Category Archives: in a vase on monday

In A Vase on Monday – Make America Garden Again

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All political commentary aside, watching events unfold this weekend sparked a patriotic arrangement for this Monday. The primary colors in the arrangement are Red, white and blue for the United States of America. Hopefully we will put aside our animosity and pick up our tools and get out in the garden again. I do think a new era of activism and civic participation has been unleashed and was amazed to see the rest of the world joining in.

The props with this arrangement are a flag crocheted by my mother in law (we just realized Joan has been gone almost 15 years) as a Fourth of July gift some years ago. After she retired, she sat in her Living Room and crocheted- we had a crocheted something for every occasion and then some.  At some point I reached crochet overload and was relieved to find that volunteer organizations (Women’s shelters, especially) often like these handmade items and have been happy to pass them along. The bells (Let Freedom Ring, anyone?) were collected by my father when he was in the US Army stationed in India during World War II.

The vase is English, a teapot in my favorite Blue Willow pattern acquired while junk shopping with my mother about 20 years ago. I was thrilled to find a new piece at the thrift shop this week, I inherited some from my grandmother and have been collecting it for about 30 years.

The flowers are in red, Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea), in blue, Tropical Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata), in white, Sweet Begonias (Begonia odorata ‘Alba’) in the center, difficult to see is a Hallelujah Billbergia Bromeliad. There are a few sprigs of Dill flowers from the herb garden and some Asian Sword Ferns for foliage. Here is a close up of the Bromeliad flower:

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Hallelujah Billbergia Bromeliad seems pretty patriotic! Getting back out in the garden to find Hallelujah sporting red, white and blue started the vase idea.

In A Vase on Monday- A Trio of Heirlooms with Comments from the Cats.

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This week I decided to use my heirloom vase collection and limit myself to one type of flower per vase using different foliage types to accent the flowers. The terracotta cats are also heirlooms, inherited from my mother and they are offering comments on the arrangements. The cats are contented by the brown vase, interested in the blue vase and napping by the vase on the right.

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This vase was acquired by my mother on a trip through the Western United States shortly after my parents retired. The origin of the contented cat I am not so sure about. The plants in the vase are: in red, Parrotflowers (Heliconia psittacorum), the bigger leaf is from a Split Leaf Philodendron (Philodendron selloum), the green stem is a budding flower stalk from a Draceana reflexa, some people call these Pleomele. The actual Draceana flowers are an odd brown stringy affair that I was very disappointed in the last year.

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This is another vase collected by my mother on her Western adventure. Made by the Ute Indian tribe, it remains a favorite of mine. I think the cat is excited by all the foliage in this one. The purple flowers are from a Hong Kong Orchid (Bauhinia purpurea) tree, the fine textured fern is the Asparagus Fern, viny elements are Muscadine Grape (Vitis rotundafolia) shoots, a few sprigs of Miniature Varigated Pineapple foliage, and the berries of Gumbo Limbo (Bursea simarouba)

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The vase is a blown glass footed object collected by my in laws at their various arts and crafts show outings. It reminds me of them and I use it for small arrangements. The cat is snoozing here as he is worn out from remembering the botanical names in the previous vase. This is simply a bunch of Beach Sunflowers (Helianthus debilis) backed by Asian Sword Fern.

I also inherited my mother’s cat, she is now old enough to drive.

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In A Vase on Monday – Contrasting Elements.

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My goal this week was to use an actual vase! Check. The vase is one of my thrift store finds that I have greatly enjoyed. As I was thinking of what to use in the vase I realized my native Firebush was starting to flower after  I cut it back in December, so that started the ball rolling. Here is a better photo of the vase:

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I had to bundle up to wander outside today. We are having winter today, when I woke up this morning the weather said it was 47 degrees (F) and felt like 37. There is also a gale warning and the wind blowing in from the north off the Atlantic Ocean is cold in January.

The plants seem perfectly content in the breezy cool, thus far and it always surprises me what I find when it seems not much is flowering. Since I started with orange Firebush flowers I remembered a professor from design school saying you always need a color jump (jump being from one side of the color wheel to the other) in your compositions. My color jump was to the blue Pom Pom Aster. Then I added a pink one and some Tropical Red Salvia. After that the color was getting pretty jumpy so I decided some grey was needed to cool things down. The Flapjack Kalanchoes are blooming and seemed just right.

Complicating my mental dilemma was another sacrosanct axiom from design school, all elements must occur in odd numbers. Ones, threes, fives and sevens are best. Fortunately, there were three Pom Pom Asters. A friend from school told me once he thought fours were best when planting a featured perennial because the fourth plant makes your eye go round in circles and focus on the plant. Perhaps my nearsightedness prevents me from perceiving the miracle of four.

Finding myself dangerously close to a self inflicted design lecture – I cut some different foliage for contrast. Dwarf Red striped Pineapple, Muhly Grass and Copper Fennel were added, coarse and fine texture and color all at once. Breathing a sigh of relief from all this thought I decided to make lunch.

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In A Vase on Monday – Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Milkweed?

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Happy New Year! My plans for a traditional vase container were foiled when a friend (a known connoisseur of Champagne) appeared with this lovely pink bottle. The contents were rapidly dispatched and the bottle on its way to recycling when I said “Stop, that would make a great vase for the first Monday of the new year”

And here it is filled with a favorite color combination of mine, pink and chartreuse. My neighbor brought the cut chartreuse seed heads as a Christmas gift, these are from the dubiously named Hairy Balls Milkweed (Asclepias physocarpa). Finding this common name a bit crass, I looked the plant up online to find the other common name ‘Family Jewels’ Milkweed. Oh, well. She tells me her Milkweed is ten feet tall, I think I need to go and see this!

 

Other members of the ensemble include at the base, ‘Alabama Sunset’ Coleus, a sprig of Copper Fennel on the right and flowers and seedheads of Muhly Grass (Muhlbergia capillaris). The green foliage is from the Milkweed. This is one of those oddly interesting arrangements I like. I think I will keep the pink bottle for future use.

 

In A Vase on Monday-Chrismukkah

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This year Christmas Eve and the first day of Hanukkah fall on December 24, the media have christened the date Chrismukkah, which I suppose sounds better than Hanukmas.

In honor of the season and Chrismukkah, I have done two arrangements, one in Christmas colors, red and green and another in traditional Hanukkah colors, blue, white and silver. Being perpetually and cursedly curious, I wondered about the origin of the color schemes.

According to Cambridge University the Christmas color scheme could go back to the Celts who used a red and green tree to mark boundaries. Here is the link, Who color coded Christmas. More research tells me the Hanukkah colors are based on the Israeli flag, why blue.

Now that we know the origins of the colors, here is the Hanukkah arrangement. The silver goblet is an heirloom from my mother’s collection and the flowers are in blue and white – Pom-Pom Asters (inspired by Cathy, our hostess) I started some seed in September and now have blue, white and perhaps pink Pom-Pom Asters, who knew they would grow in Florida in the winter.? The Asters are thriving, but alas, so far my other IOVOM flowers, the Cactus Zinnias are a disappointment. Another inspiration, White Italian Sunflowers are going, but they are showing signs of mildew, time will tell. The other blue members of this arrangement are Evolvulous, Blue Daze the annual peeking out here and there. The White Begonias are Sweet Begonias, a perennial here, the silver flowers are from Flapjack Kalanchoes. Deep plum foliage along the edges is from Purple Oxalis, from my neighbor. I think this plant may be the common thread between all of us. Asian Sword Ferns provide a bit of green.

 

Here is the Christmas arrangement, the original thought that it looked sort of non tropical. Then, the white Bridal Veil Plumeria is a bit difficult to explain. The dark green Yew is Japanese Yew, Podocarpus macrophyllus. Unabashedly tropical as are the red berries of the Brazilian Pepper, outlawed years ago as invasive, but determined to stay around, it is sold as Pink Peppercorn the world over and I have not eaten one of the berries near my house, but many birds have – and on the Brazilian Peppers go, The red striped foliage is from Martin Bromeliads and the ferny foliage is Copper Fennel. I think I have cut more of this than we have eaten, though it is tasty. The vase is an old Brandy snifter from my husbands ‘flaming things in a glass phase’. Go figure. Drinking flaming liquids is not my area of interest.

So, there we go. Happy Holidays to all.

In A Vase on Monday – Bus Redux

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Last year during the holidays I made an arrangement in this biscuit tin. A friend of my husband had brought cookies from the UK, my husband ate the cookies and I used the tin as a vase.

This year I decided to go as tropical as possible and keep a green, red and white theme. The result is reasonably festive and has a large variety of plant material included.

The tin is deep, so I nestled three bottles from drinking water inside with the tops cut off, then filled them with water and made three matching arrangements in the bottles. I feel certain I would regret filling the tin with water (or the furniture would)

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The arrangement includes: in red and yellow Parrotflower (Heliconia psittacorum), the red flowers hanging over the edge are Turks Cap Hibiscus (Malvaviscus penduliflorus), foliage hanging over the sides is Sweet Begonia (Begonia ‘Alba’). The dark green foliage in the back of the arrangement is Snake Plant or Mother In Law’s Tongue (Sanseveria something, runs wild here), the white striped foliage is from ‘Martin’ Bromeliad. Whoever Martin is, he has come up with an amazing bromeliad, red striped in shade and white striped in sun thriving in both places. The ferns are the everpresent invasive Asian Sword Fern and finally, the conifer like bits are from Firecracker Plant (Russelia)

Here is last year’s bus, a much different look:

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Things are looking festive around my house, even if we don’t have a Christmas tree yet. Here are all the arrangements:

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They are not all living in the foyer, this was a holiday portrait. The watering can is on the screen porch and the basket in the living room.

In A Vase on Monday – A Day at the Beach.

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I usually conjure up my vases on Sunday morning as many things in South Florida can get wilted in the afternoon. This morning I was scratching my head as it didn’t seem to me much was going on in the garden.

As I was walking around the garden it occurred to me what a wonderful exercise  in seeing putting a vase together every week is. (This is also a flashback to design school -looking and really seeing) First, I noticed the berries on the Firebush (Hamelia patens)

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Then the fluffy seedheads on the mystery plant:

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Whatever this is popped up in my garden a few years ago  and I left it for the flowers or seedheads, please let me know it you recognize it. I thought it was some sort of Amaranth, but don’t really know.

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After finding the two base plants, I found the Red Shrimp Plants (Justicia brandegeana) and Beach Sunflowers (in yellow, Helianthus debilis) are still flowering and the thus far, oddly small Cactus Zinnias were added. Then I went around to my herb pots and snipped some Copper Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare “Purpurea”) to complete my arrangement. The flowers were placed in an vintage amber glass candlestick holder from Dansk, a favorite of my husband, repurposed for a vase on Monday.

Then it dawned on me, this was so easy it was like a day on the beach. So, I decided to go see how things were on Jensen Beach. If you are in a cold place I hope this warms your heart.

 

In A Vase on Monday. Frogs and Hallelujah

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I know, your reaction was probably the same as mine. “Good Lord, what is that?”  Purple and white spotted foliage with a red, white and blue flower – who on earth could have dreamed that up?  As it turns out a guy named Don Beadle did, a famous breeder of bromeliads he created this one – the Hallelujah Billbergia. Here is a closer view of the flower:

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I bought the Billbergia a couple of years ago at a gardening show in Vero Beach, Florida. It was selected to add a tall purple accent in a terracotta wok container of bromeliads I was putting together for my front porch. I did not realize it would flower at all.

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I walked out on my porch a couple of mornings ago and thought someone had stuck something in the back of the wok planter. Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a flower, a very funky flower. So I gave it a couple of days to see what it would do and decided to cut it for my Monday vase.

I cut it, brought it into the house and had this feeling something was looking at me. I looked down into the foliage and there was a tiny frog in the foliage surrounding the flower. The frog needed to go back outside, I took the whole thing back onto the front porch and the frog happily jumped over the wall and joined a friend in the Heliconias.

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Now there were two frogs looking at me. Hopefully, they are having some grand frog fun eating bugs in the garden. Bad bugs only, of course.

The vase in an old silver-plated something my mother bought in (her words) the junk store. I love the patina and I think it was a goblet, but at my house, it has only been used as a vase. Given the brilliant coloration of the centerpiece Hallelujah Billbergia Bromeliad adding a little green and white seemed the best option. Asian Sword Ferns and Asparagus Ferns are the greens and the white flowers at the base are Sweet Begonias (Begonia odorata “Alba”)

Hallelujah!

In A Vase on Monday. Thrift Store Finds

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Another one of those things I never knew about living in South Florida-the thrift store shopping is excellent. I suppose many estates are settled here and the population is somewhat transient as people buy and sell vacation condos don’t use them very much and then don’t want to move the furniture. A result of all this makes for some unusual and great thrift store finds. Especially if you are in the market for pseudo tropical furniture.

I was actually looking for a table lamp when I happened upon these pottery vases. I love things that are handmade and these are a bit thick and obviously hand thrown for the fun or love or it. I bought them immediately, I spent eight dollars. Well worth it. I also found a table lamp.

While winter is approaching, actual winter in South Florida is more like a really long spring. Freezes are rare and this is gardening season. Vegetable and annual seeds are started in late summer for planting now.

One of my new vases has my first ever Cactus Zinnias, started from seed in September, these do not look nearly as good as the ones I saw in other vases this summer, I am hoping they get bigger. Also new to the garden is the Copper Fennel, which I bought by accident thinking it was Dill for my herb pots. The Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea) and Bridal Bouquet Frangipani (Plumeria pudica) are old standbys.

Between the Zinnias, Salvias, Fennel and Frangipani the fragrance of this vase is a bit weird. Kind of medicinal.

 

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My other new vase has a more tropical feeling, I decided to try to avoid ferns for foliage today just for a change. This vase has Parrot Flower ( Heliconia psittacorum) and the foliage and flowers of Sweet Begonia (Begonia odorata ‘Alba’)

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In A Vase on Monday – A Cross Cultural Experience

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This is truly a cross cultural experience. The plants, while grown in South Florida, hail from both sides of our planet, Southeast Asia and Brazil. The terracotta man in the vase is an incense burner from Pier One that belonged to my brother in the late 1970’s. I am not sure exactly where he came from but the concept was Pre Columbian. I think.

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The red and yellow swirling crab claws are the flower of a Blanchetiana Bromeliad, a native of the eastern side of Brazil. The plant itself is about four feet tall by six feet wide. It has been flowering for about six weeks, of course the flower is on the side I can’t really see unless I am turning the compost heap. So, I decided to cut it and enjoy it in the house as long as it lasted.

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These Bromeliads are relatively common in South Florida and I nearly wrecked my car the first time I saw one. Talk about wild and crazy plants, the foliage can be orange, red, green or yellow and it is big. Even though I had experience with Bromeliads I didn’t realize how big they grew. Another houseplant myth busted by Tropic Florida.

The foliage is a frond of a Lady Palm (Rhaphis excelsa). This palm is native to the Rainforest in Southeast Asia, an understory plant that enjoys shade and water. Relatively hardy, it will grown north to Orlando, and is a favorite of mine for interior use as a potted plant. I bought one a couple of years ago and it sat in the pot a little too long, so it is a bit lopsided and has finally recovered its healthy deep green color and need a little trim.

Here is a shot of my Rainforest Garden, where the Lady Palm lives.

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