and produce enough flowers that I cut a Vase every other day. The colors and flower size are the only things that are mixed.

My feelings are not mixed. These zinnias are my new summer favorites. For some reason, I have never grown zinnias in summer. I have them in containers – the ones that get the full brunt of South Florida summer sun are producing the most flowers. I am in awe and fully intend to grow more. Stay tuned.

A closer view:

The flowers are Zin Master Zinnias; purple foliage is Purple Prince Alternanthera; A bit of chartreuse coleus and some Asian Sword Ferns complete the vase. The crystal vase was a gift from my dearly departed brother.

I just found a few bags of seed starting potting mix on my front porch….fall zinnias should be appearing in a couple of months. And a few other things.

Thanks to Cathy for hosting IAVOM. Follow this link RamblingintheGarden to her blog to see more vases.

In a Vase on Monday – BananaRama

A simple summertime vase of tropical flowers. Step back and it looks like bunches of bananas. Or, depending on your flight of fancy, a flock of parrots. This is a mason jar filled with Heliconia psittacorum, common name, Parrotflowers. A favorite perennial in tropical gardens, these can run rampant when in their happy place – at my house beside the front porch suits them perfectly.

A closer view of the Heliconias accented with their own foliage. I covered the rim of the mason jar with a band of varigated bromeliad foliage – channeling my mother “because it just looked tacky.”

That’s all from the doldrums of summer dog days in South Florida. To view more temperate vases follow this link to Cathy’s garden.

Happy Gardening!

In a Vase on Monday – Summer Bromance

My husband may be wondering about my summer bromance (probably not). July is prime time for a Vase of my favorite summer bromeliad flowers, Aechmea miniata. To say this is a striking flower is a bit of an understatement. The flower is a nearly foot long panicle composed of what looks like red hot cinnamon candies accented with cobalt blue tips, it is a sight to behold. The plant has deep olive leaves with purple backsides and thrives in dry shade. I love it. Definite bromance here.

The plant in the garden:

A closer view:

An overhead view. The foliage accents are trimmed palm fronds from Sabal Palm seedlings (Palmetto sabal). The vase was repurposed from the florist.

Happy Summer Monday to all. To see more vases, follow this link RITG to visit Cathy.

IAVOM Everything is Coming Up – Zinnias

People do grow roses in South Florida. I just don’t have the stomach for it, imagining the black spot and fungal diseases is sufficient, thank you, no. I need plants that will beat the heat and humidity. The Zin Master Zinnias are in fine form this summer. I am cutting a few every day and admiring how long they last in a Vase. About a week.

Given the broad range of colors in the zinnias; I decided a simple treatment was best. A grey vase found at a thrift store filled with a rubber band secured bouquet of zinnias and a few sprigs of my inexhaustible supply of the invasive Asian Sword Fern.

The stars:

The zinnias definitely like to be outside more than I do!

To see more vases visit Cathy at RamblingintheGarden.

Happy Gardening!

In a Vase on Monday – Zen, Zin & Min

I am enjoying my new crop of zinnias – ‘Zin Master’, planted in big terracotta pots. I have been cutting most of the flowers in hopes of getting actual long stemmed zinnias – something that has always eluded me, my zinnias are always very short in stature. These are the longest stems I have ever grown and have a wiry appearance that I like. I visualized this vase as a Zen Ikebanaesque arrangement with winding stems of zinnias intertwined with the Min – Miniata Bromeliads. It was not to be, the glass frog serving as a base was not up to the challenge of the weight of the flowers. I had to add rocks on top of the frog to keep everything upright. I ended up not having a very Zen flower experience at all. It is what it is. A soup bowl filled with flowers.

The Zin – ‘Zin Master’ Zinnias grown from seed started around the first of May. I am enjoying the color mix, but thought I would get some different types of zinnias. I guess these are semi-double something. I bought some Cactus Mix seeds this week to spice things up. I am not quite sure what will happen in mid July with seed starting. Always an adventure.

The Min. These are Miniata Bromeliads (Aechmea miniata). A reliable summer flowering shade perennial, if one can think of bromeliads as perennials. The tropical plants always twist my mind a bit in sorting out what they are – house plants, perennials, epiphytes, plain weird? The big green leaves in the back are from a coleus and the vase is actually a soup bowl.

That is all from South Florida this Monday. I’ll be seeking further garden Zen from Zinnias this week. Follow the link to visit Cathy at RamblingintheGarden and see what’s appearing in other vases this week. Or soup bowls.

In a Vase on Monday – Four for the Fourth

This is the Fourth of July week and in celebration I decided to put together a red, white and blue vase with four different types of flowers. That might be too much math. It seems like something should add up to sixteen somewhere. Math was never my true calling.

July is being true to its nature. It is hot, humid and we are having frequent thunderstorms. The garden is well hydrated, I am picking mangoes daily and contemplating weeding. Not actually weeding, just thinking about it. As I was cutting flowers, I had a rather startling experience.

This is a good, non venomous snake. I am not sure if it is a Black Racer or an Indigo snake. Both eat all kinds of bad things including venomous snakes. I usually see them scurrying away. This is a first – one hanging out in the shrubs and waiting around long enough for me to get a picture. I am hoping he or she was eating invasive lizards.

The red in the arrangement is from the seasonally appropriate Firecracker Plant (Russelia equisetiformis); White flowers are from Bridal Bouquet Plumeria (Plumeria pudica).

Blue spike flowers are Mystic Blue Salvia and the white spikes are Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea). The airy flower buds and varigated foliage are from Dianella tasmanica or New Zealand Flax. A trimmed palm frond is in the back of the vase. The vase is a florist orphan.

Happy Monday from steamy South Florida. Visit Cathy at RamblingintheGarden to visit less steamy gardens and see what has been plucked and plonked into a vase this week.

In a Vase on Monday – Shrimp with Zin

The title would make one think I had been eating seafood while imbibing in red wine. Oh, how crass! I have not. I am not a big fan of red wine and drink white regardless. I have probably now surpassed crass.

The shrimp in the vase are Red Shrimp Plant and the Zin, Zin Master Zinnias. The zinnias are supposed to be a mixture of cactus and other types of zinnias, so far they all look like these, disappointingly regular zinnias. For some reason, these are the best looking Zinnia plants I have ever grown – so, maybe the other flowers will be more spectacular. I think I have twelve or so in big terracotta pots under planted with Blue Scaveola and chartreuse coleus. Hopefully another garden miracle in the making. Seed mixes are like a box of chocolates – you never know what you are going to get. Paraphrasing Forrest Gump.

Red Shrimp Plants (Justicia brandegeana) are a sort of pass along perennial in Florida. A neighbor gave me one about ten years ago. I regularly forget about it and it just keeps on going and flowering without a care in the world. It occurred to me I should root some for other areas of the garden I tend to forget about. It also makes a great cut flower.

A closer view:

The ‘Zin Master Zinnias with a little Red Shrimp below and some Licorice plant (Helichryseum) tendrils above.

Firebush (Hamelia patens var patens) are the tubular orange flowers in the arrangement. The vase is a bromeliad leaf wrapped pickle jar from a couple of weeks ago. I left it as I was wondering if it would dry into something attractive. It is looking a bit like wood now, not quite dried out.

This Monday the garden is in similar shape to the vase, not quite dried out. We have been getting regular downpours and the plants are very happy. Of course, all the weeds are ecstatic. Summer fun.

To see more vases from Cathy’s international entourage of gardeners; visit Rambling in the Garden and follow the links in the comments.