My first gladiolus, quite a bit more salmon coloured than I was expecting, but still pretty. It just goes to show, flowers look different in different places, in bud, and open.
I couldn’t really find the right colours to go with it at first, but the dark colours of oregano and dahlia buds seemed to work. A brown Salvia, Brown Owl, was another one which I found the colour difficult to begin with, but it’s dark purple bracts and strange brown yellow flowers seemed to work perfectly. Sweet peas echo the colour in the centre of the gladiolus and add scent.
I used Cosmos as foliage because my Cosmos which was grown from seed turned out to be 4 feet high and is drowning the orange tree it’s growing next to. It seems true that seed sown Cosmos grow better than planted seedlings.
Cathy at Rambling in the Garden has a stunning amethyst arrangement today and others will be joining as well with Winter arrangements and early Spring flowers.
Absent Gardener 
Your vase SHOUTS summer, wonderful colours and blooms, glorious. Very interesting about the Cosmos; I’m now not sure I will early sow in the greenhouse or if I do, it will be in modules so they aren’t stressed when I transplant them.
It’s such a big difference it has to be more than just the extra manure for the oranges. The stems on these are almost half an inch in diameter at the bottom.
Yes, mine were the same last year.
What an intriguing selection of material you have used – but then again you always do! The different coloured middles to your gladioli give you more scope and you have found some great partners. The cosmos foliage is gorgeous, even if you do have too much of it! Like Christina, I shall sow my cosmos directly into modules this year as mine never to establish particularly well.
The Cosmos are lovely, just twice the size I expected and in the wrong place. I think the extra manure for the oranges is also creating the great big stems and extra foliage.
What a fabulous treat to see the bright hot sun and glads with cosmos. I am longing to get out and plant mine and watch them grow again. I suspect it will be soon enough (4 months).
It sounds like you dig them up each year. What colours do you grow?
I am so happy to see gladiolas on this snowy day in North Carolina. The colors are a dream!!!!
Thank you. I hope you are not getting too inconvenienced by the snow!
It’s always a bit of a surprise when I open your posts and see summer, Cath! I love those pink glads!
Im glad you like them Kris. It was very exciting to see the first ones in bloom – they are so showy.
Beautiful, when we bought our first house, it had glads everywhere – after thinking they were really crass (pink and orange) I grew to love them and had many flower arrangements from them for summer parties. Your lovely vase brought back some good memories and made me wonder if I can grow Glads here! We grow Cosmos from seed here “Bright Lights”
They always make me think of Dame Edna, but since Watsonias and Montbretias are similar and are weeds, hopefully they will be resilient. They are a bit like Cannas I think in the way they’ve been bred to be big and bright, but there is starting to be more choice in that area too.
I really love seeing your arrangements every week – such a delight! They shine superbly. 🙂
Thank you, you are so kind. 🙂
Gorgeous! Such a glorious summer collection of blooms! It does my soul good to see them even more so while we are in the depths of winter!
Thank you Cathy 🙂
The Gladioli look great with the darker centers, and I like your darker colors with them, especially the sweet peas and mixed dark and white tiny flowers. It’s such a treat to see such exuberant summer flowers in the winter, Cath.
Thanks Hannah, the flowers with the light and dark burgundy colours are the Oregano. The bees love them so much I feel a bit bad taking them, but I have quite a lot.
Beautiful arrangement! I’m excited about what you said about your cosmos. I will be planting them for the first time this spring.
Thank you 🙂 Donna has written a detailed post about Cosmos this week http://gardenseyeview.com/2016/02/08/flower-tales-cosmos/